Völuspá hin skamma

"Völuspá hin skamma", "Völuspá the Less" or the "Short Völuspá", is an Old Norse poem which survives as a handful of stanzas in "Hyndluljóð", in the "Poetic Edda", and as one stanza in the "Gylfaginning" section of Snorri Sturluson's "Prose Edda". The name of the poem is only known due to Snorri's citation of it in "Gylfaginning":

The additional stanzas that remain appear in "Hyndluljóð". In his translation of "Hyndluljóð", Henry Adams Bellows comments that the preserved fragment of "Völuspá hin skamma" shows that it was a "late and very inferior imitation of the great Voluspo", and he dates it to the 12th century. He further suggests that its appearance in "Hyndluljóð" is due to the blunder of a copyist who confused the two poems, and he does not consider them to be of any great value either as poetry or as mythology.

Notes

References

* [http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/poe/poe15.htm Hyndluljoth] Translation and commentary by Henry A. Bellows
* [http://www.heimskringla.no/original/edda/hyndluljod.php Hyndluljóð] Guðni Jónsson's edition with normalized spelling
* [http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/pre/index.htm The Prose Edda, translated by Arthur Gilchrist Brodeur, at sacred-texts.com]
* [http://www.heimskringla.no/original/snorre/index.php Edda Snorra Sturlusonar] Old Norse text, Guðni Jónsson's edition.