About the book
BOOK SUMMARY
A collection of Norse-Icelandic mythological and heroic poems exploring creation myths, gods’ adventures, and tragic tales of heroes like Sigurd and Brynhild’s doomed love story.
Published 800–1100 CE
Norse Poetry
372 pages
Mostly here for the Marvel connections
June 23, 2026
I finished The Poetic Edda more in the name of canonical comprehensiveness than because I was especially enjoying it. Even though the poems were written down many centuries after the major Greek mythological texts, they feel a lot less polished. I had a hard copy of Lee Hollander’s translation and an audio version of Carolyne Larrington’s translation, and both took a good amount of effort for me to follow. There were a few interesting moments throughout, but mostly I enjoyed recognizing some of the mythological roots behind characters I mainly know through Marvel movies.
kelsi’s reading diary 