Elder Edda | Style

Epic Characteristics
Leaving aside the Sayings of the High One, which has more in common with works like the biblical Proverbs, it appears that the Elder Edda is not an epic but materials for one. Here, for once, modern readers have the relatively short poetic narratives, or lays, which supposedly lie behind the epic. While the collection provides in the Sibyl's Prophecy a narrative from earth's creation through destruction and renewal, the majority of the poems fit only loosely into that scheme. There is no single hero, but rather a number of...

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