The Poetic Edda: Stories of the Norse Gods and Heroes

Description

These amazing texts from a 13th-century Icelandic manuscript are of huge historical, mythological and literary importance, containing the lion's share of information that survives today about the gods and heroes of pre-Christian Scandinavians. Jackson Crawford's modern versions of these poems are authoritative and fluent and often very gripping. With their individual headnotes and complementary general introduction, they supply today's readers with most of what they need to know in order to understand and appreciate the beliefs, motivations, and values of the Vikings.

Jackson Crawford earned his Ph.D. in Scandinavian Studies at the University of WisconsinMadison, and an M.A. in Linguistics from the University of Georgia. He is currently Instructor of Nordic Studies and Coordinator of the Nordic Program, University of Colorado Boulder.

Jackson Crawford (translator of The Poetic Edda and soon be released, (Sept. 2017), The Saga of the Volsungs) has an active and popular Youtube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXCxNFxw6iq-Mh4uIjYvufg An excellent and entertaining work that succeeds in achieving its intended purpose: to create an accessible and readable English translation of the Poetic Edda . Crawford's knowledge of and passion for the topic is clear throughout, and he strikes an excellent balance between approachability and authenticity. I will most certainly be using this translation when I teach Norse mythology in the future and will recommend it to anyone looking for an approachable introduction to the subject. -- Natalie M. Van Deusen, University of Alberta, in Scandinavian-Canadian Studies "Crawford's Edda is easy to pick up and read. Commentary is minimal but useful, and the verse itself is presented in a visually clear style. A published poet in his own right, Crawford renders his translation in a modest, cautiously elegant free verse with a rigorous consistency that gives the material fluency impossible in a translation reflecting the original Old Norse syntax. Crawford's sense of rhythm is perhaps his strongest suit here, contributing significantly to the readability of the verse. The diction is simple and clear. . . . [Crawford's verse has] a conservative sparseness that often comes close to echoing the terseness of the Old Norse Eddic metres." Pete Sandberg, University College London, in Saga-Book