Anonymous, Edda, the Poetic

Carl Olsen (University of California, Berkeley)

Ed. by Richard William Dance, University of Cambridge
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.3.4: Icelandic Writing and Culture.
Vol. editors: Ármann Jakobsson (University of Iceland), Sven Hakon Rossel (Universitat Wien), Herbert Rowland (Purdue University), Jakob Stougaard-Nielsen (University College London)

Dates

First circulation or publication c. 1270

Places

Iceland (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Poetry (any)

Resources

The Poetic Edda, also known as the Elder Edda or Sæmundar Edda [Sæmundr's Edda], is a collection of Old Icelandic poems about the Norse gods and heroes. The name Edda is not original to the manuscript(s). The primary and largest manuscript of the collection, Codex Regius 2365 4to, was acquired by Bishop Brynjólfr Sveinsson in 1643. At the time it was assumed that Snorri Sturluson had drawn on a lost collection of poems for his own Edda, a book of poetics and mythology which was written around 1220. The newly discovered collection was taken as Snorri's source and named Sæmundar Edda on the assumption that it was written by Sæmundr inn fróði [Sæmundr the learned]. Sæmundr died in 1133, which …

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1407 words

Citation: Olsen, Carl. "Edda, the Poetic". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 19 November 2008 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=5444, accessed 09 May 2024.]

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