The Poetic Edda

first of all, here is my review of the poetic edda itself, which i give five stars:

the poetic edda is one of the greatest collections of poetry of all times. it contains the beautifully vivid "volupso", the norse apocalypse poem, the comedic ballads, the "wrangling of Loki" and "Lay of Thrmy", the proverbial wisdom of the "sayings of har" and the mournful lays of the larger-than-heroes, the volsungs and niflungs. the edda is better written than Beowulf, the more popular northern epic, and the rhythmic verse gives it more aesthetic appeal than most epic poems. the meter, based on alliteration and caesura, whether rhythmic fornyrdislag or lilting ljodahattr, is much more pleasing to the ear than classical blank verse, which has sticter syllable stress patterns. unfortunately, the edda is not in very good condition. their are gaps in the manuscripts, and there are numerous places where it appears a scribe covered up a gap with extraneous material. the poems vary greatly in quality, and you need a good understanting of norse myths to understand what is going on (i recommend Norse Stories: Retold from the Eddas by Hamilton Mabie). none the less, the edda is a wonderful read for fans of poetry, epics, or norse mythology.

unfortunatley, of the numerous translations of the poestic edda, only four are in print, those of Bellows, Dronke, Hollander, and Larington. Bellows is an excellent translation, at least aesthetically, and it does a very good job of preserving the rhythm, if not the precise metrics of the original. It is very readable and fairly accurate. Unfortunately, only half of it is in print, but I would recommend it highly. You can find the full text at [...] but reading off the computer just isn't the same. Dronke's is a beautiful and, i have heard, very accurate translation, although it makes no attempt to preserve the alliteration. Unfortunately, only two of five volumes of this translation have been printed and the first is out of print and the other ridiculously priced. Fortunately, I managed to find a copy of volume 1 at the library. That leaves only Hollander and Larrington. I have not read Larrington, but I have heard that it is an accuracy-over-poetry translation, and thus not the most enjoyable read.

Hollander makes a great effort to preserve the norse meter in english. However, in his attempt to maintain alliteration, he uses a lot of archaic words, which seem daunting to first-time readers, but there is a glossary in the back, so you get used to it. The minor innacurasies of his translation may disturb some purists, but I feel that a translation that preserves the beauty and spirit of a poem is more important than a literal one, and I would like to see a "FitzOmar" style translation of the Edda, which this certainly is not. My main problem with Hollander is that in trying to get the alliteration right, he loses the rhythm. When reading Bellows translation, you can FEEL the rhythm. With Hollander's, you wonder is THIS the lift or is it THAT word. In Old Norse, two consecutive stresses are OK, but not so in modern english. The introduction tells you how to enunciate the meter, by putting extra long stress on lift and reading the ustrassed syllable very quickly, but the reader shouldn't have to change his or her syllable stress patterns, the poet should do it for him. That said, once you get used to Hollander's translation, it is fairly pleasing, but I would recommend you read Bellows first, as it is a gentler intro to Eddic poetry.

It's difficult reading, since Hollander has attempted (with relative success) to preserve the alliteration and rythmic patterns of the Old Norse into his Modern English translation. Subject - verb relationships are sometimes confusing. Word order is not a major issue in an inflected language like Old Norse, but in English it makes a huge difference. Hollander's literal translation requires very close reading at times in order to make sense of it. He also uses a LOT of archaisms, some of which are defined in a very brief glossary at the end, but some of which he apparently expects his reader to look up in an unabridged dictionary. This translation sounds good read aloud, but often I got the feeling that I needed to translate the translation! I already own the recent (2004) Dover reprint of the 1923 Bellows translation, which is much more readable, but it's only the first half of the Edda (the mythological poems.) I wanted to read the REST of the Edda, so when I spotted this at the bookstore I grabbed it.

There's a general introduction at the beginning, a brief introduction before each poem, and extensive footnotes running at the bottom of each page. You will need to read all of this in order to fully understand the poems. The first half consists of stories of the Norse gods and some of their doings. Probably the most famous Eddic poem is the "Voluspa" which relates a prophetic vision of the doom of the gods. The second half of the Edda contains poems about the deeds of legendary heroes. Most of them center around the Niflung/Nibelung legend. The Edda is a much more satisfying read than the Nibelungenlied (which I found to be a major disappointment.)

