The Vikings

In the vivid tableau of popular imagination, Vikings emerge as fierce marauders and daring adventurers. However, at their heart, they were primarily industrious farmers and shrewd traders. They embarked on raids not merely for the thrill of conquest, but to amass treasure and captives, thereby enhancing their stature at home or seeking new territories for colonization abroad. Their bold ventures stretched from the grand city of Constantinople, present-day Istanbul, all the way to the uncharted coasts of North America. By establishing trading hubs along the Volga and Dneiper, they laid the foundations for the Russian state. Nearly all of Ireland's modern cities owe their origins to these enterprising Norsemen, and their formidable raid parties were a pivotal force in England's journey towards unification.

Emerging from a society that thrived on mixed farming, fishing, and trading, Vikings were adaptable and resourceful. The remarkable advancements in shipbuilding by the late eighth century gifted Scandinavians with Europe's most superior ships. The knorrs—their robust cargo ships—were unmatched, while their agile longships had the capability to sail across the Atlantic or navigate upriver to lay siege to Paris.

The Vikings not only set up trade and manufacturing outposts in Ireland and England but also extended their colonizing spirit to the Isle of Man, the Orkneys, Iceland, and Greenland. Many Icelandic settlers hailed from Norway, fleeing the centralization under a nascent kingship that clashed with their preferred independence. Others migrated from Viking settlements in Ireland, constantly under threat from the native Irish rulers.

Viking Society

In the vast, diverse landscapes of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, the sea was both a barrier and a bridge, shaping the lives of Scandinavia's people. The sea provided as much opportunity as the land, fostering a society that turned to it naturally for prospects.

Wherever the soil was fertile, Scandinavians tilled it. They cultivated rye, wheat, oats, and barley, depending on the region, and raised livestock such as cows, sheep, pigs, geese, and chickens. Complementing their farming, they hunted, fished, and gathered wild provisions like honey, birds' eggs, and plants. Farms functioned as family ventures, often set apart by expanses of land. From trading posts and sacred sites, towns slowly began to emerge around A.D. 1000.

Land ownership equated to wealth, with sons boosting a family's power by securing dowries that expanded their estates. The Norse society defined family through a complex web of kinship, reaching out to third or fourth cousins acknowledging a shared ancestry. These kinship ties, vital for protection and support, were the glue of a society where maintaining order and ensuring justice were paramount.

On their farms, men labored alongside kin, spanning generations. Wealthier landowners employed slaves for arduous tasks, while free laborers might earn their keep and a modest wage. Opulent landowners could engage more help, granting them the freedom to raid and trade, amassing the riches necessary to secure or elevate their societal standing.

Viking Ships and Shipbuilding

By the late eighth century, the art of shipbuilding had reached new heights, endowing Scandinavians with Europe's finest vessels. These ships, needing neither deep waters nor conventional harbors, sailed the North Sea or North Atlantic with ease and navigated major European rivers using oars. Graceful yet robust, with symmetrical ends and a true keel linking its ribs, these clinker-built ships featured overlapping, riveted planks. Sometimes, these planks were bound to the ship’s ribs with spruce roots to flexibly withstand turbulent seas. Equipped with a starboard side rudder, a notable discovery in 1880—the Gokstad ship found near the Oslo Fjord—spanned an impressive 76 and a half feet in length and 17 and a half feet at...

Epic Characteristics

Beyond the boundaries of the Sayings of the High One, which shares more kinship with literary companions like the biblical Proverbs, the Elder Edda emerges not as a complete epic but rather as the raw tapestry from which such an epic might be woven. Here, modern audiences are graced with the concise poetic tales or lays, which could serve as the foundation of an epic narrative. While the collection features in the Sibyl's Prophecy a grand arc from creation to destruction and rebirth, most of the verses only loosely adhere to this grand design. There isn't a singular hero to anchor the tales; instead, heroes abound ranging from the shadowy yet potent deity Thor to Gunnar, the deceptive brother-in-law of Sigurd, who meets a valiant end battling the monstrous tyrant of his era, Atli. Unlike the traditional epic, the Edda revels in the coarse vulgarity of Loki in The Insolence of Loki and the hearty amusement of Thor's escapades—especially in the Lay of Thrym, an early showcase of a scenario beloved in slapstick: the burly man masquerading as a bashful maiden.

Point of View

Each verse within the Elder Edda demands individual consideration regarding its storyteller and narrative lens. The composite Sayings of the High One suggests a chorus of narrators. Typically, the stories unfold through a third-person perspective, with occasional lines like: "Hlorridi's heart leaped with laughter / Then grew hard when he saw his hammer," offering a glimpse into the inner world of the characters. Their innermost thoughts and fiery emotions are betrayed solely through their dialogues and deeds. Freyja's wrath, for instance, is palpable through her actions in the Lay of Thrym: "Freyja snorted in such a fury / she made the hall of the Aesir shake." Two of the lays, the Sibyl's Prophecy and the Prophecy of Gripir, wield an all-knowing narrator by virtue of their prophetic essence. In dialogues such as those in The Lay of Vafthrudnir, the intent is to unveil specific knowledge, but the drama and irony that keep the exchange engaging lie in one character only feigning omniscience while the other genuinely is.

