The Poetic Edda (Oxford World's Classics) - Softcover

Larringtons version of The Poetic Edda has been beautifully translated, and the flow of each poem is perfect. (Kirsty Hewitt, Book Hugger)

A 750-year-old haul of Icelandic verse might not sound like cutting-edge entertainment but these sinewy sagas include such modern elements as gutsy heroines and ultra-violence. (Christopher Hirst, Independent)

these sinewy sagas include such modern elements as gutsy heroines and ultra-violence (Independent)

'She sees, coming up a second time,
Earth from the ocean, eternally green;
the waterfalls plunge, an eagle soars above them,
over the mountain hunting fish.'

After the terrible conflagration of Ragnarok, the earth rises serenely again from the ocean, and life is renewed. The Poetic Edda begins with The Seeress's Prophecy which recounts the creation of the world, and looks forward to its destruction and rebirth. In this great collection of Norse-Icelandic mythological and heroic poetry, the exploits of gods and humans are related. The one-eyed Odin, red-bearded Thor, Loki the trickster, the lovely goddesses and the giants who are their enemies walk beside the heroic Helgi, Sigurd the Dragon-Slayer, Brynhild the shield-maiden, and the implacable Gudrun. New in this revised translation are the quest-poem The Lay of Svipdag and The Wakingof Angantyr, in which a girl faces down her dead father to retrieve his sword.

Comic, tragic, instructive, grandiose, witty and profound, the poems of the Edda have influenced artists from Wagner to Tolkien and a new generation of video-game and film makers.

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