The Prophecy: The Prophecy of the Vikings - The Creation of the World

by Bernard Scudder (Translator)

The epic Viking poem, newly translated, tells the beginnings of the world and forecasts its ultimate fate.

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]

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]

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

[Bree Hatfield]

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!