Skáldskaparmál (Old Norse: 'Poetic Diction' or áldskaparmá'The Language of Poetry'; ; ) is the second part of the Prose Edda, compiled by Snorri Sturluson. It consists of a dialogue between Ægir, the divine personification of the sea, and Bragi, the god of poetry, in which both stories of the Æsir and discourse on the nature of poetry are intertwined. The work additionally includes tales of human heroes and kings. The overarching mythological setup gradually fades and the work becomes more of an early form of a poetic thesaurus of Old Norse, presumably intended for usage by skalds (Norse poets and bards of the era). Much of the work is focused on poetic phrases and descriptors. The origin of these kennings is given; Bragi delivers a systematic list of kennings for various Æsir, people, places, and things. He then goes on to discuss poetic language in some detail, in particular heiti, essentially poetic synonyms or alternate words. For example, the simple hestr, "horse", might be replaced by jór, "steed".
In general, the parts of the work that attract the most interest from modern audiences are the descriptions of Norse mythology, even if given in passing to illustrate a poetic phrase. Some of the stories in the Skáldskaparmál include: How Idunn was captured by the giant Thjazi, with Loki involved in both her kidnapping and her recovery. The origin of Kvasir, who is transformed into the mead of poetry after his death. The duel between the giant Hrungnir and Thor. The plan by the giant Geirrödr to entrap Thor, and how Thor triumphed with the aid of the giant Grídr. Loki cutting Sif's prized golden hair in a mischievous prank, and being obliged into arranging the dwarves to create a replacement golden wig, as well as five other powerful artifacts. How the dwarf Andvari's Rhinegold and golden ring were created and given a powerful curse; the downfall of the dwarves Ótr, Hreidmar, Fafnir, and Regin; the involvement of Sigurd the Volsung and the valkyrie Brynhild; which all leads into the origin of the Niflungs and Gjukungs, human noble families with a tragic story. A version of the Grottasöngr, describing how King Mysing killed King Frodi and made the sea salty. The deeds of Danish King Hrolf Kraki in defeating the Swedish King Adlis A never-ending battle called Hjaðningavíg, where King Hogni's daughter Hildr resurrects all the slain at night with magic so they can resume fighting the next day.
Background
The Skáldskaparmál is both a retelling of Norse legend as well as a treatise on poetry. It is unusual among surviving medieval European works as a poetic treatise written both in and about the poetry of a local vernacular language, Old Norse; other Western European works of the era were on Latin language poetry, as Latin was the language of scholars and learning. The work seems to have been used to aid in the composition of rímur (Icelandic ballads) in the centuries after its composition.
The Skáldskaparmál quotes poems as examples of usage; many of these poems are only known from the excerpts and mentions here, as they are lost works. Poems quoted include the Thorsdrápa, Ragnarsdrápa, Húsdrápa, Bjarkamál, and others. Other lost sources believed to be consulted by Sturluson include the Skjöldunga saga, possibly an early version of the Völsunga saga, and even more hypothetically a lost work referred to as *Hladajarla saga. One work that does not appear to be consulted much, conversely, is Saxo Grammaticus's Gesta Danorum, which seems to have been the main history textbook used by scholars of the period; whether its history was not of interest to Sturluson, he did not have access to it, or he had access to it but couldn't read Latin is not known.
It is not known whether the Skáldskaparmál and the Gylfaginning were written by the same author, or even if the first third of the Skáldskaparmál has the same author as the latter two thirds. They are certainly written in two different styles, with the Gylfaginning very dialogue-heavy, while the Skáldskaparmál tends toward third-person storytelling, and occasional didactic sections in its latter parts. Regardless, the two fit together snugly, containing almost no repetition of stories.
The chapter markings used in most editions are not original to the work, but rather applied in later printings for the ease of discussion.