The Poetic Edda
Henry Adams Bellows (translator)
3,671 passages indexed from The Poetic Edda (Henry Adams Bellows (translator)) — Page 30 of 74
License: Public Domain
The Poetic Edda, passage 3583
Svan′-hild, daughter of Sigurth, 226, 339, 407, 437, 439, 447, 448,
537, 538, 540–542, 546, 551.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2512
It has already been pointed out (introductory note to Guthrunarkvitha
I) that the tradition of Guthrun’s lament was known wherever the
Sigurth story existed, and that this lament was probably one of the
earliest parts of the legend to assume verse form. Whether it reached
the North as verse cannot, of course, be determined, but it is at least
possible that this was the case, and in any event it is clear that by
the tenth and eleventh centuries there were a number of Norse poems
with Guthrun’s lament as the central theme. Two of these are included
in the Eddic collection, the second one being unquestionably much the
older. It is evidently the poem referred to by the annotator in the
prose note following the Brot as “the old Guthrun lay,” and its
character and state of preservation have combined to lead most
commentators to date it as early as the first half of the tenth
century, whereas Guthrunarkvitha I belongs a hundred years later.
The Poetic Edda, passage 443
13. “Speak forth now, Gagnrath, | if there from the floor
Thou wouldst thy wisdom make known:
What name has the steed | that from East anew
Brings night for the noble gods?”
The Poetic Edda, passage 2965
80. The manuscript does not indicate the speaker.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2465
55. Line 2 in the original is almost totally obscure. Line 4 should
very possibly precede line 2, while line 5 looks like an unwarranted
addition.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2177
The other was Agnar, | brother of Autha,
None he found | who fain would shield him.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2369
22. In vengeance the hero | rose in the hall,
And hurled his sword | at the slayer bold;
At Gotthorm flew | the glittering steel
Of Gram full hard | from the hand of the king.
The Poetic Edda, passage 3082
20. Many editors assume the loss of a line after line 3. The warrior:
presumably a warder or watchman, but the reference may be to Hamther
himself.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2974
89. Many editions assume a gap of one line after line 3; Grundtvig
adds: “Bit-champing horses | and wheel-wagons bright.” Line 4 may
be spurious. Greater: i.e., the silver which Atli gave Guthrun was of
greater value even than the honor of receiving such royal gifts.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1906
Was this story, which the Volsungasaga relates in considerable detail,
the basis of an old poem which has been lost? Almost certainly it was,
although, as I have pointed out, many if not most of the old stories
appear to have been handed down rather in prose than in verse, for the
Volsungasaga quotes two lines of verse regarding the escape from the
grave. At any rate, Sinfjotli early became a part of the Volsung
tradition, which, in turn, formed the basis for no less than fifteen
poems generally included in the Eddic collection. Of this tradition we
may recognize three distinct parts: the Volsung-Sigmund-Sinfjotli
story; the Helgi story, and the Sigurth story, the last of these three
being by far the most extensive, and suggesting an almost limitless
amount of further subdivision. With the Volsung-Sigmund-Sinfjotli story
the Sigurth legend is connected only by the fact that Sigurth appears
as Sigmund’s son by his last wife, Hjordis; with the Helgi legend it is
not connected directly at all. Aside from the fact that Helgi appears
as Sigmund’s son by his first wife, Borghild, the only link between the
Volsung story proper and that of Helgi is the appearance of Sinfjotli
in two of the Helgi poems. Originally it is altogether probable that
the three stories, or sets of stories, were entirely distinct, and that
Sigurth (the familiar Siegfried) had little or nothing more to do with
the Volsungs of northern mythological-heroic tradition than he had with
Helgi.
The Poetic Edda, passage 639
1. “Go now, Skirnir! | and seek to gain
Speech from my son;
And answer to win, | for whom the wise one
Is mightily moved.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 1345
27. Gunnar, Hogni, and Guthrun: the three children of the Burgundian
king Gjuki and his wife Grimhild (Kriemhild); Guthrun was Sigurth’s
wife. Gotthorm, the third brother, who killed Sigurth at Brynhild’s
behest, was Grimhild’s son, and thus a step-son of Gjuki. These four
play an important part in the heroic cycle of Eddic poems. Cf.
