Description: The Poetic Edda is a collection of ancient Icelandic poems in Old Norse. The verses are printed side by side with English translations, and include archetypal stories about Odin, Thor, Loki and other deities of Asgard. Professor J. R. R. Tolkien, author of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, readily acknowledged his debt to this source.
Brief description: Olive Bray The Journal of English and Germanic Philology, Vol. 28, No. 4, Oct., 1929 reviewed Olive Bray's translation of The Poetic Edda, stating: 'Miss Bray's work is eminently satisfactory: she possesses a scholar's knowledge of the subject (though she was by no means a specialist in the field); and she had poetic ability of a high order. She nearly always succeeded in reproducing the poetry and the spirit of the old lays and she adhered to the metrical form; to do these things she did not hesitate, to depart from rules of alliteration or sometimes to disregard alliteration entirely. '
Review Quotes:
"... after more than a hundred years, this book is finally back in print! It is almost exactly like the old Viking Club Edition - written in the original Old Norse with an English translation by Olive Bray and very fine illustrations by W.G. Collingwood. ... a very helpful glossary has been added at the end of the book. This book is ... a great introduction for anyone who is reading The Poetic Edda for the first time..."
Ramón M.