Prose Edda

13th-century Norse work of literature written in Iceland

thumb|upright=1.3|Gylfi is tricked in an illustration from Icelandic Manuscript, SÁM 66 Gylfaginning (Old Norse: 'The Beguiling of Gylfi' or 'The Deluding of Gylfi'; 13th century Old Norse pronunciation ) is the first main part of the 13th-century Prose Edda, after the initial Prologue. The Gylfaginning takes the form of a dialogue between a Swedish King Gylfi and three men on thrones in Asgard called High, Just-As-High, and Third. Gylfi asks many questions of the three men on the history and future of the Æsir. The creation and eventual destruction of the world are described, as are many othe

thumb|upright=1.3|right|Near a wood, the goddess Sif rests her head on a stump while [[Loki lurks behind, sword in hand. Loki intends to cut Sif's hair per a myth recounted in Skáldskaparmál.]] Skáldskaparmál (Old Norse: 'Poetic Diction' or 'The Language of Poetry'; ; ) is the second part of the Prose Edda, compiled by Snorri Sturluson. It consists of a dialogue between Ægir, the divine personification of the sea, and Bragi, the god of poetry, in which both stories of the Æsir and discourse on the nature of poetry are intertwined. The work additionally includes tales of human heroes and kings.

thumb|right|250px|Loki strikes Þjazi with a rod in this picture from an 18th-century Icelandic manuscript. Haustlǫng (Old Norse: 'Autumn-long'; anglicized as Haustlöng) is a skaldic poem composed around the beginning of the 10th century by the Norwegian skald Þjóðólfr of Hvinir.

The Háttatal (Old Norse: 'Tally of Metres'; c. 20,000 words; Old Norse: , Modern Icelandic: ) is the last section of the Prose Edda composed by the Icelandic poet, politician, and historian Snorri Sturluson. Using, for the most part, his own compositions, it exemplifies the types of verse forms used in Old Norse poetry. Snorri took a prescriptive as well as descriptive approach; he has systematized the material, and often notes that "the older poets did not always" follow his rules.

right|thumb|200px|Thor goes fishing for Jörmungandr in this picture from an 18th-century [[Icelandic manuscript.]] Húsdrápa (Old Norse: 'House-Lay') is a skaldic poem partially preserved in the Prose Edda where disjoint stanzas of it are quoted. It is attributed to the skald Úlfr Uggason. The poem describes mythological scenes carved on kitchen panels. In the stanzas that have come down to us three such scenes are described.

Nafnaþulur (Old Norse: ) is a subsection of the Prose Edda, the last part of the Skáldskaparmál. It is a listing in verse of names that may be used in poetry for various items, such as gods, jötnar, people, animals, and weapons.

right|thumb|250px|One of the decorations on Ragnarr's shield probably showed Thor's fishing trip. This illustration of the scene is from an 18th-century Icelandic manuscript. Ragnarsdrápa (Old Norse: ‘Drápa about Ragnarr’) is a skaldic poem attributed to the oldest known skald, Bragi inn gamli (‘the old’) Boddason, who lived in the 9th century. Bragi describes the myths depicted on a decorated shield given to him by a certain Ragnar.

Snorri Sturluson's literary work

Heimdalargaldr (Old Norse: 'Heimdallr's Galdr') is an Old Norse poem about the god Heimdallr of Norse mythology. The poem is mentioned in two books of the 13th century Prose Edda book—Gylfaginning and Skáldskaparmál—but outside of a single, two-lined fragment that appears in Gylfaginning, the poem is considered to be lost. In the surviving fragment, Heimdallr comments that he is the son of nine sisters (the Nine Mothers of Heimdallr).