Eddic to English

Jackson Crawford, 2015 & 2025

This is the Eddic to English entry for Jackson Crawford’s translation of the Poetic Edda (The Poetic Edda: Stories of the Norse Gods and Heroes, 2015 and its second, expanded edition, 2025). Eddic to English is an ongoing and web-based comparative survey of English translations of the Poetic Edda, a collection of Old Icelandic poems. It is free for use and maintained by Mimisbrunnr.info.

This entry was created in 2017 and last updated October 2025.

Quick attribution:

  • Mimisbrunnr.info. 2017 & 2025. “Jackson Crawford, 2015 & 2025”. Eddic to English, Mimisbrunnr.info. URL: https://www.mimisbrunnr.info/eddic-to-english-jackson-crawford-2015

1. Publication information

2. Contents

  • Translated poems (edition I: 35, edition II: 40):

    • Codex Regius (30)
      Vǫluspá, Hávamál, Vafþrúðnismál, Grímnismál, Skírnismál, Hárbarðsljóð, Hymiskviða, Lokasenna, Þrymskviða, Vǫlundarkviða, Alvíssmál, Frá dauða Sinfjǫtla, Grípisspá, Reginsmál, Fáfnismál, Sigrdrífumál, Brot af Sigurðarkviðu, Sigurðarkviða hin skamma, Helreið Brynhildar, Dráp Niflunga, Oddrúnargrátr, Atlakviða, Guðrúnarhvǫt, Hamðismál, Helgakviða Hundingsbana (I, II), Helgakviða Hjǫrvarðssonar, Guðrúnarkviða (I, II, III)

    • Non-Codex Regius (4)
      Baldrs draumar, Rígsþula, Hyndluljóð, Grottasǫngr

    • Other (1)
      The Cowboy Hávamál (an original poem by Crawford)

    • Edition II additions (5): Crawford’s second edition adds the eddic poems Svipdagsmál and four non-eddic items, the skaldic poems Eiríksmál, Hákonarmál, and Krákumál alongside the ríma Lokrur.

  • Note format: The translator provides no notes of any kind.

  • Dual Edition? No

  • Rendering:

    • Edition I: Jǫtunn = “giant” (p. 2), þurs = “giant” (p. 3)

    • Edition II: Jǫtunn = “jotun” (p. lx-lxi), þurs = “jotun” (p. lx-lxi)

  • Censorship: None (cf. p.79)

  • Original illustrations?

    • Edition I: None

    • Edition II: Yes. This edition features an illustrated map of the cosmos by Crawford (“A Viking Age Icelander’s Mythic World”, p. lxxi), a variety of hand-written renderings of stanzas into Younger Futhark by Crawford (such as on p. 308), a photograph of the Codex Regius manuscript by an uncredited individual at the Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies (p. xvi).

3. translation samples

3.1. Vǫluspá:

Edition I, p. 19, & edition II, p. 9 (no change):

I know an ash tree,
named Yggdrasil,
a high tree, speckled
with white clay;
dewdrops fall from it
upon the valleys;
it stands, forever green,
above Urth’s well.

3.2. Helgakviða Hundingsbana II

Edition I, p. 215:

Sigrun went inside Helgi's burial mound and she said:

"Now I am as happy
to see you, husband,
as Odin's eager
ravens are
when they see
fresh, warm corpses,
or when, dew-covered,
they greet the morning.

This stanza appears on page 230 of edition II. It differs from edition I only in that “eager” is swapped for “gluttonous”.

3.3. Rígsþula (p. 154-155):

Edition I, p. 19, & edition II, p. 167 (no change):

Rig shared runes
with him,
but King tricked him,
and learned them better than he,
and then he earned
the right to call himself
by the name of Rig,
for his rune-lore.

4. Reviews

Edition I (2015)

Excerpt:

Crawford’s knowledge of and passion for the topic is clear throughout, and he strikes an excellent balance between approachability and authenticity. I will most certainly be using this translation when I teach Norse mythology in the future and will recommend it to anyone looking for an approachable introduction to the subject.

Excerpt:

Because of the many inaccuracies and mistakes, this is unfortunately not a translation that can be recommended for academic purposes, neither for research nor for teaching. The translation reads well, and it is a great pity that Crawford apparently did not consult other scholarly editions and translations, which would have helped avoid some of the most egregious pitfalls. That being said, a casual reader will likely embrace this volume.

Excerpt:

In terms of faithfulness to the source material, Crawford has taken various liberties in simplifying and streamlining the text. In almost all cases it should be sufficiently clear to specialists that these changes have been made for purposes of clarity and accessibility, though one might question many individual choices. However, except in a few cases in the introduction, in which specific systematic changes in orthography and spelling are brought to the reader’s attention, none of these editorial decisions will be visible to the casual reader.

Edition II (2025)

None at this time

5. Observations

American YouTuber Jackson Crawford is a former Old Norse language instructor who operates a widely viewed YouTube channel supported by a Patreon account. Built around advertisements for Grimfrost (a company owned by the massive, Sweden-based, and Saudi Arabia government-backed corporation Embracer Group), Crawford’s YouTube videos often feature him discussing Old Norse topics dressed in western wear at scenic locations around the Rocky Mountains.

Although Crawford regularly produces content for his YouTube channel, the first edition of his translation is perhaps most notable for what it lacks: Like Jeramy Dodds's translation published a year before his own—and unlike most other translations of the Poetic Edda—readers will find neither endnotes nor footnotes in Crawford’s translation. It is also comparatively light on material. For example, Crawford forgoes a Codex Regius poem, Atlamál, in favor of his original composition “Cowboy Hávamal” in both edition I and edition II. Beyond the Codex Regius, Larrington’s 2014 revised edition, for example, contains eight non-Codex Regius eddic poems, whereas Crawford’s first translation contains a scant four and his second translation contains only five. When compared to nearly every other English translation of the Poetic Edda to date, Crawford’s first edition is a very slim volume and his second edition is ultimately not much bigger.

A decade has passed since Crawford’s first edition (2015) and during that period Edward Pettit’s translation has seen release (2023, covered on Eddic to English here). Pettit’s is an enormous and freely available translation that is now the de facto contemporary standard English language edition of the text. When compared to that of Pettit, Crawford’s edition especially suffers because it still contains neither endnotes nor footnotes. Instead, readers receive very minimal commentary at the beginning of each poem, undoubtedly perplexing new readers who dare approach these allusion- and reference-heavy poems, and leaving many of his rendering choices a mystery to more seasoned readers.

While Crawford discusses some topics in more depth on his Youtube channel, these clips are hardly a replacement for the kind of in-depth commentary one finds in almost all other editions of the Poetic Edda. This is a major issue that could be mitigated if the translator, for example, uploaded his notes and commentary online.

Ultimately, while somewhat expanded, Crawford’s 2025 second edition suffers from many of the same issues as his first edition.

Eddic to English