Getting Started with the Sagas and the Edda
The medieval literature of Iceland — the Sagas of Icelanders and the two Eddas — is one of the richest bodies of storytelling in the world. If you're new to it, the first question is almost always the same: where do I begin, and which edition do I use? This guide offers a practical path in.
Icelandic or English First?
If you read Icelandic, starting with the original texts places you closest to the language as it was written, and opens up the full scholarly apparatus of critical editions. For everyone else, a good English translation is the natural entry point — and the quality of available translations has improved considerably over the past few decades.
One important distinction: reading Modern Icelandic does not automatically mean reading Old Icelandic with ease. The orthography and syntax of saga prose can be unfamiliar even to native speakers, so beginners working in Icelandic should expect to use a glossary or reference grammar alongside the text.
Accessible Introductions vs. Scholarly Texts
For a first encounter, the goal is engagement, not exhaustive apparatus. A handful of guidelines help:
- Start short. The family sagas vary enormously in length. Egils saga, Njáls saga, and Laxdæla saga are celebrated — and long. Shorter sagas such as Hrafnkels saga or the Íslendingaþættir (short tales of Icelanders) reward a first reading while keeping the commitment manageable.
- Choose readable translations. The Penguin Classics and Everyman volumes have introduced generations of English-language readers to the sagas. The Complete Sagas of Icelanders (Leifur Eiríksson Publishing) collects the full corpus in five volumes with consistent scholarly standards.
- Reserve critical editions for sustained study. Volumes in the Íslensk fornrit series (see below) are the scholarly standard for Old Icelandic texts but are written in or assume familiarity with Icelandic and medieval Latin. They are best used once you have a feel for the material.
The Íslensk fornrit Series
Íslensk fornrit (ÍF) is the definitive critical edition series for Old Icelandic literature, published by Hið íslenska fornritafélag. Each volume contains a critically edited text, introduction, and commentary in Icelandic. The series covers the family sagas, kings' sagas, mythological-heroic poetry, and more.
Our stock includes the poetry volumes of the series — the EDDUKVÆÐI I–II (Íslensk fornrit) — which presents the Old Norse eddic poems in a rigorous critical edition. This is the scholarly foundation for anyone working seriously with the Poetic Edda in the original.
Edda Editions: Poetic and Prose
There are two distinct works called the Edda, and it matters which you mean:
- The Poetic Edda (also called the Elder Edda) is a collection of Old Norse mythological and heroic poems preserved mainly in the Codex Regius manuscript. For English readers, the translation by Carolyne Larrington (Oxford World's Classics) is widely used; the translation by Andy Orchard (Penguin) is another well-regarded option. For the Old Icelandic text, the Íslensk fornrit EDDUKVÆÐI I–II is the critical edition of choice.
- The Prose Edda (Snorra Edda) was composed by Snorri Sturluson in the thirteenth century and is both a handbook of Norse mythology and a guide to skaldic poetry. Anthony Faulkes's translation (Everyman) remains the standard English edition. The Old Norse text is widely available in Icelandic scholarly editions.
Readers interested in the transmission and textual history of the eddic poems will also find value in works such as Rætur Völuspár and Um Snorra Eddu og Munkagaman, which address specific poems and Snorri's work from a literary-historical perspective.
A Suggested Reading Order
- A short family saga in translation — Hrafnkels saga or Víga-Glúms saga to establish the prose style and dramatic world.
- The Poetic Edda in translation — Larrington or Orchard to encounter the mythological and heroic poems.
- Njáls saga or Egils saga in translation — the two most studied long family sagas.
- The Prose Edda in translation — Faulkes, to understand how Snorri systematised the mythology and the poetic tradition.
- Return to the original language — with a parallel text edition, a learner's grammar, or directly into Íslensk fornrit EDDUKVÆÐI I–II for the poems.
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