Unknown Ólafsson , Eggert , 1726-1768 , Icelandic poet and antiquarian

Unknown Ólafsson , Eggert , 1726-1768 , Icelandic poet and antiquarian

Eggert Ólafsson: born to a farming family at Snaefellsnes, Iceland, 1726; took his bachelor's degree at the University of Copenhagen; interested in natural history and carried out a scientific and cultural survey of Iceland, 1752-1757; poet, antiquarian and advocate of Icelandic language and culture; died at sea in Breida Bay, off the northwest coast of Iceland, 1768. Publication: Reise igiennem Island (2 volumes, 1772) (Travels in Iceland).

'Edda' comprises a body of ancient Icelandic literature contained in two books, the Prose (or Younger) Edda and the Poetic (or Elder) Edda, and constitutes the fullest source for modern knowledge of Germanic mythology. The Prose Edda was written by the Icelandic chieftain, poet,and historian Snorri Sturluson, probably in 1222-1223, and is a textbook intended to instruct young poets in the metres of the early Icelandic skalds (court poets) and to provide the Christian age with an understanding of the mythological subjects referred to in early poetry. The Poetic Edda is a manuscript of the later 13th century, but containing older materials (hence the 'Elder' Edda), and contains mythological and heroic poems of unknown authorship, usually dramatic dialogues in a terse and archaic style, composed from the 9th to the 11th century.