The Poetic Edda
Henry Adams Bellows (translator)
3,671 passages indexed from The Poetic Edda (Henry Adams Bellows (translator)) — Page 27 of 74
License: Public Domain
The Poetic Edda, passage 1213
39. Eighteen halls | ere long did he hold,
Wealth did he get, | and gave to all,
Stones and jewels | and slim-flanked steeds,
Rings he offered, | and arm-rings shared.
The Poetic Edda, passage 3354
Hjor′-varth, father of Hvethna, 227.
The Poetic Edda, passage 3057
26. Then roared the king, | of the race of the gods,
Bold in his armor, | as roars a bear:
“Stone ye the men | that steel will bite not,
Sword nor spear, | the sons of Jonak.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 1874
13. Some editions combine lines 3–4, or line 4, with part of stanza 14.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1897
43. Possibly lines 5–6 are spurious, or part of a stanza the rest of
which has been lost. It has also been suggested that two lines may have
been lost after line 2, making a new stanza of lines 3–6. Kinsman:
literally “son-in-law.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 3045
14. So answered them | their half-brother then:
“So well may I | my kinsmen aid
As help one foot | from the other has.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 290
96. This found I myself, | when I sat in the reeds,
And long my love awaited;
As my life the maiden | wise I loved,
Yet her I never had.
The Poetic Edda, passage 680
Then Skirnir rode home. Freyr stood without, and spoke to him, and
asked for tidings:
The Poetic Edda, passage 13
The General Introduction mentions many of the scholars to whose work
this translation owes a special debt. Particular reference, however,
should here be made to the late William Henry Schofield, Professor of
Comparative Literature in Harvard University and President of The
American-Scandinavian Foundation, under whose guidance this translation
was begun; to Henry Goddard Leach, for many years Secretary of The
American-Scandinavian Foundation, and to William Witherle Lawrence,
Professor of English in Columbia University and Chairman of the
Foundation’s Committee on Publications, for their assistance with the
manuscript and the proofs; and to Hanna Astrup Larsen, the Foundation’s
literary secretary, for her efficient management of the complex details
of publication.
The Poetic Edda, passage 162
44. This is a refrain-stanza. In Regius it appears in full only at this
point, but is repeated in abbreviated form before stanzas 50 and 59. In
the Hauksbok version the full stanza comes first between stanzas 35 and
42, then, in abbreviated form, it occurs four times: before stanzas 45,
50, 55, and 59. In the Hauksbok line 3 runs: “Farther I see | and
more can say.” Garm: the dog who guards the gates of Hel’s kingdom; cf.
Baldrs Draumar, 2 ff, and Grimnismol, 44. Gnipahellir (“the
Cliff-Cave”): the entrance to the world of the dead. The wolf: Fenrir;
cf. stanza 39 and note.
The Poetic Edda, passage 3237
Fōst″-bræth-ra-sag′-a, the Saga of the Foster-Brothers, 46.
The Poetic Edda, passage 3132
Arn′-grīm, father of the berserkers, 225.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2745
5. Gnitaheith: here the dragon Fafnir had his lair (cf. Gripisspo, 11).
Sigurth doubtless owned it after Fafnir’s death, and the Gjukungs after
they had killed Sigurth. Possibly they had given it to Atli in
recompense for the death of his sister, Brynhild, and he now offered to
restore it to them, or—as seems more likely—the poet was not very clear
about its ownership himself. Stems: i.e., the gilded stems of ships,
carved like dragons,—an evident northern touch, if the word is correct,
which is by no means certain. Danp: this name was early applied to a
mythical Danish king (cf. Rigsthula, 49 and note), but it may have been
fabricated by error out of the word “Danparstaþir” (the phrase here
used is “staþi Danpar”), used in the Hervararsaga of a field of battle
between the Goths and the Huns, and quite possibly referring to the
region of the Dnieper. The name seems to have clung to the Atli
tradition long after it had lost all definite significance. Myrkwood:
cf. note on stanza 3.
The Poetic Edda, passage 120
64. More fair than the sun, | a hall I see,
Roofed with gold, | on Gimle it stands;
There shall the righteous | rulers dwell,
And happiness ever | there shall they have.
The Poetic Edda, passage 635
The Skirnismol is found complete in the Codex Regius, and through
stanza 27 in the Arnamagnæan Codex. Snorri quotes the concluding
stanza. In Regius the poem is entitled “For Scirnis” (“Skirnir’s
Journey”).
