The Edda, namely the Poetic Edda (Old Norse: Sæmundar Edda) and the Prose Edda (Old Norse: Snorri's Edda), is the collective of two 13th century Icelandic literary works. They contain materials from earlier traditional sources, reaching into the Viking Age. The Edda is the main source of medieval skaldic tradition in Iceland and Norse mythology.[1]
Description[]
The Poetic Edda is an untitled collection of Old Norse anonymous poems. Several versions exist, all primarily of text from the Icelandic medieval manuscript known as the Codex Regius, which contains thirty-one poems. The Codex Regius is arguably the most important extant source on Norse mythology and Germanic heroic legends.[2]
The Prose Edda is an Old Norse textbook written in Iceland during the early 13th century. The work is often assumed to have been to some extent written, or at least compiled by, the Iceland scholar, lawspeaker, and historian Snorri Sturluson. It is considered the fullest and most detailed source for modern knowledge of Norse mythology. The Prose Edda has four sections.
- The Prologue: A euhemerized account of the Norse gods
- The Gylfaginnning: A question and answer format that details aspects of Norse mythology
- Skáldskaparmál: Continues the previous formant before providing lists of kennings and heiti
- Háttatal: Discusses the composition of traditional skaldic poetry.[3]
In Vikings[]
In All Change, Ragnar quotes the Hávamál while viewing the ash tree Jarl Borg claims is the Yggdrasil, also known as the Tree of Life.
In Kill the Queen and Mercy, Floki's punishment for killing Athelstan is a direct recreation of Loki's punishment for killing Baldr in the Norse tale The Binding of Loki. While the details of his imprisonment vary in the Poetic Edda and the Prose Edda, a constant that remains is that Loki is bound with a serpent hanging above him, which drips venom, making Loki writhe in pain.
In The Dead, the Vikings sing the poem Hávamál at Ragnar's fake funeral.