Title: Poetic Edda/Elder Edda

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The core of poems that make up what is referred to as eddic poetry, glossing over the different metres and subjects, is contained in a small, unassuming medieval manuscript called Codex Regius, or "royal book," written circa 1270. It is not to be confused with another Codex Regius, which instead contains a version of the Prose or Younger Edda (LINK) attributed to Snorri Sturluson.Codex Regius of the Elder Edda contains 29 poems, 10 of them dealing with myths and gods, and the other 19 with ancient Scandinavian and Germanic heroes. Alongside the Prose Edda, the Poetic Edda is considered a key to the pagan religious worldview of the settlers of Iceland and their Scandinavian neighbors, but it must be kept in mind that both of these documents were written more than 200 years after the Christianization of Iceland (999/1000). The poems are argued to have some roots in the oral storytelling culture of the pagan period, but have inevitably changed a great deal over time and especially in their transmission to a written form as they survive for us. Since the Prose Edda (compiled circa 1220) quotes certain eddic poems extensively, despite the manuscript being older than Codex Regius of the poetry, it means that earlier, lost versions were known to and perhaps on hand for the compilers of the Prose Edda.There are also other poetic works that fall in the category of eddic poetry but are not in the Codex Regius Edda. Five of these are often added to editions of the Poetic Edda by editors, and they will given below at the end of the list under a separate heading. Some of these poems are only found in sagas, such as the Waking of Angantyr (LINK), found in Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks (LINK).List of poemsMythological poems (Codex Regius):Völuspá ("The Prophecy of the Seeress")Hávamál ("Sayings of the High One")Vafþrúðnismál ("Vafþrúðnir's Sayings")Grímnismál ("Grímnir's Sayings")Skírnismál ("Skírnir's Sayings," also "Skírnir's Journey")Hárbarðsljóð ("The Lay of Hárbarðr")Hymiskviða ("The Lay of Hymir")Lokasenna ("The Flyting of Loki"; a "flyting" is a contest of verbal insults, often given in verse)Þrymskviða ("The Lay of Þrymr")Völundarkviða (The Lay of Völundr)Alvíssmál ("All-Wise's Sayings")Mythological poems not in Codex Regius:Baldrs draumar ("Baldr's dreams")Hyndluljóð ("The Chant of Hyndla")Rígsþula ("The Account/List of Rígr")Grottasöngr ("The Song of Grotti")Svipdagsmál ("The Sayings of Svipdagr")Heroic poems in Codex Regius:Helgakviða Hundingsbana I ("The First Lay of Helgi Hundingsbane")Helgakviða Hjövarðssonar ("The Lay of Helgi Hjörvarðsson")Helgakviða Hundingsbana II ("The Second Lay of Helgi Hundingsbane")Frá dauða Sinfjötla ("Of Sinfjötli's Death") (A prose transition)Grípisspá ("The Prophecy of Grípir")Reginsmál ("The Sayings of Regin")Fáfnismál ("The Sayings of Fáfnir")Sigrdrífumál ("The Sayings of Sigrdrífa")Brot af Sigurðarkviðu ("Fragment of a Lay of Sigurðr")Guðrúnarkviða I ("The First Lay of Guðrún")Sigurðarkviða hin skamma ("The Short Lay of Sigurd")Helreið Brynhildar ("Brynhildr's Ride to Hel")Dráp Niflunga ("The Death of the Niflungs") (another short prose section)Guðrúnarkviða II ("The Second Lay of Guðrún") Guðrúnarkviða III ("The Third Lay of Gudrún")Oddrúnargrátr ("Oddrún's Lament")Atlakviða ("The Lay of Atli")Atlamál hin groenlenzku ("The Greenlandic Poem of Atli")Guðrúnarhvöt ("The Whetting of Guðrún")Hamðismál ("The Sayings of Hamðir")Heroic poems not in Codex Regius, but which are still considered eddic:Darraðarljóð ("The Song/Chant of Darraðr"), from Njáls saga (LINK)Gátur Gestumblinda ("The Riddles of Gestumblindi")Hlöðskviða ("The Lay of Hlöðr")Hervararljöð ("The Chant of Hervör," also know as the Waking of Angantyr)--Gátur Gestumblinda, Hlöðskviða, and Hervararljóð are all from Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks (LINK), a fornaldarsagaBjarkamál ("The Sayings of Bjarki"), from Gesta Danorum (LINK), a Danish mytho-historical tract from circa 1200.As mentioned above, eddic poetry is thought of as a window into the pre-Christian and pre-literate (not including runic writing) culture of Iron Age Scandinavia and Iceland. It is thought of as ancient and imbued with the shadowy spirit of a time which is beyond any precise reconstruction. It is accepted that Codex Regius is compiled from or based on smaller, earlier collections of such poetry, but none of these written exemplars are likely to go back further than 1200 (still 200 years after Christianization). However, eddic poetry exemplifies the difference between oral and written storytelling culture and the separation between what is written and 'fixed in place' on the page, and what infinite possible forms these stories took prior to this textualization; the meat of the stories, their repeated and shifting performance in different spaces, cultures, times, etc. This is further complicated by the clear parallels that eddic poems have with older, non-Nordic literature, particular Old English and Old High and Middle High German. These connections prove that different traditions of these stories existed across cultures, as well as the fact that a great deal of their subject matter is set in the Migration Era (roughly 300–800 AD, a period of major flux following the disintegration of the Western Roman Empire). There are also stone and wood carvings thought to depict figures and events from the heroic poems, particularly the Völsung material (LINK). As Terry Gunnell puts it succinctly, "the material had been in people’s minds and on their lips long before it was recorded" (Gunnell 2005, 93).It is important to keep in mind that the poems as we have them in written form exemplify a blend of cultural material, a mix of older pagan themes and figures with later Skáldic and Christian material. While some aspects and subjects are clearly much older, coming from the 9th or 10th centuries at least, the context of the time and place in which they were written down, 13th century, Christian Iceland, undoubtedly influenced the compositions. Lastly, in comparison with the Prose Edda, the other main source of Norse mythology, the poetry of the Elder Edda gives a more authentic portrayal of the variety and nature of Old Norse pre-Christian myth and religion (Gunnell 2005, 94). This is because the Prose Edda uses a framework to try and enforce order on the contradictory, strange, and conflicting picture given by the poetry, in an attempt to present a coherent narrative and make a pantheon where there was none in the first place. See Prose Edda (LINK) for more on the purpose and form of that text.See Terry Gunnell's chapter in A Companion to Old Norse-Iceland Literature, "Eddic Poetry" for a concise and comprehensive introduction.