The Prose Edda

The Prose Edda is a work without predecessor or parallel. Snorri Sturlson feared that the traditional techniques of Norse poetics, the pagan keennings, and the allusions to mythology would be forgotten with the introdution of new verse forms from Europe. The Prose Edda was designed as a handbook for poets to compose in the style of the skalds of the Viking ages. It is an exposition of the rule of poetic diction with many examples, applications, and retelling of myths and legends. The present selection includes the whole of Gylfaginning (the Deluduing of Gylfi) -- Aguide to mythology that forms one of the great story books of the Middle Ages-- and the longer heroic tales and legends of Poetic diction. Snorri Sturlson was a master storyteller, and this translation in modern idiom of the inimitable tales of the gods and heroes of the Scandinavian peoples brings them to life again.

Iceland's most versatile literary genius, SNORRI STURLSON (1179-1241) was born in western Iceland, the son of a great chieftain. Early in his career, he won a reputation at home and in Norway for his poetic talents. Later he traveled to Norway and wrote the lives of the kings: the Heimskingla Saga, Egil's Saga, and Saint Olaf's Saga, a work unsurpassed in Icelandic prose.