Duncan, Thomas G., ed. A Companion to the Middle English
Lyric. Woodbridge, Suffolk, U.K.: D. S. Brewer, 2005.
Woolf, Rosemary. The English Religious Lyric in the Middle
Ages. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1968.
Robin Gilbank
OLD NORSE/ICELANDIC EDDAS AND
SAGAS Scholars since the 17th century have made
substantial use of Old Norse/Icelandic literature as they
have attempted to interpret medieval English litera-
ture. Nowhere has this tendency been more prominent
than in the discussions of Anglo-Saxon pre-Christian
religion. Almost all that we know about Anglo-Saxon
religion prior to Christianity comes from place names,
archeological evidence, and a small amount of written
evidence, but almost all we understand about it comes
from Old Norse sources. These written sources are
themselves not without problems as the forms in which
they survive date from more than two centuries after
Iceland’s conversion to Christianity. Chief among them
are two very different texts known as the Eddas.
The Poetic Edda (also known as the Elder Edda or
Sæmundar Edda) is a collection of 29 poems found in
one manuscript known as the Codex Regius, written in
the late 13th century. The manuscript contains 12
poems that deal with a pre-Christian belief system.
Most of these poems are narratives concerning the pre-
Christian gods, but “Hávamál” (The Sayings of Hávi) is
a poem of 164 STANZAs containing gnomic wisdom,
wise counsel, runic ritual, and the function of spells,
all attributed to “the High One,” or Óðin. Perhaps the
most famous of the mythological poems is Völuspá
(The Prophecy of the Sybil), which recounts the fi nal
battle between gods, giants, and wolves, which will
destroy the world. The heroic (EPIC) poems deal with
heroes and heroines whose exploits are also found out-
side Old Norse in works such as BEOWULF.
The Prose Edda (also known as the Younger Edda or
Snorra Edda) is the work of Snorri Sturluson (1178/9–
1241). A handbook for poets, it is divided into four
parts. The fi rst, a brief prologue, is an euhemeristic
account of the pagan pantheon. Part 2 presents a non-
Christian account of the creation and destruction of
the world along with narratives involving the pagan
gods, all copiously illustrated with quotations from the
Elder Edda and Old Norse skaldic poetry. Part 3 is
mainly concerned with explaining the meaning of the
kenningar (KENNING, compound metaphors) and the
heiti (synonyms) which were a feature of skaldic poetry.
Part 4 is a 102-stanza poem in praise of king Hákon
Hákonarson of Norway (1217–63) and the earl Skúli
Bárøarson (1188/9–1240). Each stanza is in a slightly
different meter which is introduced and commented
upon if necessary. Like the Poetic Edda, the Prose
Edda, particularly parts 2 and 3, has been ransacked
for information that might elucidate pre-Christian ref-
erences in Old English texts, forgetting at times that
the Eddas themselves are not unproblematic docu-
ments and that they have been signifi cantly affected by
the ideology and practice of Christianity.
Beginning in the 12th century, a tradition of prose
narrative or saga came into being, which tradition has
been conventionally divided into numerous “genres”:
konungasögur (kings’ sagas); biskupasögur (bishops’
sagas), Íslendingasögur (saga of the Icelanders), sam-
tíðarsögur (sagas of contemporary events), heiligram-
anna- and postulasögur (sagas of saints and apostles),
fornaldarsögur Norøurlanda (sagas of ancient times in
the northern lands), and riddarasögur (sagas of knights).
The 40 sagas of the Icelanders have historically been
best served by translation into English. Some of these
sagas, such as Egils saga Skalla-Grímssonar and Gunn-
laugs saga ormstungu, have signifi cant sections that are
set in England during Anglo-Saxon times.
Perhaps the best-known claim for a link between
Old English literature and the Íslendingasögur are the
parallels found between Beowulf and Ásmundarsonar
from the Grettis saga. Of particular note are the simi-
larities in the fi ght between Beowulf and Grendel and
that between Grettir and Glámur, and in Beowulf’s
encounter with Grendel’s mother at the bottom of the
mere and Grettir’s one with the giant (jötun) behind the
waterfall at Sandhaugar. While it might not be possible
to determine the relationship between the two works
to everybody’s satisfaction, it seems incontrovertible
that there is a relationship.
Other scholars who have investigated Norse– English
literary relationships have looked at Norse links to the
English Gawain Cycle, Sir Thomas Malory’s “Tale of Sir
Gareth,” and GEOFFREY CHAUCER’s “The PARDONER’SOLD NORSE/ICELANDIC EDDAS AND SAGAS 299