Setting

The behaviors depicted in the Elder Edda align closely with what is known about Viking age society. The geographical canvas of these lays spans from Scandinavia to the southwestern reaches of Russia, a homeland for the Goths before their incursion into the Roman Empire in the late fourth century. The pivotal Sigurd lays find their heart in the Rhine valley of western Germany. Yet, the true realm of the Elder Edda is a cosmos of nine worlds: At the center lies Asgard, the abode of gods; encircled by Midgard, the realm of humans; and further out, Utgard, enclosing Jötunheim (giants), Alfheim (elves), Svartalfheim (dark elves), and possibly Vanaheim, the mysterious domain of the Vanir gods. Beneath these three tiers lies Niflhel, the dominion of Hel, goddess of the dead. The ninth world might belong to the dwarves, though its name and precise location remain enigmatic. Asgard and Midgard find sanctuary from Utgard's wildness through a watery barrier, in which the colossal Midgard serpent resides, encircling Midgard with its tail in its mouth. Bifröst, a radiant rainbow bridge, forges a connection between Asgard and Midgard. The majestic world tree, Yggdrasil, anchors one root in Asgard, another in Utgard, and the third in Niflhel. At the foot of the first root gushes the spring of Urd or Fate, beneath the second flows the well of Mimir, the font of Odin's wisdom, and the third shelters Hvergelmir, the fountainhead of all rivers. Deep within, a dragon relentlessly gnaws at its roots.

Allusions

The Elder Edda is a tapestry rich with references to a vast spectrum of myth and legend, only partially preserved and steering the imagery and symbolism not only within its own pages but throughout Norse literature and Skaldic verse. Even within the Elder Edda itself, some poems serve as dramatic glossaries of allusions and metaphors, such as The Lay of Alvis and The Lay of Vafthrudnir.

Heiti and Kennings

Among the most striking poetic devices are heiti and kennings. Heiti are the meticulously selected, often rarefied words for commonplace subjects or notions. These might be archaisms, remnants fallen from everyday language, or familiar words wielded in a uniquely poetic fashion, or entirely novel coinages. Kenning, derived from the verb kenna meaning to characterize or define, comprises a noun paired with a modifier in the possessive case, like 'the raven's feeder' denoting a warrior. Some depend on natural or mundane associations such as 'the bane of tinder' for fire or 'the giver of linen' for a lady. The most intricate draw upon mythic or legendary allusions.

Prosody

The verses of the Elder Edda typically manifest in four-line stanzas. Each line is bisected by a caesura (pause), and within each half-line reside two stressed syllables; these are linked across the caesura by alliteration tying a stressed initial sound in the first half to one in the second. Consonant sounds only alliterate with their identical sound. Every vowel can alliterate with any other vowel. The positioning of the stressed syllables remains flexible. In Fornyrdislag (ancient verse), generally, only two unstressed syllables are allowed per half-line: "Betty Bouncer bought a candle." In Málaháttr (speech verse), three unstressed syllables per half-line are permissible: "Sad little Susan, sought for a candle." In a third stanza form, ljódaháttr (song measure), the first and fourth lines are in Málaháttr, while the second and fourth contain only three stresses.

Setting during The Elder Edda: In the age of the Vikings, the lifeblood of northern and western Europe pulsed with raw materials and human labor. Vast numbers of men, women, and children were swept into a relentless tide of slavery, finding themselves not only bound within European borders but also transported to the far reaches of Muslim Spain, North Africa, and the Middle East. In a twist of fate, the modern era witnesses a reversal, where thousands from North Africa are compelled to seek livelihoods in the sun-drenched lands of Spain and France.

Medieval Iceland: Carved from rock and ice, Iceland stood as a realm of modest means and sparse population, yet it birthed a thriving tapestry of literature, both in prose and verse. Throughout the long winters, storytelling became a cherished pastime, drawing families and neighbors together in the warm glow of shared tales, a tradition that endured into the nineteenth century across rural homesteads. Today, Iceland boasts one of the world's highest literacy rates, a testament to its enduring literary heritage.

Tenth and Twelfth Century: In Greenland, Norse settlers discovered an untouched land, its climate kindly enough to nurture their livestock and sustain their way of living. Yet, the capricious hand of climatic change turned back time, bringing with it the weather patterns familiar to us today. Meanwhile, the Eskimo, who had retreated northward before the Viking arrival, returned. The Norse colony, unable to reshape its cultural identity to fit the shifting environment, vanished by the close of the fifteenth century, leaving only echoes of its brief existence.