The Poetic Edda, passage 827
7. Forward that day | with speed they fared,
From Asgarth came they | to Egil’s home;
The goats with horns | bedecked he guarded;
Then they sped to the hall | where Hymir dwelt.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2883
92. “My two brothers and I | were bold in our thoughts,
From the land we went forth, | with Sigurth we fared;
Full swiftly we sailed, | each one steering his ship,
So our fate sought we e’er | till we came to the East.
The Poetic Edda, passage 669
30. “In the giants’ home | shall vile things harm thee
Each day with evil deeds;
Grief shalt thou get | instead of gladness,
And sorrow to suffer with tears.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1688
20. “Yet the hero will come | a few nights hence,
. . . . . . . . | . . . . . . . .
Unless thou dost bid him | the battle-ground seek,
Or takest the maid | from the warrior mighty.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 2082
3. “If father thou hadst not, | as others have,
By what wonder wast thou born?
(Though thy name on the day | of my death thou hidest,
Thou knowest now thou dost lie.)”
The Poetic Edda, passage 99
43. Then to the gods | crowed Gollinkambi,
He wakes the heroes | in Othin’s hall;
And beneath the earth | does another crow,
The rust-red bird | at the bars of Hel.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2617
The Oddrunargratr follows Guthrunarkvitha III in the Codex Regius; it
is not quoted or mentioned elsewhere, except that the composer of the
“short” Sigurth lay seems to have been familiar with it. The
Volsungasaga says nothing of the story on which it is based, and
mentions Oddrun only once, in the course of its paraphrase of
Brynhild’s prophecy from the “short” Sigurth lay. That the poem comes
from the eleventh century is generally agreed; prior to the year 1000
there is no trace of the figure of Oddrun, Atli’s sister, and yet the
Oddrunargratr is almost certainly older than the “short” Sigurth lay,
so that the last half of the eleventh century seems to be a fairly safe
guess.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1308
39. Strong was he made | with the strength of earth,
With the ice-cold sea, | and the blood of swine.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1756
33. Here begins the long dialogue between Gothmund, one of Granmar’s
sons, and Sinfjotli, Helgi’s half-brother. Two lines (stanza 33, lines
3–4) are quoted by the annotator in the prose note following stanza 16
of the second Helgi Hundingsbane lay, and the dialogue, in much
abbreviated form, together with Helgi’s admonition to Sinfjotli to
cease talking, is closely paralleled in stanzas 22–27 of that poem. It
has been suggested that this whole passage (stanzas 33–48) is an
interpolation, perhaps from “the Old Volsung lay.” This may be, but it
seems more probable that the poet used an older poem simply as the
basis for this passage, borrowing a little but making up a great deal
more. The manuscript indicates no gap in stanza 33.
The Poetic Edda, passage 3346
Hjal′-li, Atli’s cook, 491, 492, 520, 521.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1564
The three Helgi lays, all found in the Codex Regius, have been the
subjects of a vast amount of discussion, in spite of which many of the
facts regarding them are still very far from settled. It is, indeed,
scarcely possible to make any unqualified statement regarding these
three poems for which a flat contradiction cannot be found in the
writings of some scholar of distinction. The origin of the Helgi
tradition, its connection with that of Sigurth, the authorship, date
and home of the poems, the degree to which they have been altered from
their original forms, the status of the composer of the copious prose
notes: these and many other allied questions have been and probably
always will be matters of dispute among students of the Edda’s history.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2893
3. The woman: Guthrun, concerning whose marriage to Atli cf.
Guthrunarkvitha II. The sea: a late and essentially Greenland variation
of the geography of the Atli story. Even the Atlakvitha, perhaps half a
century earlier, separates Atli’s land from that of the Gjukungs only
by a forest.
The Poetic Edda, passage 3091
29. This is almost certainly an interpolated Ljothahattr stanza, though
some editors have tried to expand it into the Fornyrthislag form.
Hounds of the Norns: wolves.
The Poetic Edda, passage 3003
15. “But round Svanhild | handmaidens sat,
She was dearest ever | of all my children;
So did Svanhild | seem in my hall
As the ray of the sun | is fair to see.
The Poetic Edda, passage 934
34. “Be silent, Njorth; | thou wast eastward sent,
To the gods as a hostage given;
And the daughters of Hymir | their privy had
When use did they make of thy mouth.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 3602
Thjōth′-mar, father of Thjothrek, 466, 467.
