Since this was my second time reading, I skipped Snorri's final section detailing verse-forms, as I was more interested in the mythology than the art of ancient poetry.

Snorri created this collection of stories and poetry how-to in part to save a dying art. He himself was Christian but he wished to ensure that traditional Norse poetic composition was not lost. He has an interesting theory on the origin of Aesir worship, linking them with Trojan mythology.

Reading this composition, I couldn't help but be sad that this is one of the few sources we still have for Norse mythology, and what we get here is often tantalising fragments. Snorri often quotes other compositions, which have been lost to the ages save the few lines he includes. Just what was Heimdall's poem, what would it have told us about the enigmatic watchman of the gods, and would it have told us why the head is called "Heimdall's sword"?

This is certainly a must for anyone wishing to dig down into Norse mythology. This is one of the main sources that collections of the myths draw from, and you can judge for yourself how well they have interpreted the fragmentary source material. One of the surprises is how numerous the gods were, yet these days we only really pay any attention to Odin, Thor and Loki, seeing as the surviving myths concern mainly these three and give them such lively personalities. But what of Loki and Odin's companion Hoenir? What of Gefjon who ploughed up a whole island? We may never know.

One thing I can say with fair certainty: our modern interpretation of Odin seems to be completely wrong. Sure he was "All Father", but he was also "Corpse Father" and "Dread". I feel that rather than being a kindly old man, he must have been terrifying. ( )

Per me Edda è stato un tuffo nel passato, quando leggevo tonnellate di miti: soprattutto greci e latini, ma non disdegnavo tuffi in quella egiziana, nordica, cinese, e via dicendo.

L’opera in prosa di Snorri Sturluson si presenta come un manuale per scrivere e capire la poesia, soprattutto le kenningar, perifrasi che spesso facevano riferimenti al mito, rendendone necessaria la conoscenza per la comprensione (e la composizione) dei testi. Questa edizione Adelphi contiene il Gylfaginning e gli Skáldskaparmál, ma non il Formáli, il prologo, (del quale però viene inserito il primo capitolo in nota) e Háttatal, dove l’autore si occupava di metrica.

Il Gylfaginning, “L’inganno di Gylfi”, racconta diversi miti incentrati sulla cosmogonia e le divinità principali: probabilmente non è male avere qualche conoscenza pregressa di mitologia nordica prima di affrontare la lettura dell’Edda di Snorri, visto che non si tratta proprio di un racconto lineare, ma di un botta e risposta tra Re Gylfi e Hár, Iafnhár e Thridhi.

Gli Skáldskaparmál, “Il linguaggio poetico”, si concentrano, come dicevo testé, sulle kenningar e si preoccupano di dare loro un senso raccontando i miti ai quali si riferiscono. In questa parte, si racconta anche il mito di un certo anello che sarebbe stato la rovina di chiunque l’avesse posseduto: di certo farà la gioia dei fan di Tolkien, che riconosceranno parecchie similitudini con l’opera del professore. ( )

prior to reading notes in this vol I hadn't realized that some of the "mythical" material reflects actual people/events with independent attestations (Atli=Attila etc)
utterly fascinating ( )

The Prose Edda is a collection of Norse legends and writings compiled by Snorri Sturluson (and at least some definitely written by him) in the 1200s. I don't know a ton about Norse mythology so did find this interesting - it was nice to finally "really" figure out how all of the pieces that I've heard about at various times, from Valhalla to Thor's hammer to Ragnarok to Yggdrasil, all fit together. As one would expect from what is essentially a compilation of myths (also featuring all of the different names of the different gods), it's not the most compelling read, and I found it hard to keep track of which giant did what in which story, but I definitely came out of this knowing more about Norse myths than I did when I started it.

It would have been useful for me to know in advance that the translation/edition that you pick to read may have huge repercussions for your enjoyment of the book, since there are some sections of the Prose Edda (the really dry ones on the composition of poetry) that aren't included in all editions. I first tried to read a non-abridged edition and found it to be a total slog, but eventually I switched to the Penguin edition (the Jesse Byock translation) and found it much more enjoyable. ( )

Siendo la raíz las pocas inscripciones en caracteres rúnicos (en nórdico), se desarrolla en Islandia más el arte poético escáldico. Mitología y leyendas heroicas del viejo norte escandinavo. Dioses, monstruos, brujas y enanos. Y entre la más notable, la que cuenta acerca del héroe Sígurd que logra hacerse del tesoro de los nibelungos.
Además de tener el carácter de ser una especie de guía para la enseñanza de este arte escáldico, nos traslada a un tiempo donde los sucesos eran más cercanos a la naturaleza y entonces, de pronto, esa grata dosis de vivencia de lo no vivido por uno. ( )