The Elder Edda served as a pivotal inspiration for Richard Wagner's grand cycle of musical dramas,The Ring of the Nibelungen. This legendary series of four operas—Rhinegold, The Valkyries, Siegfried, and The Twilight of the Gods—intertwines myth and music. Wagner ingeniously wove the mystical narratives of the Elder Edda to reflect his profound unease with the sweeping changes brought by the industrial revolution and the turbulent political shifts of nineteenth-century Germany.

Among the most influential films of Germany's silent era, Fritz Lang's Siegfried (1924) and Kriemhild's Revenge (1924) stand as monumental achievements.

The Swedish wordsmith Victor Rydberg, in his work Den nya Grottasongen (1891), vividly reimagined the Lay of Frodi's Mill. He cast it as a searing critique of industrialism's unchecked ambition and capitalism's merciless exploitation of humanity.

Sources

Dronke, Ursula, "Art and tradition in Skirnismal," in English and Medieval Studies Presented to J. R. R. Tolkien, edited by N. Davis and C. L. Wrenn, Allen and Unwin Ltd., 1962, pp. 250—268, repr. Myth and Fiction in Early Norse Lands.

----, "Classical Influence on Early Norse Literature," in Classical Influences on European Culture, A.D. 500-1500. edited by R. R. Bolgar, Cambridge University Press, 1971, pp. 143-149, repr. Myth and Fiction in Early Norse Lands.

----, "Eddic Poetry as a source for the history of Germanic religion," in Germanische Religiosgeschichte. Quellen und Quellemprobleme, edited by H. Beck, D. Elmers, and K. Schier, Walter de Gruyter, 1992, pp. 656-684, repr. Myth and Fiction in Early Norse Lands.

----, Myth and Fiction in Early Norse Lands, Variorum Collected Studies Series CS524, 1996.

----, "Pagan beliefs and Christian Impact: The Contribution of Eddic Studies," in Viking Revaluations. Viking Society Centenary Symposium, edited by A. Faulkes and R. Perkins, Viking Society for Northern Research, 1993, pp. Germania Latina 1, Egbert Forsten, 1971, pp. 3-23, repr. Myth and Fiction in Early Norse Lands.

----, "The war of the Aesir and Vanir" in Völuspá Idee, Gestalt, Geschichte. Festschrift Klaus von See, edited by G. W. Weber, Odense University Press, 1988, pp. 223-238, repr. Myth and Fiction in Early Norse Lands.

Nordal, Sigurthur, ed., Völuspa, translated by B. S. Benedikz and John McKinnell, Durham and St. Andrews Medieval Texts 1, 1978.

Sturluson, Snorri, The Prose Edda: Tales from Norse Mythology, translated by Jean I. Young, University of California Press, 1966.

Further Reading

Byock, Jesse L., The Saga of the Volsungs: The Norse Epic of Sigurd the Dragon Slayer, University of California Press, 1990. A thirteenth century prose version of the Volsungs drawing upon the Edda lays. It will help the reader place the dramatic and allusive lays in a coherent narrative.

Dronke, Ursula, The Poetic Edda: Volume I Heroic Poems, Clarendon Press, 1969. This book is the most modern edition. The analysis of the poetry is designed for the advanced student but is the finest available.

Grahm-Campbell, James and Dafydd Kidd, The Vikings, British Museum Publications Limited, 1980. A magnificently illustrated book with a good but non-technical discussion of the Vikings at home and abroad.

Ker, W. P., Epic and Romance, Dover Press, 1957. A very old, but very engaging book. It has introduced generations to the excitement and beauty of Norse literature.

Magnusson, Magnus, Viking Expansion Westwards, The Bodley Head, 1973. This history of the Vikings from England to North America reads like a novel. It is full of lively portraits and the small happenings of everyday life as well as heroism and violence.

Sturluson, Snorri, The Prose Edda: Tales from Norse Mythology, translated by Jean I. Young, University of California Press. This text provides a lively translation of the most accessible parts of an encyclopedic thirteenth-century prose collection of the myths and legends at the heart of the Norse poetic vocabulary.

Taylor, Paul B., and W. H. Auden, tran., The Elder Edda: A Selection translated from the Icelandic, introduction by Peter H. Salus and Paul B. Taylor, Faber and Faber, 1969. Auden was a major twentieth century avant-garde poet who nevertheless maintained a lively interest in early medieval poetry. The introduction is particularly useful for the beginner.

Terry, Patricia, Poems of the Vikings: The Elder Edda, Bobbs-Merrill Company, 1969. A nearly complete and very careful translation of the Elder Edda. The introduction is clear and to the point.

Turville-Petr, E. O. G., Myth and Religion of the North, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1964. This book is still considered the best and most readable on the subject.