Variable subject matter; see departmental announcement for description. Course normally focuses on one of two areas: Eddic and skaldic poetry; or sagas (royal family, legendary, courtly, episcopal).

In this seminar we will read the medieval books known as Edda – the codices of the Prose Edda of Snorri Sturluson, and the two collections of so-called eddic poetry. Although the naming of these manuscripts as Edda is largely a post-medieval phenomenon, and a matter of historical contingency (or even confusion), they nonetheless share many features and illuminate one another in interesting ways. The seminar will have three main foci: -the eddic poetic tradition; -medieval collections and compilations, especially of poetry; -theories and methods for the study of these topics. Seminar participants will present readings weekly, construct a shared annotated bibliography, and make formal, conference-style presentations of their seminar paper topics in the final weeks of class. By the end of the semester, students should know the eddic books, their similarities and differences; be acquainted with the eddic poetic tradition (content, genres, form, style, meter, etc.); and be able to contextualize these things against the backdrop of broader medieval practices of alliterative poetic composition and manuscript compilation, and of debates in the Old Norse field. Texts Larrington, C., Quinn, J. and Schorn, B., eds. A Handbook to Eddic Poetry: Myths and Legends of Early Scandinavia. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2016. ISBN: 9781107135444. Jónas Kristjánsson and Vésteinn Ólason, eds. Eddukvaeði. 2 vols. Íslenzk fornrit 36. Reykjavik: Hið íslenzka fornritafélag, 2014. ISBN: 9789979893998 The following recent translations may be useful: Carolyne Larrington. The Poetic Edda. Revised edition. Oxford World’s Classics. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014 [corrects many errors from the first edition]. Jackson Crawford. The Poetic Edda: Stories of the Norse Gods and Heroes. Indianapolis: Hackett, 2015.

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