The Comparative Hávamál

Historic Advice & Guidance from the Viking Age God Odin

Bellows, Bray, Thorpe, & More

Photo of a physical copy of the book sitting in moss

“A tree withers that on a hill-top stands;
protects it neither barks nor leaves:
such is the man whom no one favors:
why should he live long?”

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Widely celebrated and referenced in popular culture as a literary treasure and even achieving the status of holy scripture in some contemporary new religious movements, the enigmatic poem Hávamál reaches us today by way of a single Old Icelandic manuscript dated to the 1200s, though it consists of (in some cases much) earlier traditional material. Its contents range from the practical to the profound, from the everyday to the deeply occult, all presented in the voice of the god Odin (Óðinn) as guidance for humankind, his creations. Featuring original art from Katie Metcalfe and Jacqui Alberts, newly introduced by scholar Lyonel Perabo, and with commentary from philologist Joseph S. Hopkins, this beautiful new edition presents three celebrated translations of the text beside its original Old Icelandic.

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