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A review by hexatrance
The Poetic Edda by Anonymous
adventurous
informative
medium-paced
4.0
A historical gold mine of stories. This ended up more interesting than I anticipated. You have to take your time by looking at the notes, but once you have your head around whose who, the stories unravel themselves in true old Norse fashion. I especially enjoyed the Mythology poems and loved learning all about the gods. Only reason not a 5 star is because of the nature of the text as originating in manuscripts. Sections will be missing or seemed disconnected but that’s due to the material/oral history.
Reread: the heroic poems can get repetitive but still the stories of Sigurd and Gudrun are good ones. I wish there was more of the Old Norse in the notes, especially for names and kennings, instead of just the literal translations.
Reread again: A joy as always. The mythological poems are my favourite and the Helgi ones my least favourite, but I enjoyed the Gudrun poems a lot more this time around.
Reread: the heroic poems can get repetitive but still the stories of Sigurd and Gudrun are good ones. I wish there was more of the Old Norse in the notes, especially for names and kennings, instead of just the literal translations.
Reread again: A joy as always. The mythological poems are my favourite and the Helgi ones my least favourite, but I enjoyed the Gudrun poems a lot more this time around.