In Tolkien’s The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún, what is the name of the poem about the Völsungs?

In Tolkien’s The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún, the poem about the Völsungs is titled New Lay of the Völsungs.

The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún is a posthumously published work edited by Christopher Tolkien and released in 2009. It contains two long narrative poems modeled on the style and subject matter of the medieval Poetic Edda. The first is New Lay of the Völsungs, which follows Sigurd, Brynhild, Gudrún, and the destruction of the Völsung family.

The second poem is New Lay of Gudrún. Tolkien’s work is not a translation of one surviving medieval poem; it is his own reconstruction and retelling, shaped by close study of Old Norse and related Germanic traditions.

A common mix-up is to call the first poem simply The Lay of the Völsungs. Tolkien’s actual title includes “New,” distinguishing his composition from the medieval sources and signaling its relationship to earlier Eddic lays.