All in all, I would recommend the Poetic Edda to anyone with an interest in medeival literature (or an interest in Wagner or Tolkien) ... but I don't think this particular translation is the best one to get.

Hollander sacrifices accuracy in an attempt to capture the form of the original poetry. He is also fond of using archaic English words - which makes the translation more difficult to read. The book actually includes a glossary of the words used in the translation!
First time readers of the Poetic Edda would probably be better off with Larrington's translation.

This is not a book for beginners in Old Norse literature. It is, based on my own studies in the area, the best English translation of the Poetic nature of the original.

Yes, you will need to have a full grasp of English to read it (and references available if not).

Yes, it is not a sanitary version which will attempt to ease the reader into the subject matter.

However it treats the old Latin and old Norse versions of the Poetic Edda with sensitivity and is well footnoted is areas of difficulty.

Bellows is based off a single German language copy, is incomplete in extreme and I find Larrington and Dronke's efforts useful as well, but at a cost to the original format, and presentation style of the sources. All are useful, in there own ways, and in niches they alone service.

For the overall most enjoyment and understanding of structure and meter of Poetic Edda though, Hollander is the essential work.

Barring actually learning the source languages, this is as close generally as you will get to actual understand the process, presentation and concepts presented in the collected Poetic Edda works.

Old Norse poetry is based on two strong beats per half line, usually alliterated:

"he STOLE the SWORD || SALly had SOUGHT"

This is the original sound of proto-Germanic verse, and it appears in many important poems, including the Eddas and Beowulf. Unfortunately, it's a hard style of verse to capture in modern English. Our language's sound and rhythm are different, and we are quickly annoyed by sustained alliteration.

This poses a challenge for students of Old Norse and Old English: How can we develop an ear for a dead language, and hear the sound of this marvellous poetry?

Lee Hollander has solved this thorny problem for us. His translation captures the rhythm of Old Norse, including the tricky double beats, and preserves much of the alliteration without irritating the reader. As he explains in the introduction, you'll need to watch the alliteration to correctly place the stress. But once you do, his poetry works: You can hear the Old Norse rhythm, and get a good feel for the original sound.

To achieve this goal, Hollander makes some sacrifices. He frequently digs for archaic words (many of them hold-overs from Old English), and his sentence structure can be tricky. Frankly, if you're reading the Eddas for the first time, or if you're more interested in the stories than the poetry, you'll probably want a different translation.

But if you already love the Eddas, and you want to hear the sound of Old Norse verse, this is an excellent place to start.

If you are not into new PC, watered-down translations, then this is *THE* definitive translation to get!

Holander's is the standard translation of the Poetic (or Elder) Edda. It is stirring and poetic but somtimes difficultly archaic (unless you already know that "hight" means called or named). Any difficulties, though, are swept away by the power and grandeur of the Norse originals. Though imperfectly preserved, they remain he poinant testament to a proud and strong civilization.

What the Vedas are for India. Spiritually moving. Filled with vibrant word play and wisdom. If you are a Lit Buff, you should enjoy this well respected work. Make sure to study the intro first. If you are a Heathen, you might come to see as the closest thing you'll come to a holy text forged from the haunted halls of your ancient fore bears. Wisdom that survived as best as can be expected for you to later discover. I recommend everyone take their time while studying this book..you can only benefit from the wisdom it contains. You'll not get that from rush reading. While many people lament that Hollander's translation feels "archaic" in nature, it's really more like "true to form" and a labor of love.

I got this translation as my first copy of the Poetic Edda, and I would not recommend it to a beginner. At first I thought it was because I was unfamiliar with the poems that I had so much difficulty understanding it.

I got Larrington's translation, and it is much more readable for a beginner. Nevertheless, I find myself missing the poetic attempts of Ms. Hollander, and especially the footnote, rather than endnote, format.

I give her credit for making the poetic attempt, and I like the format, but if you actually want to understand the content, I'd go with a different translation.

If you have an interest in Norse mythology, and don't mind a tough read, this book is great. I am not a lit or mythology major but I have really enjoyed reading through this. It's easier if you read through the Prose Edda first to get your bearings.