The Edda, Volume 1 | Page 2

how much in them is literary
explanation of tradition whose meaning was forgotten; some also,
especially in Snorri, is probably pure invention, fairy tale rather than
myth.
Many attempts have been made to prove that the material of the Edda is
largely borrowed. The strength and distinction of Icelandic poetry rest
rather on the fact that it is original and national and, like that of Greece,
owes little to foreign sources; and that it began in the heathen age,
before Christian or Romantic influences had touched Iceland. Valuable
as the early Christian poetry of England is, we look in vain there for the
humour, the large-minded simplicity of motive, the suggestive

character-drawing, the swift dramatic action, which are as conspicuous
in many poems in the Edda as in many of the Sagas.
Omitting the heroic poems, there are in Codex Regius the following: (1)
Of a more or less comprehensive character, _Völuspa, Vafthrudnismal,
Grimnismal, Lokasenna, Harbardsljod_; (2) dealing with episodes,
_Hymiskvida, Thrymskvida, Skirnisför. Havamal_ is a collection of
proverbs, but contains two interpolations from mythical poems;
Alvissmal, which, in the form of a dialogue between Thor and a dwarf
Alviss, gives a list of synonyms, is a kind of mythologico-poetical
glossary. Several of these poems are found in another
thirteenth-century vellum fragment, with an additional one, variously
styled Vegtamskvida or _Baldr's Dreams_; the great fourteenth-century
codex Flateybook contains Hyndluljod, partly genealogical, partly an
imitation of _Völuspa_; and one of the MSS. of Snorri's Edda gives us
Rigsthula.
_Völuspa_, though not one of the earliest poems, forms an appropriate
opening. Metrical considerations forbid an earlier date than the first
quarter of the eleventh century, and the last few lines are still later. The
material is, however, older: the poem is an outline, in allusions often
obscure to us, of traditions and beliefs familiar to its first hearers. The
very bareness of the outline is sufficient proof that the material is not
new. The framework is apparently imitated from that of the poem
known as _Baldr's Dreams_, some lines from which are inserted in
_Völuspa_. This older poem describes Odin's visit to the Sibyl in
hell-gates to inquire into the future. He rides down to her tomb at the
eastern door of Nifl-hell and chants spells, until she awakes and asks:
"What man unknown to me is that, who has troubled me with this
weary journey? Snow has snowed on me, rain has beaten me, dew has
drenched me, I have long been dead." He gives the name Wegtam, or
Way-wise, and then follow question and answer until she discovers his
identity and will say no more. In _Völuspa_ there is no descriptive
introduction, and no dialogue; the whole is spoken by the Sibyl, who
plunges at once into her story, with only the explanatory words: "Thou,
Valfather, wouldst have me tell the ancient histories of men as far as I
remember." She describes the creation of the world and sky by Bor's
sons; the building by the Gods of a citadel in Ida-plain, and their age of
innocence till three giant-maids brought greed of gold; the creation of

the dwarfs; the creation of the first man and woman out of two trees by
Odin, Hoeni and Lodur; the world-ash and the spring beside it where
dwell the three Norns who order the fates of men. Then follows an
allusion to the war between the Aesir and the Vanir, the battle with the
giants who had got possession of the goddess Freyja, and the breaking
of bargains; an obscure reference to Mimi's spring where Odin left his
eye as a pledge; and an enumeration of his war-maids or Valkyries.
Turning to the future, the Sibyl prophesies the death of Baldr, the
vengeance on his slayer, and the chaining of Loki, the doom of the
Gods and the destruction of the world at the coming of the fire-giants
and the release of Loki's children from captivity. The rest of the poem
seems to be later; it tells how the earth shall rise again from the deep,
and the Aesir dwell once more in Odin's halls, and there is a suggestion
of Christian influence in it which is absent from the earlier part.
Of the other general poems, the next four were probably composed
before 950; in each the setting is different. Vafthrudnismal, a
riddle-poem, shows Odin in a favourite position, seeking in disguise for
knowledge of the future. Under the name of Gangrad (Wanderer), he
visits the wise giant Vafthrudni, and the two agree to test their wisdom:
the one who fails to answer a question is to forfeit his head. In each
case the questions deal first with the past. Vafthrudni asks about Day
and Night, and the river which divides the Giants from the Gods,
matters of common knowledge; and then puts a