The Poetic Edda is a collection of stories from Norse mythology and history that were written in poetic form. The stories contained within this book are both entertaining and provide advice for life. While not a bible of the Norse, it is easy to understand how people would want to see this as an equivalent.
This is my favorite translation of The Poetic Edda but I have not read every translation. So I've been holding off writing a review but I'll go ahead and get this out of the way since I'll likely be unable to access every translation. I first heard about Jackson Crawford from his YouTube channel and I liked his videos on Old Norse and Norse mythology. He seems extremely knowledgeable on the subject. I would suggest you read about discussions on the various translations to get a more accurate comparison instead of using my following opinion.
I didn't care for Lee Hollander's translation but his is generally very favorable and popular, for a very long time too. I thought Jackson Crawford's translation was an improvement since that time. Adam Bellows, Olive Bray, and Benjamin Thorpe all have translations that are too old for modern English but interesting to compare with. Carolyne Larrington reads pleasantly but I did not like the way she changes names too much into English, but I have not read her newest edition, which interests me since she includes a poem called Svipdagsmál. Even Jackson Crawford's Poetic Edda removed the accented letters to simplify the spelling of names which really bothers me because it doesn't make sense in English to remove those marks. The glossary of names in the end of the book is nice but I wish it had an additional etymological approach to the names. From the translations I have not read, there are a few that people are very much in favor of.
So there are plenty of things I would do differently if I wrote my own translation (which I won't because I don't know Old Norse) but this has been my favorite translation so far. Jackson Crawford's The Saga of the Volsungs is better when it comes to keeping name pronunciation. There was a recent translation of the Hávamál that I found better than Jackson Crawford's translation of it within The Poetic Edda, but Jackson Crawford has his Wanderers Hávamál coming out soon so I have that to look forward to.
The book is physically very appealing with a very well printed cover full of rich colors under a glossy coat. The paper used is a bright white paper and the text is printed cleanly and with enough ink. The font size is good and the page margins are of excellent size. The glue binding is well done and the spine is strong. So for its size and quality, in addition to the great content, there is a lot in this book for a very good price.
I might come back to this review later in life if I ever got real serious about comparing the different translations so I can add a more in-depth analysis. I don't think there is one best translation of this book but this one is better than most in many ways.
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Beautiful
Great works by Dr. Jackson Crawford,the direct translations are precise and easy to understand. I have found these books easy to read and understand the poems and lives of the Elder Gods and Heroes of old. I own the pocket Voluspa and Havamal for the troops which is a Bellows Translation and though Dr. Crawford's translations are to the point, I like trying to make sense of the Old English translations of this little book. After all, everything in life is just an Interpretation. Thank you for these books and I highly recommend them to anyone and everyone.
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Reviewed in the United States on August 22, 2019
Reviewed in the United States on December 9, 2023
Great works by Dr. Jackson Crawford,the direct translations are precise and easy to understand. I have found these books easy to read and understand the poems and lives of the Elder Gods and Heroes of old. I own the pocket Voluspa and Havamal for the troops which is a Bellows Translation and though Dr. Crawford's translations are to the point, I like trying to make sense of the Old English translations of this little book. After all, everything in life is just an Interpretation. Thank you for these books and I highly recommend them to anyone and everyone.
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Reviewed in the United States on September 16, 2022
Reviewed in the United States on February 4, 2016
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