The songs in it must have been widely known, because numerous alterations and fragments of them can be found in many Icelandic manuscripts.
The poetic edda consists of two groups of songs. The first is 15 works on mythology. The second are heroic songs (21). The cycle related to the Scandinavian pantheon is clearly divided into three main parts - the first 6 of the song refers to Odin, more to Thor and Frey. It is opened by the most magnificent of the songs - Vóluspa (Prophecy of the Prophetess). The mythical history of the world was put into the mouth of the clairvoyant giant, its present day and its imminent end, when on rag-narók * the old order will be destroyed in the fight of gods with giants and monsters (personifying the forces of nature opposing man), to then, redeemed with the blood of gods and men, could be reborn again. Many scholars have noted the strong Christian influences in the vision. Baldr's plot and his act of redemption and a premonition of a new descent, almighty god, which will definitely put an end to all evil, they are already closely related to the circle of Christian ideology. The vision of a new order coming with the person of a new god is not unique. A similar theme can be found in Vóluspa en skamma, which is a separate part of Hyndla's Song, as well as in iconographic material linking Christian threads with the idea of ragnarók (e.g.. Thorwald Cross from the British Isle of Man). The other songs from the Eddy mythological cycle are of various characters, starting with the serious ones, describing the world of gods and explaining the divine order of things, by satirical, right up to didactic works.