ABSTRACT
Vǫluspá is the first poem in the Codex Regius; it also takes pride of place in the poetic record of Old Norse mythology, especially as a source for myths of creation and of the destruction of the world at Ragnarǫk. In his Edda, Snorri drew extensively on the poem, quoting some thirty stanzas and paraphrasing material from sixteen others (Nordal, 1; see also Mundal). In addition to the stanzas quoted in manuscripts of Snorri and the complete version in the Codex Regius, the poem is preserved in a variant version in Hauksbόk (AM 544 4to; see Quinn 1990). Composed mainly in the meter fornyrðislag, Vǫluspá is usually dated to ca. 1000 (see further below).
