Prose Edda

The Prose Edda, also known also as the Younger Edda or Snorri's Edda (Snorra Edda) is an Icelandic collection of poems containing many stories from Norse mythology. The work was written by the Icelandic scholar and historian Snorri Sturluson around 1220.

The Prose Edda opens with a Prologue and consists of three distinct books: the Gylfaginning (c 20,000 words), the Skáldskaparmál (c 50,000 words) and the Háttatal (c 20,000 words). Seven manuscripts, dating from around 1300 to around 1600, have independent textual value.

The purpose of the collection was to enable Icelandic poets and readers to understand the subtleties of alliterative verse and to grasp the meaning behind the many kennings that were used in skaldic poetry.

External links

• The Prose Edda, translated by Arthur Gilchrist Brodeur, at sacred-texts.com
• Critical editions of all major redactions of the Prose Edda in pdf format at septentrionalia.net
• Edda Snorra Sturlusonar Old Norse text, Guðni Jónsson's edition.
• , Rasmus B. Anderson's translation (1897)
• , translated by Benjamin Thorpe (Elder Eddas) and I. A. Blackwell (Younger Eddas). (1906)
• Prose Edda Arthur G. Brodeur's translation (1916)

See also

• Edda
• Poetic Edda

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