The Elder Edda (Penguin Classics)

The Elder Edda is the second book in the Penguin Classics series Legends from the Ancient North. This work, like the others in this series have two things in common. The author is anonymous, and the works inspired the writings of J.R.R. Tolkien. This edition of the book begins with a twenty page introduction by the author, which tells us about the Icelandic history of the Codex Regius and the contents. There are also notes on spelling, pronunciation, and translation, which will be helpful to serious students of Norse literature. There are also several pages of further reading that will prove interesting to both the casual and serious reader.

The book is divided into three sections - The Mythological Poems of the Codex Regius, The Heroic Poems of the Codex Regius, and an appendix which has Some Eddic Poems Not Contained in the Codex Regius. The mythological poems are my favorite, as I'm a sucker for myths from most cultures. These poems cover characters like Odin, Loki, Grimnir, and Hymir. Some of the Heoric Poems have a mix of prose and poetry, and some read like a play with speaking parts for different characters. At the end of the book are approximately 100 pages of abbreviations, glossary, and most helpful notes on each poem. Overall, this was an interesting read and one I'd recommend if you are a fan of Norse literature/mythology like myself.

This book was provided to me for free by Penguin Classics in exchange for an honest review.

The Wanderer: Elegies, Epics, Riddles (Penguin Classics)

Today, I am continuing with my monthly reviews of the series Legends from the Ancient North from Penguin Classics. Last month, I reviewed Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and this month I am reviewing The Wanderer: Elegies, Epics, and Riddles. I had never heard of this title before receiving it in the mail, so I was eager to dive in this book and see what it entailed.

The book begins with an introduction on Anglo-Saxon people and verse. There is also a brief lesson on how poetry has changed over the past thousand years. After that is "A Note on the Translation" and several prefaces. I always try to read notes on translations, because when reading a translation of something, you often wonder how accurate it actually is. That is why I enjoyed what the translator, Michael Alexander, wrote when he said, "I have never seen the point of translating verse into anything but verse. 'The harmony of prose' may be useful for a first impression, or for 'the story' of the narrative poem; and it may be that any translation is better than none. But it seems to me that the first aim in translating a living poem from a language which happens to be unknown into one's own language is to produce something with art in it., something which lives." After reading that, I knew the Mr. Alexander would provide us with the best translation he possibly could.

There are several types of poetry included in this book, such as elegies, heroic poems, gnomic verses, and riddles. Each section in the book contains an introduction on the type of poetry as well as an introduction on the specific poem. For example, in the heroic poems section, there is a selection from Beowulf. With some of the shorter poems, Mr. Alexander included the original text in Northumbrian. It was fascinating to see, but this bit might only be of interest to true students of Anglo-Saxon poetry. My favorite section of the book was the selection of riddles. I thought I was really good at riddles, but I was honestly stumped by most of these. Thankfully, there was a suggested answers section at the end of the book. I will provide you with an easy one to test your riddle skills:

The wave, over the wave, a weird thing I saw,
thorough-wrought, and wonderfully ornate:
a wonder on the wave - water become bone.

This was a fairly interesting read that contained many different types of poems. If you've never read Beowulf, this book provides enough of a selection to entice you to read more, which thankfully you can by the same editor in Legends from the Ancient North series. If you are a lover of poetry and riddles, then you will want to give this book a go. Also, if you are a lover of Tolkien and would like to see some of the works that inspired him, then you will want to read this too!

This book was provided to me for free by Penguin Classics in exchange for an honest review. If you found this review helpful, please click here and hit Yes!

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (Penguin Classics)

I pulled up a local middle school's summer reading list recently to see what kids today are "required" to read and found myself disturbed that I didn't recognize many of the books on the list. and even more disturbed that the reading levels of most of the books were well under the grade level of the reader. On a list of approximately twenty books for 6th graders, four were at or above a 6th grade level with most  in the 4th grade range. To make matters worse, less than a handful are what I would consider classics or quality literature. Good books have been slowly disappearing from our schools more and more. Parents and teachers are satisfied to let children read rubbish like Captain Underpants, under the illusion that any reading is good reading. I say it's time to fight back and have your children read the classics! Penguin Classics is an excellent publisher of quality and affordable translations. Today, I am reviewing one of their titles in the series Legends from the Ancient North.

Legends from the Ancient North is a series of five books from Norse literature that are said to have inspired J.R.R. Tolkien. The five titles are Beowulf; The Elder Edda; The Saga of the Volsungs; Sir Gawain and the Green Knight; and The Wanderer. Today, I will be reviewing Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. I chose this title of the five to review first, because I read this in college and I didn't particularly agree with the slant my professor put on the translation. Therefore, I wanted to read it again and give it a shot again. This edition begins with an introduction by the translator Bernard O'Donoghue. In it he gives background on how the text was accidentally discovered and preserved, other texts that were found with it, and the difficult job of maintaining the beauty of a text when you translate it. He then goes on to explain the character of Sir Gawain, the plot of the poem, and the genre of medieval romance literature.

The translation is very accessible and thus a straightforward read. In fact, I'd say it reads a bit more like prose than poetry. The purist will not appreciate that, because in it you lose some of the beauty and alliteration of the original. However, I appreciated it as it is the perfect introduction to a difficult text. At the end of the text are pages of notes explaining difficult passages and an appendix with some of the original text to whet the reader's appetite. It was clear from reading this work why it inspired Tolkien, and knowing that Tolkien translated this work makes me want to read his translation now. If you are a fan of Tolkien, than I believe you need to read this work and the other four books in the Legends from the Ancient North series, because I am a firm believer that if you want to understand an author, you should read what he or she read.

This book was provided to me for free by Penguin Classics in exchange for an honest review. If you found this review helpful, please click here and hit Yes!