Everything about V Lusp totally explained
Völuspá (
Prophecy of the Völva) is the first and best known poem of the
Poetic Edda. It tells the story of the creation of the world and its coming end related by a völva addressing
Odin. It is one of the most important primary sources for the study of
Norse mythology.
The poem is preserved whole in the
Codex Regius and
Hauksbók manuscripts while parts of it are quoted in the
Prose Edda. It consists of approximately 60
fornyrðislag stanzas.
Preservation
Völuspá is found in the
Codex Regius manuscript (ca. 1270) and in
Haukr Erlendsson's
Hauksbók Codex (ca. 1334), and many of its stanzas are quoted or paraphrased in
Snorri Sturluson's
Prose Edda (composed ca. 1220, oldest extant manuscript dates from ca. 1300). The order and number of the stanzas varies in these sources. Some editors and translators have further rearranged the material. The Codex Regius version is usually taken as a base for editions.
Structure
The poem consists of some 60
fornyrðislag stanzas. In Sophus Bugge's edition the Hauksbók version has 59 stanzas while the Codex Regius version has 62 stanzas. Each manuscript contains some stanzas not in the other. Bugge's normalized version has 66 stanzas. The poem makes sporadic use of
refrains.
Synopsis
The poem starts with the völva requesting silence from "the sons of
Heimdallr" (human beings) and asking Odin whether he wants her to recite ancient lore. She says she remembers
giants born in antiquity who reared her.
She then goes on to relate a
creation myth; the world was empty until the sons of
Burr lifted the earth out of the sea. The
Æsir then established order in the cosmos by finding places for the sun, the moon and the stars, thereby starting the cycle of day and night. A golden age ensued where the Æsir had plenty of gold and happily constructed temples and made tools. But then three mighty giant maidens came from
Jötunheimar and the golden age came to an end. The Æsir then created the
dwarves, of whom
Mótsognir and
Durinn are the mightiest.
At this point ten of the poem's stanzas are over and six stanzas ensue which contain names of dwarves. This section, sometimes called
Dvergatal (
catalogue of dwarves), is usually considered an interpolation and sometimes omitted by editors and translators.
After the
Dvergatal the creation of the
first man and woman are recounted and
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 Æsir and
Vanir.
The seeress 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. She asks him in several refrains if he understands, or if he'd like to hear more.
The seeress goes on to describe the slaying of Baldr, best and fairest of the gods and the enmity of
Loki, and of others. Then she prophesizes the destruction of the gods where fire and flood overwhelm heaven and earth as the gods fight their final battles with their enemies. This the "fate of the gods" -
Ragnarök. She describes the summons to battle, the deaths of many of the gods and how Odin, himself, is slain.
Finally a beautiful reborn world will rise from the ashes of death and destruction where
Baldr will live again in a new world where the earth sprouts abundance without sowing seed. A final stanza describes the sudden appearance of Nidhogg the dragon, bearing corpses in his wings, before the seeress emerges from her trance.
Further Information
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