The Poetic Edda is the modern name for an untitled collection of Old Norse anonymous narrative poems, which is distinct from the Prose Edda written by Snorri Sturluson. Several versions exist, all primarily of text from the Icelandic medieval manuscript known as the Codex Regius, which contains 31 poems. The Codex Regius is arguably the most important extant source on Norse mythology and Germanic heroic legends. From the early-19th century onwards, it has had a powerful influence on later Scandinavian literatures – not only through its stories, but also through the visionary force and the dramatic quality of many of the poems. It has also become an inspiring model for many later innovations in poetic meter, particularly in Nordic languages, offering many varied examples of terse, stress-based metrical schemes that lack any final rhyme but instead use alliterative devices and strongly-concentrated imagery. Poets who have acknowledged their debt to the Codex Regius include Vilhelm Ekelund, August Strindberg, J. R. R. Tolkien, Ezra Pound, Jorge Luis Borges, and Karin Boye.

Codex Regius was written during the 13th century, but nothing was known of its whereabouts until 1643, when it came into the possession of Brynjólfur Sveinsson, then Bishop of Skálholt. At the time, versions of the Edda were known in Iceland, but scholars speculated that there once was another Edda, an Elder Edda, which contained the pagan poems that Snorri quotes in his Edda. When Codex Regius was discovered, it seemed that the speculation had proved correct, but modern scholarly research has shown that the Edda was likely written first and that the two were, at most, connected by a common source.

Brynjólfur attributed the manuscript to Sæmundr the Learned, a larger-than-life 12th century Icelandic priest. Modern scholars reject that attribution, but the name Sæmundar Edda is still sometimes associated with both the "Codex Regius" and versions of "Poetic Edda" using it as a source.

Bishop Brynjólfur sent Codex Regius as a present to the Danish king - hence the name given to the codex: Latin: codex regius, lit. 'royal book'. For centuries it was stored in the Royal Library in Copenhagen, but in 1971 it was returned to Iceland. Because air travel at the time was not entirely trustworthy with such precious cargo, it was transported by ship, accompanied by a naval escort.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poetic_Edda

1.Hljóðs bið ek allar helgar kindir,                 I bid a hearing from all holy wights,

meiri ok minni mögu Heimdallar.                  the greater and lesser of Heimdall’s children.

Viltu at ek, Valföðr, vel fyr telja                     It is your wish, Valfather, that I speak

forn spjöll fira, þau er fremst um man.         the old spells of the world, the earliest I can                                                                              recall.

2. Ek man jötna ár um borna,                      I recall the children of Ettins,

þá er forðum mik fædda höfðu.                  who, in the days of yore, brought me to life. 

Níu man ek heima, níu íviðjur,                     I recall the nine worlds, the nine steads,              mjötvið mæran fyr mold neðan.                  of the Glorious Meting Wood, beneath the                                                                                 ground.

3. Ár var alda, þat er ekki var,                         It was in the earliest times that Ymir dwelled.

vara sandr né sær né svalar unnir;                 Neither sand nor sea, nor cold waves, nor                                                                                  earth

 jörð fannsk æva né upphiminn,                      were to be found. There was neither heaven                                                                             above,

gap var ginnunga en gras hvergi.                  nor grass anywhere, there was nothing but                                                                                Ginnungagap.

4. Áðr Burs synir bjöðum um ypptu,               Soon Bur’s sons heaved up the earth.

þeir er Miðgarð mæran skópu;                         They shaped Midgard, the earth. The sun

sól skein sunnan á salar steina,                shone from the south on the stones of the stead,

þá var grund gróin grænum lauki.                    and green leeks grew from the ground.

5. Sól varp sunnan, sinni mána,               From the south the sun, companion of the moon,

hendi inni hægri um himinjöður;            threw her right hand across the edge of the world

sól þat né vissi hvar hon sali átti,                     The sun did not know what hall it had.

máni þat né vissi hvat hann megins átti         The stars did not know what stead they had.

stjörnur þat né vissu hvar þær staði áttu.           The moon did not know what main it had.

6. Þá gengu regin öll á rökstóla,                       All the Regin went to the doom chair

ginnheilög goð, ok um þat gættusk;                the Ginn Holy Gods mooted over this.

nótt ok niðjum nöfn um gáfu,                           They gave names to night and the new                                                                                      moons,

morgin hétu ok miðjan dag,                              they named midday, mid afternoon,

undorn ok aftan, árum at telja.                          and early evening, to reckon the years.

The Prose Edda.

Cosmogony.

Drawing in part on various eddic poems, the Gylfaginning section of the Prose Edda contains an account of the development and creation of the cosmos: Long before the Earth came to be, there existed the bright and flaming place called Muspell—a location so hot that foreigners may not enter it—and the foggy land of Niflheim. In Niflheim was a spring, Hvergelmir, and from it flow numerous rivers. Together these rivers, known as Élivágar, flowed further and further from their source. Eventually the poisonous substance within the flow came to harden and turn to ice. When the flow became entirely solid, a poisonous vapor rose from the ice and solidified into rime atop the solid river. These thick ice layers grew, in time spreading across the void of Ginnungagap.

The northern region of Ginnungagap continued to fill with weight from the growing substance and its accompanying blowing vapor, yet the southern portion of Ginunngagap remained clear due to its proximity to the sparks and flames of Muspell. Between Niflheim and Muspell, ice and fire, was a placid location, "as mild as a windless sky". When the rime and the blowing heat met, the liquid melted and dropped, and this mixture formed the primordial being Ymir, the ancestor of all jötnar. Ymir sweated while sleeping. From his left arm grew a male and female jötunn, "and one of his legs begot a son with another", and these limbs too produced children.

Ymir fed from rivers of milk that flowed from the teats of the primordial cow, Auðumbla. Auðumbla fed from salt she licked from rime stones. Over the course of three days, she licked free a beautiful and strong man, Búri. Búri's son Borr married a jötunn named Bestla, and the two had three sons: the gods Odin, Vili and Vé. The sons killed Ymir, and Ymir's blood poured across the land, producing great floods that killed all of the jötnar but two (Bergelmir and his unnamed wife, who sailed across the flooded landscape).

Odin, Vili, and Vé took Ymir's corpse to the center of Ginunngagap and carved it. They made the earth from Ymir's flesh; the rocks from his bones; from his blood the sea, lakes, and oceans; and scree and stone from his molars, teeth, and remaining bone fragments. They surrounded the earth's lands with sea, forming a circle. From Ymir's skull they made the sky, which they placed above the earth in four points, each held by a dwarf (Norðri, Suðri, Austri and Vestri—Old Norse 'north, south, east, and west', respectively).

After forming the dome of the Earth, the brothers Odin, Vili, and Vé took sparks of light from Muspell and placed them around the Earth, both above and below. Some remained fixed and others moved through the sky in predetermined courses. The trio provided land for the jötnar to leave by the sea. Using Ymir's eyelashes, the trio built a fortification around the center of the landmass to contain the hostility of the jötnar. They called this fortification Miðgarðr (Old Norse 'central enclosure'). Finally, from Ymir's brains, they formed the clouds.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norse_cosmology