Havamal and Norse Proverbs

Havamal, or the Ballad of the High One, is the major work of Norse wisdom literature. In one of the key poems in the Poetic Edda we find the counsel of Odin himself. Advice for wanderers, proverbial wisdom, love advice, accounts of Odin's quest after the runes and the mead of poetry, and various spells and incantations fill out this marvellous poem, at once archaic and down to earth. The present translation is in the original alliterative verse, and through it the Allfather's true voice com...