> http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/havamal.html
> Would you consider this a fair translation?

Depends on what you mean by 'fair'.

It has the same faults as Hollander's
as regards accuracy and in my opinion
Bray is a worse poet.

Let's take an arbitrary example:

I trow I hung on that windy Tree
nine whole [days and] nights,
stabbed with a spear, offered to Odin,
myself to mine own self [given],
[high] on that Tree of which none hath heard
from what roots it rises [to heaven].

Here I've put within brackets the words Bray
has added to the meaning of the original.

In addition "wounded" would be better for
'undaðr' than "stabbed". I'd also prefer
"given" for 'gefinn'.

Let's check Thorpe for comparison:

I know that I hung,
on a wind-rocked tree,
nine whole nights,
with a spear wounded,
and to Odin offered,
myself to myself;
on that tree,
of which no one knows
from what root it springs.

This is much more accurate.
My only complaint is with the needless change of plural
to singular in "rótum; roots". [Unless that is a
transcription error in the online edition.]

- - -

I haven't made anything like a detailed study of the translations
but from what I've seen so far I'd go to Thorpe for accuracy and
Hollander for poetry. Buy Dronke's work if you can afford it but
avoid that of her student.

Kveðja,
Haukur