The Younger Edda; Also called Snorre's Edda, or The Prose Edda

About the book

This English selection from Snorri's Prose Edda introduces a mythic world through framed conversations and explanations of traditional poetic expression. Gylfi's questioning leads into accounts of the gods, the making of the world, and the dangers that threaten its order. Other sections explain names, images, and inherited stories that a poet needs in order to understand or compose elaborate allusions. Humor, violence, ingenuity, and foreboding coexist throughout these narratives. Rasmus B. Anderson's version includes the foreword, The Fooling of Gylfe, Brage's Talk, associated afterwords, and selected passages on poetical diction, with explanatory apparatus. Its scope therefore differs from an unabridged translation of every part of the Prose Edda, while offering a substantial introduction to its narrative and poetic purposes.

• Myth and cosmic order
• Poetic language
• Knowledge and storytelling

Why read it

The combination of myths and explanations shows how traditional stories furnish a poet's working vocabulary.

English selection by Rasmus B. Anderson, 1901 edition