CC Spin #44: The Poetic Edda
The Poetic Edda: Stories of the Norse Gods and Heroes , trans. by Jackson Crawford This was fun! I read a couple of poems per day. These are the oldest sources we have for information about the Norse gods, and they're kind of cryptic. It helps to have a little bit of context and background information, which Crawford provides, but not too much; he doesn't overdo it. The first poems are mostly about Thor, Odin, and Loki. In one, Loki shows up and creatively insults everyone, and they just have to put up with it because Odin has sworn to always drink with Loki. (The swearing of oaths seems to be a popular, and dangerous, pastime while drinking.) Odin goes in disguise to a giant and they have a contest of wisdom. One poem is just good advice from Odin. In another, Odin and Thor insult each other across a ford. I particularly liked a complicated poem about "the escape of Voland the smith," who ended up as Wayland in Britain. ...