  vÃ¶luspÃ¡ (old norse vÇ«luspÃ¡, prophecy of the vÃ¶lva (seeress); modern icelandic , reconstructed old norse ) is the first and best known poem of the poetic edda. it tells the story of the creation of the world and its coming end related by a vÃ¶lva addressing odin. it is one of the most important primary sources for the study of norse mythology. henry adam bellows proposed a 10th-century dating and authorship by a pagan icelander. he also assumes the early hearers would have been very familiar with the "story" of the poem and not in need of an explanation.http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/poe/poe03.htm the poem is preserved whole in the codex regius and hauksbÃ³k manuscripts while parts of it are quoted in the prose edda. it consists of approximately 60 fornyrÃ°islag stanzas. ==preservation== vÃ¶luspÃ¡ is found in the codex regius manuscript (ca. 1270) and in haukr erlendsson's hauksbÃ³k codex (ca. 1334), and many of its stanzas are quoted or paraphrased in snorri sturluson's prose edda (composed ca. 1220, oldest extant manuscript dates from ca. 1300). the order and number of the stanzas varies in these sources. some editors and translators have further rearranged the material. the codex regius version is usually taken as a base for editions. ==structure== the poem consists of some 60 fornyrÃ°islag stanzas. in sophus bugge's edition the hauksbÃ³k version has 59 stanzas while the codex regius version has 62 stanzas. each manuscript contains some stanzas not in the other. bugge's normalized version has 66 stanzas. the poem makes sporadic use of refrains. ==synopsis== the poem starts with the vÃ¶lva requesting silence from "the sons of heimdallr" (human beings) and asking odin whether he wants her to recite ancient lore. she says she remembers giants born in antiquity who reared her. she then goes on to relate a creation myth and mentions ymir; the world was empty until the sons of burr lifted the earth out of the sea. the Ãsir then established order in the cosmos by finding places for the sun, the moon and the stars, thereby starting the cycle of day and night. a golden age ensued where the Ãsir had plenty of gold and happily constructed temples and made tools. but then three mighty giant maidens came from jÃ¶tunheimr and the golden age came to an end. the Ãsir then created the dwarves, of whom mÃ³tsognir and durinn are the mightiest. at this point ten of the poem's stanzas are over and six stanzas ensue which contain names of dwarves. this section, sometimes called "dvergatal" ("catalo
Creation_myths Eddic_poetry Old_Norse_literature Sources_of_Norse_mythology