Snorri Sturluson, Younger Edda, Prose Eddanorri Sturluson
   

Völuspá

Völuspá (The Prophecy of the Seeress) is the first poem in the Poetic Edda. It tells the story of the creation of the world and its coming end related by a völva or seeress addressing Odin. It is one of the most important primary sources for the study of Norse mythology.

 

The prophecy commences with an address to Odin, in which the seeress explains how she came by her knowledge. She explains further that she understands the source of Odin's omniscience, and other secrets of the gods of Asgard.

 

She then continues to relate the story of the creation of the world in an abridged form. She deals with present and future happenings, touching on many of the Norse myths, such as the death of Baldr, and ultimately the end of the world and its second coming.

 

The poem is written in the fornyrđislag metre.

 

Preservation

Völuspá it is found in the Codex Regius (composed between the 9th to 13th centuries) and in Haukr Erlendsson's Hauksbók Codex (circa 1334), and many of its stanzas are included in Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda (circa 1220). The order of the stanzas varies in these sources. Some editors and translators (cf. Auden) have further rearranged the material.

 

Analysis

The Völuspá is the most famous and the most debated of the Eddic poems. It is at once as rhythmically beautiful as it is visually severe, a contrast befitting the world it's set in.

 

Odin (Old Norse: Óđinn), ever seeking for knowledge and constantly pursuing wisdom, persuades the völva (seer) to tell him about the past and the future.

 

The past is revealed, the beginnings of existence. How the world was created, the years numbered, the origins of the dwarfs are revealed and creation of the first man and woman are recounted. Yggdrasill, the world-tree, is described. The seer recalls the events that led to the first ever war, and what occurred in the struggle between the Ćsir and Vanir.

 

The seer, then reveals to Odin that she knows some of his own secrets, of what he sacrificed of himself in pursuit of knowledge. She tells him she knows where his eye is hidden and how he gave it up in exchange for knowledge; and tells of how he willingly hung, by his own spear wounded, for nine days and nights from the branches of Yggdrasill until he saw the secret of the rune stones. With pain and loss was ever his knowledge gained. She asks him constantly if he would like to hear more.

 

Then she warns that the shadows will come. The slaying of Baldr, best and fairest of the gods. The enmity of Loki, and of others. The final destruction of the gods where fire and flood overwhelm heaven and earth as the gods fight their final battles with their enemies. All this is forecast, this the "fate of the gods," the Ragnarök. She describes the summons to battle, the personal struggles of the gods. She tells of the tragic endings of many of the gods - and how Odin, himself, is slain. It seems that all is wasted and endless night will reign.

 

However, finally a gleam of hope is revealed; a sliver of golden day-light pierces the gloom. A beautiful reborn world will rise from the ashes of death and destruction; Baldr will live again, but this time in the place where he always should have been, in this new world where the earth sprouts abundance without sowing seed.

 

Keywords:

Norse dwarves in Iceland