Icelandic Poetry; Or the Edda of Sa Mund

by Amos Simon Cottle

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1797. Excerpt: ... Its pale grey splendour, far as sight could reach Rose like another sky. Nor will my friend Forget the scenes of simplest character, The hill that from the water'd vale abrupt Starts up, upon whose dark and heathy side Often at evening I have lain me down, And dwelt upon the green and goodly vale, Its mazy streams and tusted villages, Rich in the sunshine now, now half embrown'd By the long sweeping shadows, till my soul Had entered in the deep and quiet joy Allits hush'd powers. And thou wilt sometimeslove With memory's eye to trace the ruined pile Beneath whose ancient foot with ceaseless lapse The eternal stream flows on, and that old Keep Thro' whose long rifted chasm the far-seen light Fixes the traveller's eye, and the white cliffs That rifing stately o'er the distant deep Shine silvery in the noon. But thou hast view'd These scenes like one who pastes thro' a land Where his heart is not; I, my friend, long time Had sojourn'd there, and I am pne who form With each minutest circumstance of place Acquaintance, and the unfrequented field Where many a day I walk in solitude, Is as a friend to me. Nor have I left That unfrequented field unforrowing, Over whose wooded limits the church tower Arose in single majesty: its bank Was edged with feathery fern, that scem'd to form A little forest to the insect tribes Who lived there, and were happy; and the sun O'er the red ripeness of the bending grafs Pour'd a glad smile. A pleasant place it was! And, Amos! I could wish that thou and I And thy good brother, who in my heart holds Almost a brother's place, might once again, With as few earthly cares to ruffle us, Meet in that low abode. But now I know Thro' wildest scenes of strange sublimity, Building the Runic rhyme, thy Fancy roves; c Niflhil's nine worlds, a...

142 pages, Paperback

First published March 30, 2010

Reviews

[Aaron Meyer]

An incredible piece of work although many would find it dated. This is the first major translation into English of the majority of the Poetic Edda. This makes this volume somewhat of a historical landmark in the study of Nordic Literature. I enjoy this older translation a great deal and I am sure it can be picked apart by many but there is a feel to it which you just cannot take away from it.