3Norse Mythology The Prose Edda Also Called Snorre's Edda, or The Younger Edda by Snorri Sturluson Introduction By Rasmus B. Anderson The Prose Edda is one of two Old Norse compilations made in Iceland in the early 13th century. Together they comprise the major store of pagan Scandinavian mythology. The Prose Edda (1223) was the work of Snorri Sturluson who planned it as a textbook for writers of skaldic poetry, prefaced by a section on the Norse cosmogony, pantheon and myths. It begins with a euhemerized Prologue followed by three distinct books: Gylfaginning (consisting of around 20,000 words), Skaldskaparmal (around 50,000 words) and Hattatal (around 20,000 words). Seven manuscripts, dating from around 1300 to around 1600, have independent textual value. The purpose of the collection was to enable Icelandic poets and readers to understand the subtleties of alliterative verse, and to grasp the meaning behind the many kenningar (compounds) that were used in skaldic poetry. The Prose Edda was originally referred to as simply the Edda, but was later called the Prose Edda to distinguish it from the Poetic Edda, a collection of anonymous poetry from earlier traditional sources compiled around the same time as the Prose Edda in 13th century Iceland. The Prose Edda is related to the Poetic Edda in that the Prose Edda cites various poems collected in the Poetic Edda as sources.