Poetry in fornaldarsogur

Edited by Margaret Clunies Ross

Book cover: Poetry in fornaldarsogur

Extent: 1076 pages

Publisher: Brepols Publishers

Subjects: Literary Studies, Medieval Studies

Series: Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages

Series volume number: 8

Language: English, Norse (Old)

Hardback (Published)

(September 2017)

ISBN: 9782503519005

Price: $195.00

On back order

Poetry in fornaldarsogur is a new edition of the corpus of poetry, mostly in eddic metres, from Icelandic mythical-heroic sagas.


This volume contains all the anonymous poetry from medieval Icelandic mythical-heroic sagas (fornaldarsogur), such as Heidreks saga, Gautreks saga, and other sagas set in prehistoric Scandinavia and more exotic locations. This diverse body of poetry is treated here for the first time as significant in its own right rather than as an appendage to the Poetic Edda. It also contains a new edition with extensive notes of Gunnlaugr Leifsson’s Merlinuspa, based on Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Prophecies of Merlin, as well as the little-known but entertaining Skaufhala balkr by Svartr a Hofstodum, a mock-heroic poem about a fox.

  • Edited by Margaret Clunies Ross