Nordic Germanic Mythology – the extant sources.
The Prose Edda:
The Edda of Snorri Sturluson (1178-1241) is the most important extant source on Nordic mythology along with the Poetic Edda. But the skalds (poets) in Iceland also knew Snorri’s Edda throughout the centuries as an instruction to master the skaldic art (the art of ancient Nordic Poetry).
The Edda is mostly written in prose but with quotations from various poems. It’s in four main parts; Prologue, Gylfaginning , Skáldskaparmál and Háttatal.
Gylfaginning (The trickling of Gylfi): King Gylfi visits the gods (or initiated kings) who answer his questions. They show him the creation, the life of the gods and other beings, the end of the world “Ragnarök” and the new earth that rises thereafter.
This part contains many quotations from Edda poems like Völuspá and others.
Skáldskaparmál (The language of poetry): An instruction to the poetic language that to a great extent is based on the mythology. This part also contains various myths.
Háttatal (List of metrics): A study in poetry, in alliteration, rhythm and rhyme etc., with over one hundred examples of metrics.
The Poetic Edda:
The Poetic Edda is a collection of old Nordic poems that primarily are preserved in a 13.century manuscript (Codex Regius)*. The poems are of unknown origin; they are not attributed to a particular author, but might have lived for centuries in oraltradition before they were written down in Iceland in the 13.century
. They are in two main categories, poems of gods (mythology) and poems of heroes.
The Edda Poems are in alliterative metre (letter-rhyme), which was common in old Germanic poetry. Alliterative poetry is still practised in Iceland in unbroken tradition since the settlement. Most of the Edda Poems are in two main metrics, “fornyrðislag” and “ljóðaháttur”
From Völuspá (fornyrðislag)
Eg man iötna
ár um borna
þá er forðum mig
fædda höfðu.
Níu man eg heima
níu íviðjur
mjötvið mæran
fyr mold neðan.
Two lines alliterate together with two or three of the same consonants (like m m in the first line and single m in the second line) or as when the alliteration is on vowels there must be two or three different ones (like e and i in the first line and á in the second).
The alliteration is always were there is a lift in the rhythm.
From Hávamál (ljóðaháttur)
Elds er þörf
þeim er inn er kominn
og á kné kalinn.
Matar og voða
er manni þörf
þeim er hefir um fjall farið.
In ljóðaháttur two lines alliterate together and the third line separately.
The Edda Poems have a relatively free structure and are not so difficult to understand if you know the poetic language. But from the 9th till the 13.century (has probably a much older, unknown origin) a living tradition of a very different poetry flourished; the “Dróttkvæði” (skaldic poetry). Those poems are always attributed to a particular author, have a very strict and complicated construction and mostly handle the present time of the composing. Háttatal in Snorri’s Edda is an instruction in this kind of poetry.
From Háttatal:
Lætr sás Hákon heitir
hann rekkir lið bannað
jörð kann frelsa fyrðum
friðrofs konungr ofsa.
Sjálfr ræðr allt og Elfar
ungr stillir sá milli
gramr á gift að fremri
Gandvíkr jöfur landi.
In dróttkvæði there is beside the alliteration a particular rhyme within each line. In 1.-3.-5.-7.line there is a “Skothending”, like örð – yrð , different vowels in front of the same consonants, and in lines 2-4-6-8 an “Aðalhending”, like ofs – ofs.
And the word order is very confusing if you are not initiated in the art of poetry.
Ever since the settlement the poetry and literature has had a main role in the culture of Iceland. And one can see how Snorri's Edda and these different kinds of metrics have influenced the development of Icelandic poetry till today.
*In the 17.century it was believed that the Edda of Snorri was based on an older and greater Edda that was lost. When an old manuscript came into the possession of Brynjólfur Sveinsson the Bishop of Skálholt in the year of 1643 he meant it to be a part of this lost Edda. He attributed it to Sæmundur Fróði (Sæmundur the Learned, 1056-1133). As the manuscript originates from the late 13.century it is not from Sæmundur but as he was the founder of the school where Snorri later studied, it is very likely he had to do with the preservation and study of the Edda poems.