Edda

Edda, name for 2 Icelandic collections about the exploits of heroes and gods: Saemund's Edda, or the Poetic Edda, and Snorri's Edda, or the Prose Edda. The Prose Edda was compiled by Snorri Sturluson (1179–1241) as a handbook for the numerous allusions to mythology in poetry. The Poetic Edda, named by the Icelandic Bishop Brynjólf Sveinsson, who discovered the 13th-century manuscript in 1643, is a heterogeneous collection of poems celebrating the old heroes and gods, probably dating in part from the 9th century. Eddie poetry is generally written in short, rhythmical lines.