The Poetic Edda, passage 276
82. When the gale blows hew wood, | in fair winds seek the water;
Sport with maidens at dusk, | for day’s eyes are many;
From the ship seek swiftness, | from the shield protection,
Cuts from the sword, | from the maiden kisses.
The Poetic Edda, passage 881
25. No gap is indicated in the manuscripts, but that a line or more has
been lost is highly probable. In Snorri’s version, Thor pulls so hard
on the line that he drives both his feet through the flooring of the
boat, and stands on bottom. When he pulls the serpent up, Hymir cuts
the line with his bait-knife, which explains the serpent’s escape.
Thor, in a rage, knocks Hymir overboard with his hammer, and then wades
ashore. The lines of stanzas 25 and 26 have been variously grouped.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1328
8. The first line is obviously corrupt in the manuscript, and has been
variously emended. The general assumption is that in the interval
between stanzas 7 and 8 Freyja and Hyndla have arrived at Valhall. No
lacuna is indicated in the manuscript.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2491
10. “He let round my hall, | that southward looked,
The branches’ foe | high-leaping burn;
Across it he bade | the hero come
Who brought me the gold | that Fafnir guarded.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2544
28. “A husband now | I will not have,
Nor wife of Brynhild’s | brother be;
It beseems me not | with Buthli’s son
Happy to be, | and heirs to bear.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 49
He must early go forth | who fain the blood
Or the goods of another would get;
The wolf that lies idle | shall win little meat,
Or the sleeping man success.
The Poetic Edda, passage 541
13. Himinbjorg is the eighth, | and Heimdall there
O’er men holds sway, it is said;
In his well-built house | does the warder of heaven
The good mead gladly drink.
The Poetic Edda, passage 258
64. The man who is prudent | a measured use
Of the might he has will make;
He finds when among | the brave he fares
That the boldest he may not be.
The Poetic Edda, passage 3661
Völ″-und-ar-kvith′-a, the Lay of Völund, 129, 252–268, 296, 303, 319,
437, 443, 444, 471, 485, 493, 527.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2061
15. Regarding the sons of Hunding and Eylimi, father of Sigurth’s
mother, all of whom belong to the Helgi tradition, cf. Fra Dautha
Sinfjotla and note.
The Poetic Edda, passage 3478
Nā′-strond, Corpse-Strand, 17.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1670
2. ’Twas night in the dwelling, | and Norns there came,
Who shaped the life | of the lofty one;
They bade him most famed | of fighters all
And best of princes | ever to be.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2955
70. The manuscript indicates line 3 as the beginning of a new stanza.
Two shields, etc.: i.e., Guthrun concealed her hostility (symbolized by
a red shield, cf. Helgakvitha Hundingsbana I, 34) by a show of
friendliness (a white shield).
The Poetic Edda, passage 3118
Alf′-hild, wife of Hjorvarth, 272, 273.
The Poetic Edda, passage 3232
Fjorn′-ir, Gunnar’s cupbearer, 486.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2566
11. On lines 3–4 cf. Guthrunarkvitha I, 1. Line 5 is probably spurious.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1000
42. The daughter of Gymir: Gerth, heroine of the Skirnismol, which
gives the details of Freyr’s loss of his sword. Muspell’s sons: the
name Muspell is not used elsewhere in the poems; Snorri uses it
frequently, but only in this same phrase, “Muspell’s sons.” They are
the dwellers in the fire-world, Muspellsheim, led by Surt against the
gods in the last battle; cf. Voluspo, 47 and 52 and notes. Myrkwood:
here the dark forest bounding the fire-world; in the Atlakvitha (stanza
3) the name is used of another boundary forest.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2058
13. This and the following stanza may be out of place here, really
belonging, together with their introductory prose sentence, in the
opening prose passage, following the first sentence describing Regin.
Certainly they seem to relate to Regin’s first meeting with Sigurth.
Stanzas 13–26, interspersed with prose, are quoted in the
Nornageststhattr. Stanzas 13–18 may be the remnants of a lost poem
belonging to the Helgi cycle (cf. Introductory Note). Hardy wolf:
warrior, i.e., Sigurth.
The Poetic Edda, passage 853
33. “Fair is the treasure | that from me is gone,
Since now the cup | on my knees lies shattered;”
So spake the giant: | “No more can I say
In days to be, | ‘Thou art brewed, mine ale.’