#eddas

Sigurd battles Fafnir

But never too much let him know;

For the wise man's heart | is seldom happy,

If wisdom too great he has won.

Kennings for "Kenning"

poem-saying

riddle-epithet

raven-speech

name-draugr

saga-smoke

Hveðrung's dagger

Skald's fylgja

Snorri's gift

Trickster's sobriquet

Mead-Hall's truth

What are they? What's the difference? And why are they important?

Simply put, the Eddas are collections of stories about Norse mythology. They are the closest thing we have to a primary source for the tales that ancient Scandinavians told. Since the people who originally told these stories passed them down orally, these texts are not 100% accurate. However, as with everything, they are based on truth. Thus, we must look at them with a critical eye.

There are a couple of important differences when looking at the Eddas. The Poetic Edda draws from the Codex Regius and has several versions. The text tells the tales of the Norse gods and heroes, and the stories themselves may date back to the 8th century. However, the Codex was written in the 13th century. The author of the Codex is unknown, and some people believe that it was put together by several people. There are several translations available today.

The Prose Edda, on the other hand, was complied by, or possibly written by, a 13th century scholar known as Snorri Sturluson.

It is important to note that these texts were written down after the Chirstanization of the area. Therefore, there is probably a lot of bias in these tales.

These texts, along with the Sagas, are the best known texts for Norse mythology. This is why most modern Norse Pagans and Heathens read, or want to read, these texts.

Our thoughts on them

We are currently reading (and annotating) a pdf of the Poetic Edda. After that, we will move on to the Prose Edda. We have chosen the Jackson Crawford translation.

We are very excited to dive deeper into these texts! We always keep in mind the potential biases present, and we hope to report back to yall with some insight after reading!