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During the twenty years that have passed since the publication of J.R.R. Tolkien's famous lecture, "Beowulf, the Monsters and the Critics," interest in Beowulf as a work of art has increased gratifyingly, and many fine papers have made distinguished contributions to our understanding of the poem as poetry and as heroic narrative. Much more, however, remains to be done. We have still no systematic and sensitive appraisal of the poem later than Walter Morris Hart's Ballad and Epic, no thorough examination of the poet's gifts and powers, of the effects for which he strove and the means he used to achieve them. More than enough remains to occupy a generation of scholars. It is my hope that this book may serve as a kind of prolegomenon to such study. It makes no claim to completeness or finality; it contributes only the convictions and impressions which have been borne in upon me in the course of forty years of study of the poem. - Preface.

The wellspring for modern knowledge of Norse mythology, these legends of gods and heroes were created to preserve the Vikings' narrative style from European influence. Edda means "poetic art," and this guidebook for Icelandic poets has been a timeless inspiration for generations of writers, including Wagner, Borges, and Tolkien.

'Saga Six Pack' brings together six classic sagas: 'Beowulf, ' 'The Prose Edda, ' 'The Story Of Gunnlaug The Worm-Tongue and Raven The Skald, ' 'Eric The Red, ' 'The Sea Fight' and 'Sigurd The Volsung.' There is also an introductory essay, 'What The Sagas We