The Poetic Edda
Henry Adams Bellows (translator)
3,671 passages indexed from The Poetic Edda (Henry Adams Bellows (translator)) — Page 28 of 74
License: Public Domain
The Poetic Edda, passage 701
27. Eagle’s hill: the hill at the end of heaven, and consequently
overlooking hell, where the giant Hræsvelg sits “in an eagle’s guise,”
and makes the winds with his wings; cf. Vafthruthnismol, 37, also
Voluspo, 50. The second line is faulty in both manuscripts;
Hildebrand’s emendation corrects the error, but omits an effective
touch; the manuscript line may be rendered “And look and hanker for
hell.” The Arnamagnæan Codex breaks off with the fourth line of this
stanza.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1412
42. “Lævatein is there, | that Lopt with runes
Once made by the doors of death;
In Lægjarn’s chest | by Sinmora lies it,
And nine locks fasten it firm.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 2643
21. “Yet could we not | our love o’ercome,
And my head I laid | on the hero’s shoulder;
Many there were | of kinsmen mine
Who said that together | us they had seen.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1911
The Gripisspo immediately follows the prose Fra Dautha Sinfjotla in the
Codex Regius, and is contained in no other early manuscript. It is
unquestionably one of the latest of the poems in the Eddic collection;
most critics agree in calling it the latest of all, dating it not much
before the year 1200. Its author (for in this instance the word may be
correctly used) was not only familiar with the other poems of the
Sigurth cycle, but seems to have had actual written copies of them
before him; it has, indeed, been suggested, and not without
plausibility, that the Gripisspo may have been written by the very man
who compiled and annotated the collection of poems preserved in the
Codex Regius.
The Poetic Edda, passage 145
27. Here the Volva turns from her memories of the past to a statement
of some of Othin’s own secrets in his eternal search for knowledge
(stanzas 27–29). Bugge puts this stanza after stanza 29. The horn of
Heimdall: the Gjallarhorn (“Shrieking Horn”), with which Heimdall,
watchman of the gods, will summon them to the last battle. Till that
time the horn is buried under Yggdrasil. Valfather’s pledge: Othin’s
eye (the sun?), which he gave to the water-spirit Mimir (or Mim) in
exchange for the latter’s wisdom. It appears here and in stanza 29 as a
drinking-vessel, from which Mimir drinks the magic mead, and from which
he pours water on the ash Yggdrasil. Othin’s sacrifice of his eye in
order to gain knowledge of his final doom is one of the series of
disasters leading up to the destruction of the gods. There were several
differing versions of the story of Othin’s relations with Mimir;
another one, quite incompatible with this, appears in stanza 47. In the
manuscripts I know and I see appear as “she knows” and “she sees” (cf.
note on 21).
The Poetic Edda, passage 2235
27. Probably another interpolation.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2403
56. “Well I remember | how me ye treated
When ye betrayed me | with treacherous wiles;
. . . . . . . . | . . . . . . . .
Lost was my joy | as long as I lived.
The Poetic Edda, passage 940
40. “Be silent, Tyr! | for a son with me
Thy wife once chanced to win;
Not a penny, methinks, | wast thou paid for the wrong,
Nor wast righted an inch, poor wretch.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 3136
At′-la, mother of Heimdall, 229.
The Poetic Edda, passage 804
39. Thjalfi: Thor’s servant; cf. note on stanza 14.
The Poetic Edda, passage 3106
The long (doubled) consonants should be pronounced as in Italian, both
elements being distinctly sounded; e.g., “Am-ma.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 2084
5. “Who drove thee on? | why wert thou driven
My life to make me lose?
A father brave | had the bright-eyed youth,
For bold in boyhood thou art.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 271
77. Cattle die, | and kinsmen die,
And so one dies one’s self;
But a noble name | will never die,
If good renown one gets.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2794
7. Then Hogni they asked | if more eager he were,
Full clear was the guile, | if on guard they had been;
Then Gunnar made promise, | if Hogni would go,
And Hogni made answer | as the other counseled.
The Poetic Edda, passage 811
53. Magni: Thor’s son; cf. stanza 9 and note.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1947
24. “Nought could seem worse, | but now must part
The prince and Sigurth, | since so it is;
My road I ask,— | the future lies open,—
Mighty one, speak, | my mother’s brother.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 2407
60. “It would better beseem | thy sister fair
To follow her husband | first in death,
If counsel good | to her were given,
Or a heart akin | to mine she had.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2782
45. Some editions transfer line 2 to stanza 37; others reject line 3 as
interpolated. Myrkheim (“Dark-Home”): probably identical with Myrkwood;
cf. stanza 3. Temple: probably both here and in stanza 42 the word
means little more than the place where Atli’s treasures were kept; the
poet was by no means literal in his use of terms connected with the
heathen religion. Buthlungs: sons of Buthli, i.e., Atli and his family.
Shield-maids: cf. stanza 17 and note.
The Poetic Edda, passage 912
12. “A horse and a sword | from my hoard will I give,
And a ring gives Bragi to boot,
That hatred thou makst not | among the gods;
So rouse not the great ones to wrath.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 3325
Helg″-a-kvith′-a Hjor″-varths-son′-ar, the Lay of Helgi the Son of
Hjorvarth, 14, 189, 269–290, 292, 293, 295, 298, 300, 302, 304, 309,
313, 318, 332, 358, 359, 371, 506.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2111
Then Regin went up to Fafnir and cut out his heart with his sword, that
was named Rithil, and then he drank blood from the wounds. Regin said:
The Poetic Edda, passage 2064
17. Sea-trees and roller-steeds (the latter because ships were pulled
up on shore by means of rollers) both mean “ships.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 3365
Hloth′-vēr, a Frankish king, 459.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1935
12. “Rich shall I be | if battles I win
With such as these, | as now thou sayest;
Forward look, | and further tell:
What the life | that I shall lead?”
