The Viking Prophecy: The Creation and Destruction of the World in the Viking Faith

by Bernard Scudder (Translator)

The Prophecy is an ancient poem from Scandinavia by the name of "Völuspá," which literally means "the Prophecy of the Seeress" and describes a vision which appears to her.

The Prophecy is the story of the creation of the world, as told in the ancient faith of the Vikings. It is also a prophecy about the fate of heaven and Earth.

The Prophecy foretells great upheavals which end with the destruction of all men and gods in fire and conflict. The world is destroyed, but rises anew from the sea, even more beautiful than before.

The Prophecy is not only a unique record about the way people thought and viewed the world in ancient times, but also the most famous and undoubtedly the most beautiful poem from the Viking Age.

Genres: Poetry

95 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

Bernard Scudder was an award-winning translator of Icelandic literature, including the works of Arnaldur Indriðason, Yrsa Sigurðardóttir, Guðbergur Bergsson and Einar Már Guðmundsson. He was also one of the team that produced the English translation of the Complete Sagas of Icelanders.
In 2007, at the age of 53, he died suddenly, survived by his long-term partner Sigrún Á Eiríksdóttir and their daughters Hrafnhildur and Eyrún Hanna.

Reviews

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m currently working on my M.A. in Viking and Medieval Norse Studies at the University of Iceland. This poem, Völuspá, is one of the most important eddic poems of the old Norse literary corpus. Having translated various parts of it from Old Icelandic (Norse) myself, I believe Bernard Scudder did a good job at balancing translating literal meaning with readability. That being said, I did feel that taking the list of dwarves out and placing them into an appendix took away from the rhythmic nature of that part of the poem. Overall, good translation. I would encourage those interested in this subject to check out other scholarly translations of the poem.

[Athena · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not sure how to rate something like this. It's very brief even for a poem about Creation.

[Bree Hatfield · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is such a wonderful translation of a beautiful poem! I was already familiar with the Völuspá since I had read Jackson Crawford’s translation of the Poetic Edda, but Bernard Scudder breathed new life into the poem.

Firstly, the organization is fantastic. It’s organized like a book of individual poems, which I thought was a great move. Scudder separates the poem into bite-sized sections that make sense both on their own and within the whole. Not every section makes perfect sense, but luckily the synopsis at the beginning of the book is there to help with that.

Secondly, this translation feels poetic. Scudder utilized alliteration, the basis of Old Norse poetry, to a masterful degree. His translation is also full of thunderous and mystical word choices that really make the poem shine.

I bought this on a whim after seeing it on Thriftbooks, but I am so glad I did. This really sets the tone and gives a general vibe for the various themes present in the Norse myths and it’s a wonderful introduction to the Poetic Edda, Norse mythology, and Old Norse poetry. If you’re interested in any of those, definitely read this!