Young were the years when Ymir made his settlement,there was no sand nor sea nor cool waves;earth was nowhere nor the sky above,chaos yawned, grass was there nowhere.The sun turns black, earth sinks into the sea,the bright stars vanish from the sky;steam rises up in the conflagration,a high flame plays against heaven itself.Seeress's Prophecy 3, 57The collection of Norse-Icelandic mythological and heroic poetry known as thePoetic Edda contains the great narratives of the creation of the world and thecoming of Ragnarok, the Doom of the Gods. The mythological poems explore thewisdom of the gods and giants, narrating the adventures of the god Thor againstthe hostile giants and the gods' rivalries amongst themselves. The heroic poemstrace the exploits of the hero Helgi and his valkyrie bride, the tragic tale ofSigurd and Brynhild's doomed love, and the terrible drama of Sigurd's widowGudrun and her children.Many of the poems predate the conversion of Scandinavia to Christianity,allowing us to glimpse the pagan beliefs of the North. Since the rediscovery ofthe Poetic Edda in the seventeenth century, its poetry has fascinated artists asdiverse as Thomas Gray, Richard Wagner, and Jorge Luis Borges.This is the first complete translation to be published in Britain for fiftyyears, and it includes a scholarly introduction, notes, a genealogy of the godsand giants, and an index of names.

Carolyne Larrington is Senior Research Fellow at Montfort University, Leicester.