The dialogue on poetry and the treasury of Norse myth
Skáldskaparmál
The Skáldskaparmál is the second part of the Prose Edda, compiled by Snorri Sturluson around 1220. Framed as a conversation between the god Bragi and the sea figure Ægir, it teaches poets how to build kennings and heiti, and along the way it preserves some of the best-known myths of the North.
The work opens at a feast in the hall of the Æsir. Ægir, who arrives from the island of Hlésey, sits beside Bragi, the god of poetry, who explains how things should be named in verse. Kennings replace ordinary words with poetic phrases: the sea can become the 'whale-road' or the 'field of fish', and gold the 'fire of Ægir'. Synonyms, or heiti, offer another route, so that a horse may also be called a jór. To explain each of these figures, Bragi tells a story.
Among them is the abduction of Iðunn, keeper of the apples that keep the Æsir young. According to the tale, the giant Thjazi, in the shape of an eagle, seized her with the help of Loki, who later had to win her back using Freyja's falcon cloak. Another narrative tells of Thor's duel with the giant Hrungnir on the border between the worlds, or of how Loki cut Sif's golden hair and had the dwarves forge a replacement, along with other marvellous objects. The origin of the mead of poetry also appears: brewed from the blood of the wise Kvasir, it was taken by Odin after passing through the hands of the giants Suttungr and Baugi.
The heroic material includes a version of the story of Sigurd the Völsung and the dwarves who set the curse on the Rhinegold, as well as tales of the kings Fródi and Hrólfr Kraki. Snorri also quotes earlier skaldic poems such as the Haustlöng and the Ragnarsdrápa, which would otherwise be lost. Toward the end, the work turns almost into a versified dictionary, with thulur lists designed to help memorise the names of gods, giants, battles and weapons.
The Skáldskaparmál is therefore both a treatise on poetics and one of the main sources for Norse mythology. Without it, many allusions in skaldic verse would remain a mystery.
Author: Snorri Sturluson Date: 1220-