The Poetic Edda

""Jackson Crawford’s translation of the Eddic poems is an excellent presentation of Ancient Scandinavia’s most fascinating literature. His pedagogical Introduction and other helpful material make this a superb edition for the non-specialist."" —Henrik Williams,  Professor Emeritus of Runology and former chair in Scandinavian Languages, Uppsala University         ""Jackson Crawford's modern versions of these poems are authoritative and fluent and often very gripping. With their individual headnotes and complementary general introduction, they supply today's readers with most of what they need to know in order to understand and appreciate the beliefs, motivations, and values of the Vikings.""  —Dick Ringler, late Professor of English and Scandinavian Studies at the University of Wisconsin–Madison ""[A]n excellent and entertaining work that succeeds in achieving its intended purpose: to create an accessible and readable English translation of the Poetic Edda. Crawford’s knowledge of and passion for the topic is clear throughout, and he strikes an excellent balance between approachability and authenticity.""  —Natalie M. Van Deusen, University of Alberta, in Scandinavian-Canadian Studies ""A published poet in his own right, Crawford renders his translation in a modest, cautiously elegant free verse with a rigorous consistency that gives the material fluency impossible in a translation reflecting the original Old Norse syntax. . . . [Crawford's verse has] a conservative sparseness that often comes close to echoing the terseness of the Old Norse Eddic meter.”  —Pete Sandberg, University College London, in Saga-Book