Prose Edda is a work without predecessor or parallel. It was designed
as a handbook for poets to compose in the style of the skalds of the
Viking ages. It is an exposition of the rule of poetic diction with many
examples, applications, and retellings of myths and legends.
Snorri Sturluson feared that the traditional techniques of Norse
poetics, the pagan kennings, and the allusions to mythology would be
forgotten with the introduction of new verse forms from Europe.
The present selection includes the whole of Gylfaginning (The deluding
of Gylfi)--a guide to mythology that forms one of the great storybooks
of the Middle Ages--and the longer heroic tales and legends of
Skáldskaparmál (Poetic diction). Snorri Sturluson was a master
storyteller, and this translation in modern idiom of the inimitable
tales of the gods and heroes of the Scandinavian peoples brings them to
life again.