Welcome to SPACE, our adult continuing education program which offers interactive monthly courses for personal enrichment! Learn more here.

Love, power, betrayal, death; the occasional dragon and cursed ring. All these are to be found in the legends of the Vǫlsungs and Niflungs, amongst the most popular and abiding legends of the medieval Germanic-speaking and Norse worlds. J.R.R. Tolkien reworked these into two poems in Modern English patterned after the alliterative style of Old Norse poems. In this module, we read Tolkien’s poems and their accompanying commentary to see how Tolkien wrought his own retelling of these ancient tales, and we’ll trace the connections across from the original medieval legends through Tolkien’s retelling to his original works of fantasy set in Middle-earth.

Required Texts

Tolkien, J. R. R. The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún. Edited by Christopher Tolkien. London, UK: HarperCollins, 2009.
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Days and Times

Meeting Mondays & Thursdays @6:30 PM for eight 1-hour sessions (Eastern Time), with classes scheduled for Dec 5, 8, 12, 15, 19, 22, 26, 29.

If you have any questions about the SPACE program, please reach out to [email protected].