The general plan of the Voluspo is fairly clear. Othin, chief of the gods, always conscious of impending disaster and eager for knowledge, calls on a certain "Volva," or wise-woman, presumably bidding her rise from the grave. She first tells him of the past, of the creation of the world, the beginning of years, the origin of the dwarfs (at this point there is a clearly interpolated catalogue of dwarfs' names, stanzas 10-16), of the first man and woman, of the world-ash Yggdrasil, and of the first war, between the gods and the Vanir, or, in Anglicized form, the Wanes. Then, in stanzas 27-29, as a further proof of her wisdom, she discloses some of Othin's own secrets and the details of his search for knowledge. Rewarded by Othin for what she has thus far told (stanza 30), she then turns to the real prophesy, the disclosure of the final destruction of the gods. This final battle, in which fire and flood overwhelm heaven and earth as the gods fight with their enemies, is the great fact in Norse mythology; the phrase describing it, ragna rök, "the fate of the gods," has become familiar, by confusion with the word rökkr, "twilight," in the German Göterdämmerung. The wise-woman tells of the Valkyries who bring the slain warriors to support Othin and the other gods in the battle, of the slaying of Baldr, best and fairest of the gods, through the wiles of Loki, of the enemies of the gods, of the summons to battle on both sides, and of the mighty struggle, till Othin is slain, and "fire leaps high Edda is a term used to describe two Icelandic manuscripts that were copied down and compiled in the 13th century CE. Together they are the main sources of Norse mythology and skaldic poetry that relate the religion, cosmogony, and history of Scandinavians and Proto-Germanic tribes. The Prose or Younger Edda dates to circa 1220 CE and was compiled by Snorri Sturluson, an Icelandic poet and historian. The Poetic or Elder Edda was written down circa 1270 CE by an unknown author. Etymology of 'Edda' Liberman, Anatoly (2016). "The Origin of the Name Edda", in Anatoly Liberman, In Prayer and Laughter. Essays on Medieval Scandinavian and Germanic Mythology, Literature, and Culture. Paleograph Press. ISBN 9785895260272.

Finally a beautiful reborn world will rise from the ashes of death and destruction where Baldr and Höðr will live again in a new world where the earth sprouts abundance without sowing seed. The surviving Æsir reunite with Hœnir and meet together at the field of Iðavöllr, discussing Jörmungandr, great events of the past, and the runic alphabet. A final stanza describes the sudden appearance of Nidhogg the dragon, bearing corpses in his wings, before the seeress emerges from her trance. Even though their definition of “history,” or at least what constitutes a reliable piece of historical information, might diverge considerably from our present understanding, the Icelanders of the Middle Ages have left us with numerous historical texts that add mightily to our knowledge of pre-Christian Norse religious traditions. While many of these, such as the priest Ari Thorgilsson’s Íslendingabók (“Book of Icelanders”) and the anonymous Landnámabók (“Book of Settlements”), don’t fit into the saga genre, the majority of these historical works are Icelandic sagas. Individual poems have individual clues to their age. For example, Atlamál hin groenlenzku is claimed by its title to have been composed in Greenland and seems so by some internal evidence. If so, it must have been composed no earlier than about 985, since there were no Scandinavians in Greenland until that time. Tells the story of Völund, a legendary smith and king of the elves who is captured by a human king and forced to make treasures for him. Völund ultimately takes revenge on the king by killing his sons and raping his daughter Boldvild, before flying away on wings he had made himself. Völuspá in skamma ( The short Völuspá, The Short Seeress' Prophecy, Short Prophecy of the Seeress) - This poem, sometimes presented separately, is often included as an interpolation within Hyndluljóð.

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However, when we are trying to understand the age of any given poem, it is basically based on the words and grammar used. That disregards the fact that these poems probably lived long before they were ever written down, or performed by poets.

Be thou silent, Freyja! I know thee full well; thou art not free from vices: of the Æsir and the Alfar, that are herein, each has been thy paramour." So alone shouldst thou be, hadst thou strict and prudent been towards thy mate; but one I know, and, I think, know him well, a favoured rival of Hlorridi, and that is the wily Loki." Hail, Æsir! Hail, Asyniur! And ye, all-holy gods! all, save that one man, who sits within there, Bragi, on yonder bench." Ymir: the giant out of whose body the gods made the world; cf. Vafthruthnismol, 21. in this stanza as quoted in Snorri's Edda the first line runs: "Of old was the age ere aught there was." Yawning gap: this phrase, "Ginnunga-gap," is sometimes used as a proper name. Some of the older poems are believed to have been written in the 9th or 10th century, or possibly even earlier. The latest poems were likely written in the 11th or 12th centuries. This was shortly before the separate poems came to be a collection.Each poem is provided with an introduction, synopsis and suggestions for further reading. The Old Norse texts are furnished with a textual apparatus recording the manuscript readings behind this edition’s emendations, as well as select variant readings. The accompanying translations, informed by the latest scholarship, are concisely annotated to make them as accessible as possible.

Helgason, Jón, ed. (1951–1952), "Eddadigte", Nordisk Filologi, Copenhagen: Munksgaard, A: 4 and 7–8 Shippey, Tom (2003), The Road to Middle-earth, Houghton Mifflin, Ch. 3 pp. 70–71, ISBN 0-618-25760-8 Gylfaginning: Here Begins the Beguiling of Gylfi - Perhaps truest to ancient sources, this book is a mythological story in the form of Odinic poems that explain the origin of the Norse cosmos and the chaos that will ensue. In the Thrymskvida the giant Thrym steals Thor’s hammer and demands Freyja, the goddess of love and fertility, as his bride in exchange for its return. The gods however come up with a plan to retrieve Thor’s hammer, with Thor disguising himself as Freyja and Loki as her maid. Several of the legendary sagas contain poetry in the Eddic style. Their age and importance is often difficult to evaluate but the Hervarar saga, in particular, contains interesting poetic interpolations.Upon the discovery of the Poetic Edda, the two “Eddas” came to be known as the Younger, and Elder Edda. The poems of the latter are seen as having been the source of much of Snorri’s prose writing in his own books.