The Poetic Edda, passage 2273
17. “. . . . . . . . | . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . | . . . . . . . .
Utterly now | your Niflung race
All shall die; | your oaths ye have broken.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2593
41. In stanzas 41–43 Atli’s dreams forecast the death of his two sons,
whose flesh Guthrun gives him to eat (cf. Atlakvitha, 39, and Atlamol,
78).
The Poetic Edda, passage 1487
14. So long he sat | that he fell asleep,
His waking empty | of gladness was;
Heavy chains | he saw on his hands,
And fetters bound | his feet together.
The Poetic Edda, passage 3348
Hjalp′-rek, father of Alf, 335, 336, 358, 359, 365, 369, 454.
The Poetic Edda, passage 278
84. A man shall trust not | the oath of a maid,
Nor the word a woman speaks;
For their hearts on a whirling | wheel were fashioned,
And fickle their breasts were formed.
The Poetic Edda, passage 394
103. With this stanza the subject changes abruptly, and apparently the
virtues of fair speech, mentioned in the last three lines, account for
the introduction, from what source cannot be known, of the story of
Othin and the mead of song (stanzas 104–110).
The Poetic Edda, passage 236
42. To his friend a man | a friend shall prove,
And gifts with gifts requite;
But men shall mocking | with mockery answer,
And fraud with falsehood meet.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1085
4. “Break it shall I, | for over the bride
Her father has foremost right;
At home was I not | when the promise thou hadst,
And I give her alone of the gods.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 1391
22. “Tell me now, fellow, | what father thou hast,
And the kindred of whom thou camst.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 3387
Hrǣ′-svelg, an eagle, 21, 78, 115.
The Poetic Edda, passage 3190
Dan′-a, daughter of Danp, 216.
The Poetic Edda, passage 201
7. The knowing guest | who goes to the feast,
In silent attention sits;
With his ears he hears, | with his eyes he watches,
Thus wary are wise men all.
The Poetic Edda, passage 3458
Mīm′-ir, brother of Regin, 359.
The Poetic Edda, passage 777
57. “May I come so far in a day?”
The Poetic Edda, passage 1368
1. “Wake thee, Groa! | wake, mother good!
At the doors of the dead I call thee;
Thy son, bethink thee, | thou badst to seek
Thy help at the hill of death.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 27
As to the origin of the legends on which the poems are based, the whole
question, at least so far as the stories of the gods are concerned, is
much too complex for discussion here. How much of the actual narrative
material of the mythological lays is properly to be called Scandinavian
is a matter for students of comparative mythology to guess at. The
tales underlying the heroic lays are clearly of foreign origin: the
Helgi story comes from Denmark, and that of Völund from Germany, as
also the great mass of traditions centering around Sigurth (Siegfried),
Brynhild, the sons of Gjuki, Atli (Attila), and Jormunrek (Ermanarich).
The introductory notes to the various poems deal with the more
important of these questions of origin.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1478
5. There did they sit | for seven winters,
In the eighth at last | came their longing again,
(And in the ninth | did need divide them).
The maidens yearned | for the murky wood,
The fair young maids, | their fate to follow.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2657
3. Line 3 (cf. Völundarkvitha, 17) or line 5 (cf. Thrymskvitha, 2),
both quoted from older poems, is probably spurious; the manuscript
marks line 3 as the beginning of a new stanza.
The Poetic Edda, passage 3151
Ber′-gel-mir, a giant, 76, 78.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1115
34. “‘Ale’ among men, | ‘Beer’ the gods among,
In the world of the Wanes ‘The Foaming’;
‘Bright Draught’ with giants, | ‘Mead’ with dwellers in hell,
‘The Feast-Draught’ with Suttung’s sons.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 1136
34. Suttung’s sons: these ought to be the giants, but the giants are
specifically mentioned in line 3. The phrase “Suttung’s sons” occurs in
Skirnismol, 34, clearly meaning the giants. Concerning Suttung as the
possessor of the mead of poetry, cf. Hovamol, 104.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2891
1. Men: Atli and his advisers, with whom he planned the death of the
sons of Gjuki, Gunnar and Hogni. The poet’s reference to the story as
well known explains the abruptness of his introduction, without the
mention of Atli’s name, and his reference to Guthrun in stanza 3 simply
as “the woman” (“husfreyja,” goddess of the house).
The Poetic Edda, passage 1389
20. “Fjolsvith am I, | and wise am I found,
But miserly am I with meat;
Thou never shalt enter | within the house,—
Go forth like a wolf on thy way!”
The Poetic Edda, passage 2820
32. Then Hogni made answer,— | dear held he his kin,—
courage, ye wise ones, | whatsoever may come;
Though many may speak, | yet is evil oft mighty,
And words avail little | to lead one homeward.
The Poetic Edda, passage 488
5. This single narrative stanza is presumably a later interpolation.
Im: the name appears to be corrupt, but we know nothing of any son of
Vafthruthnir. Ygg (“the Terrible”): Othin.
The Poetic Edda, passage 3327
Helg″-a-kvith′-a Hund″-ings-ban′-a II (On′-nur), the Second Lay of
Helgi Hundingsbane, 95, 272, 288, 289, 294, 296, 298, 306, 309–331,
366, 418, 434, 466, 543.