THE HIES OPEN LIBRARY
Arthur Gilchrist Brodeur, trans. • 1916
Category: PRIMARY SOURCE
The Prose Edda is a thirteenth-century Old Norse work traditionally attributed to the Icelandic historian, poet, and statesman Snorri Sturluson. Written partly as a guide to the language and traditions of skaldic poetry, it preserves extensive accounts of Old Norse mythology, cosmology, poetic language, and legendary tradition.
Its major sections include the Prologue, Gylfaginning, Skáldskaparmál, and Háttatal. Together they preserve narratives concerning the Gods, the creation and structure of the cosmos, Ragnarök, legendary figures, kennings, poetic diction, and the principles of skaldic verse.
This Open Library entry uses Arthur Gilchrist Brodeur's 1916 English translation of the Prose Edda. The translation presents the principal narrative and poetic material of Snorri's work for English-language readers and remains a useful historical edition for the study of Old Norse literary and religious tradition.
As with other historical translations and scholarship in the HIES Open Library, this edition should be read critically and in conversation with later scholarship and additional translations.
Mythology & Cosmology
Gods & Divine Traditions
Skaldic Poetry
Kennings & Poetic Language
Ragnarök
Legendary Tradition
Cultural Memory
Textual Interpretation
The Prose Edda is a foundational source for the study of Old Norse mythology, poetic tradition, and religious memory at Hákonarætt Institute of Eddic Studies.
It is especially relevant to courses addressing Eddic and Old Norse literature, mythology and cosmology, Old Norse religion and worldview, skaldic poetry, kennings, textual interpretation, and the preservation and transmission of inherited tradition.
Inclusion in the Open Library does not mean that every section is assigned in every HIES course. Specific required readings are identified within individual courses on the HIES Learning Platform.
Title: The Prose Edda
Author: Snorri Sturluson
Translator: Arthur Gilchrist Brodeur
Publication Year: 1916
Resource Type: Primary Source / Translation
Language: English