Title: Gylfaginning

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Description:

Gylfaginning is a section of the compiled treatise on mythology and poetry known as the Prose Edda, the Younger Edda, or Snorri's Edda (LINK). The title means "the tricking of Gylfi," which describes the frame narrative that initiates a comprehensive dialogue about the pagan gods and mythological matters about the beginning and end of the world. It describes how the king of Sweden, Gylfi, offers as much land as she can plough in one day to a woman named Gefjun, who is one of the Æsir (LINK). She summons her four sons, which she had with an unnamed jötunn (LINK), in the shapes of oxen, and hitches them to her plough. She then plows a huge amount of land, and the plough cuts so deep that the land is torn away into the sea, and she pulls it out to the west and this is the origin of Zealand, a region in Denmark. Amazed, Gylfi goes in disguise under the name Gangleri to investigate the Æsir, arriving at Valhöll, which is extremely tall and roofed with shields. He sees many wondrous things inside as he is led to the triple thrones of the rulers, High, Just as High, and Third. Here Gangleri and the three rulers engage in a dialogue of question and answer, where Gangleri asks about the gods of the Æsir, the origins of myths and magical things, the creation and prophesied destruction of the world, and other matters. Many stories of the gods are found only in this story, and Gylfaginning is a comprehensive survey of at least a certain version of Norse myth. The compiler often quotes from Eddic poetry found in the Poetic Edda as a source, but some Skaldic poetry is also included here. At the end, Gylfi leaves and turns back to look at the hall again, only to find it has disappeared and the area is empty. Everything was an illusion made by the kings of the Æsir who foresaw Gylfi's arrival with their prophetic gifts. The kings then take on the names of the gods that they were telling stories about, and Gylfi spreads the stories around Scandinavia; this is thus the Prose Edda's 'explanation' for the existence of Norse mythology and pagan belief. It also supplies a great amount of mythological information to the reader, which is expanded in the following sections, and which is important for understanding and composing skaldic poetry. Skalds use constructions called kennings (LINK) and heiti, which use mythological material to vary their poetry with restatement, something called periphrasis. See entry on kennings (LINK) for more.