[All-wise’s sayings] is an Old Norse-Icelandic mythological poem, composed in the eddic meter
ljóðaháttr[song meter] and divided into 35 stanzas. Its form is dialogic, all stanzas representing the direct speech of the characters. The oldest version of
Alvíssmálsurvives in a vellum manuscript from c. 1270, Konungsbók eddukvæða (Codex Regius of Eddic Poetry; GKS 2365 4to). Two verses (stanzas 20 and 30) are also found in manuscripts of
Snorra Edda[Snorri’s Edda], in the
Skáldskaparmál[Poetic diction] section, a work which, like
Alvíssmál, concerns the naming of things. The poem appears in many paper manuscripts composed in post-Reformation Iceland.
The poem has two speaking characters, Þórr of the Æsir and the dwarf Alvíss [All-wise], who trade stanzas of
1428 words
Citation: McGillivray, Andrew. "Alvíssmál". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 12 September 2022 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=40734, accessed 09 October 2024.]