The Poetic Edda

The Poetic Edda: Stories of the Norse Gods and Heroes By Jackson Crawford

Also known as the Elder Edda, this is the essential source, in a modern and updated translation, to understand and appreciate the beliefs, motivations, and values of the Vikings.The Poetic Edda inlcudes the "Havamal", which are poems attributed to Odin that present advice for living, proper conduct and wisdom.

Dr. Jackson Crawford is a specialist in Old Norse mythology and language at the University of Colorado.

REVIEW: "The poems of the Poetic Edda have waited a long time for a Modern English translation that would do them justice. Here it is at last (Odin be praised!) and well worth the wait. 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, their unique vision of the beginning and end of the world, etc. 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."

- Dick Ringler, Professor Emeritus of English and Scandinavian Studies at the University of Wisconsin–Madison