The Poetic Edda: Expanded Second Edition: Stories of the Norse Gods and Heroes Jackson Crawford 9781647922498

This Expanded Second Edition of Jackson Crawford's 2015 translation of the Poetic Edda offers a wider range of poems (now including the Eddic Old Norse poem "Svipdagsmal" and four related non-Eddic Old Norse poems, "Eiriksmal," "Hakonarmal," "Krakumal," and "Lokrur") as well as a revised translation and enhanced editorial apparatus. Set in a new page design, it also features samples from the Old Norse texts written in the Old Norse runic alphabet known as the Younger Futhark (in Jackson Crawford's hand) along with original Old Norse-inspired Latin alphabet typographical ideograms (by E. L. Wilson).

Jackson Crawford holds an M.A. in linguistics from the University of Georgia and a Ph.D. in Scandinavian Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. From 2011 to 2020, he taught the Old Norse language, as well as courses in Norse mythology and Old Norse saga literature, at major universities including UCLA, UC Berkeley, and the University of Colorado Boulder. During that time, he also served as a consultant on a popular video game, television programs, and major Hollywood films. Since 2020, he has been an independent educator, using his YouTube channel and popular translations of Norse myths and sagas from Hackett Publishing to reach hundreds of thousands of viewers and readers with well-sourced information about Norse language, mythology, and runes. His research interests today focus on the relationship of the runes to Mediterranean alphabets, as well as the use of linguistic criteria to determine the date of Old Norse texts.

"Jackson Crawford's translation of the Eddic poems is an excellent presentation of Ancient Scandinavia's most fascinating literature. His pedagogical Introduction and other helpful material make this a superb edition for the non-specialist."
-Henrik Williams, Professor Emeritus of Runology and former chair in Scandinavian Languages, Uppsala University

"Jackson Crawford's modern versions of these poems are authoritative and fluent and often very gripping. With their individual headnotes and complementary general introduction, they supply today's readers with most of what they need to know in order to understand and appreciate the beliefs, motivations, and values of the Vikings."
-Dick Ringler, late Professor of English and Scandinavian Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison

"[A]n excellent and entertaining work that succeeds in achieving its intended purpose: to create an accessible and readable English translation of the Poetic Edda. Crawford's knowledge of and passion for the topic is clear throughout, and he strikes an excellent balance between approachability and authenticity."
-Natalie M. Van Deusen, University of Alberta, in Scandinavian-Canadian Studies

"A published poet in his own right, Crawford renders his translation in a modest, cautiously elegant free verse with a rigorous consistency that gives the material fluency impossible in a translation reflecting the original Old Norse syntax. . . . [Crawford's verse has] a conservative sparseness that often comes close to echoing the terseness of the Old Norse Eddic meter."
-Pete Sandberg, University College London, in Saga-Book