Eddic to English

JACKSON CRAWFORD, 2015

The Poetic Edda:
Stories of the Norse Gods and Heroes
Hackett Publishing Company, Ltd.
392 pages
Publisher website

 

Translated poems (35):

Codex Regius (30)
Vǫluspá, Hávamál, Vafþrúðnismál, Grímnismál, Skírnismál, Hárbarðsljóð, Hymiskviða, Lokasenna, Þrymskviða, Vǫlundarkviða, Alvíssmál, Frá dauða Sinfjǫtla, Grípisspá, Reginsmál, Fáfnismál, Sigrdrífumál, Brot af Sigurðarkviðu, Sigurðarkviða hin skamma, Helreið Brynhildar, Dráp Niflunga, Oddrúnargrátr, Atlakviða, Guðrúnarhvǫt, Hamðismál, Helgakviða Hundingsbana (I, II), Helgakviða Hjǫrvarðssonar, Guðrúnarkviða (I, II, III)

Non-Codex Regius (4)
Baldrs draumar, Rígsþula, Hyndluljóð, Grottasǫngr

Other (1)
The Cowboy Hávamál

Other notable contents: Crawford's translation is missing the Codex Regius poem "Atlamál" (cf. p. xxiii). In its place, the translator includes an original poem, the "Cowboy Hávamál" (see discussion in "Observations" below).
Note format: The translator provides no notes of any kind.
Dual Edition? No
Rendering: Jǫtunn = “giant” (p. 2), þurs = “giant” (p. 3)
Censorship: None (cf. p.79)
Original illustrations? None

 

I. TRANSLATION SAMPLES

a.) Vǫluspá (p. 19):

I know an ash tree,
named Yggdrasil,
a high tree, speckled
with white clay;
dewdrops fall from it
upon the valleys;
it stands, forever green,
above Urth’s well.

b.) Helgakviða Hundingsbana II (p. 215):

Sigrun went inside Helgi's burial mound and she said:

"Now I am as happy
to see you, husband,
as Odin's eager
ravens are
when they see
fresh, warm corpses,
or when, dew-covered,
they greet the morning.

c.) Rígsþula (p. 154-155):

Rig shared runes
with him,
but King tricked him,
and learned them better than he,
and then he earned
the right to call himself
by the name of Rig,
for his rune-lore.

 

II. Reviews

Excerpt:

Crawford’s knowledge of and passion for the topic is clear throughout, and he strikes an excellent balance between approachability and authenticity. I will most certainly be using this translation when I teach Norse mythology in the future and will recommend it to anyone looking for an approachable introduction to the subject.

Excerpt:

Because of the many inaccuracies and mistakes, this is unfortunately not a translation that can be recommended for academic purposes, neither for research nor for teaching. The translation reads well, and it is a great pity that Crawford apparently did not consult other scholarly editions and translations, which would have helped avoid some of the most egregious pitfalls. That being said, a casual reader will likely embrace this volume.

Excerpt:

In terms of faithfulness to the source material, Crawford has taken various liberties in simplifying and streamlining the text. In almost all cases it should be sufficiently clear to specialists that these changes have been made for purposes of clarity and accessibility, though one might question many individual choices. However, except in a few cases in the introduction, in which specific systematic changes in orthography and spelling are brought to the reader’s attention, none of these editorial decisions will be visible to the casual reader.

 

III. OBSERVATIONS

American scholar Jackson Crawford is a former instructor at the University of Colorado Boulder who operates a widely viewed YouTube channel supported by a Patreon account. Crawford’s videos, often short, feature him discussing Old Norse topics dressed in western wear at scenic locations around the Rocky Mountains.

Although Crawford regularly produces content for his YouTube channel, Crawford’s translation is perhaps most notable for what it lacks: Remarkably, like Jeramy Dodds's translation published a year before his own—and unlike most other translations of the Poetic Edda—readers will find no notes in Crawford’s translation. Additionally, Crawford forgoes a Codex Regius poem, Atlamál, in favor of his original composition “Cowboy Hávamal”. Beyond the Codex Regius, Larrington’s 2014 revised edition contains eight non-Codex Regius poems, whereas Crawford’s contains a scant four. When compared to nearly every other English translations of the Poetic Edda, Crawford’s is a very slim volume.

Following the negative scholastic reception the translation has to date received (see especially Gade’s review cited above), the translation has seen gained something of a reputation has too free for use in a comparative context by at least one scholar (see Harling-Lee 2019: 4 here).

Curiously, Crawford mentions on his Youtube channel (“Why a new Edda translation?”, 2017) that he chose to produce his translation of the Poetic Edda in a manner particularly approachable for students new to the text, but his decision to forego notes and any other helpful supplementary items beyond a short introduction (and the injection of his own “Cowboy Hávamál”) necessitates that readers turn to other sources to make sense of much of the material he renders. The result is an exceptionally unapproachable and unhelpful translation for newcomers to the text.