Gripisspo, introductory note.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1414
44. “Thence may he come | who thither goes,
And tries the sword to take,
If with him he carries | what few can win,
To give to the goddess of gold.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 2066
19. This and the following stanzas are strongly suggestive of the
Hovamol, and probably came originally from some such collection.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2067
23. This stanza is clearly an interpolation, drawn in by the
common-sense advice, as distinct from omens, given in the last lines of
stanza 22. Moon’s sister: the sun; cf. Vafthruthnismol, 23 and note.
Wedge-like: the wedge formation (prescribed anew in 1920 for the United
States Army under certain circumstances) was said to have been invented
by Othin himself, and taught by him only to the most favored warriors.
The Poetic Edda, passage 754
34. “I might have trusted thee then, | didst thou not betray
thy troth.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 2243
37. Lines 3–4 may well have come from the old Sigurth-Brynhild poem,
like stanzas 2–4 and 20–21, being inserted here, where they do not fit
particularly well, in place of the two lines with which the eleventh
counsel originally ended. Perhaps they formed part of the stanza of
warning which evidently preceded Brynhild’s speech in stanza 20. In the
Volsungasaga they are paraphrased at the end of Brynhild’s long speech
of advice (stanzas 20–37), and are immediately followed by the prose
passage given in the note on stanza 21. It seems likely, therefore,
that the paper manuscripts have preserved all of the so-called
Sigrdrifumol which was contained in the lost section of Regius, with
the possible exception of these two concluding stanzas, and these may
very well have been given only in the form of a prose note, though it
is practically certain that at one time they existed in verse form.
The Poetic Edda, passage 3550
Sin′-mor-a, a giantess, 243, 245–247.
The Poetic Edda, passage 3034
3. “The sister ye had | was Svanhild called,
And her did Jormunrek | trample with horses,
White and black | on the battle-way,
Gray, road-wonted, | the steeds of the Goths.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2716
24. Then Gunnar spake forth, | the lord of the folk:
“Here have I the heart | of Hjalli the craven,
Unlike to the heart | of Hogni the valiant,
For it trembles still | as it stands on the platter;
Twice more did it tremble | in the breast of the man.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 3526
Sǣ′-reith, wife of Hjorvarth, 272, 273.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1215
41. Her hand they sought, | and home they brought her,
Wedded to Jarl | the veil she wore;
Together they dwelt, | their joy was great,
Children they had, | and happy they lived.
The Poetic Edda, passage 3573
Spar′-ins-heith, Sparin’s Heath, 306.
The Poetic Edda, passage 3245
Frigg, a goddess, 14, 15, 22, 68, 29, 86, 89, 91, 151, 152, 157–161,
182, 196, 236, 248, 472.
The Poetic Edda, passage 524
Without discussing in detail the problems suggested by these prose
passages, it is worth noting, first, that the Eddic poems contain
relatively few stanzas of truly narrative verse; and second, that all
of them are based on narratives which must have been more or less
familiar to the hearers of the poems. In other words, the poems seldom
aimed to tell stories, although most of them followed a narrative
sequence of ideas. The stories themselves appear to have lived in oral
prose tradition, just as in the case of the sagas; and the prose notes
of the manuscripts, in so far as they contain material not simply drawn
from the poems themselves, are relics of this tradition. The early
Norse poets rarely conceived verse as a suitable means for direct
story-telling, and in some of the poems even the simplest action is
told in prose “links” between dialogue stanzas.
The Poetic Edda, passage 3302
Had″-ding-ja-skat′-i, Haddings’-Hero (Helgi), 311, 330, 331.
The Poetic Edda, passage 3591
Svāv′-a, wife of Sækonung, 223.
The Poetic Edda, passage 715
The poem differs sharply from those which precede it in the Codex
Regius, both in metrical form and in spirit. It is, indeed, the most
nearly formless of all the Eddic poems. The normal metre is the
Malahattr (cf. Introduction, where an example is given). The name of
this verse-form means “in the manner of conversation,” and the
Harbarthsljoth’s verse fully justifies the term. The Atli poems
exemplify the conventional use of Malahattr, but in the Harbarthsljoth
the form is used with extraordinary freedom, and other metrical forms
are frequently employed. A few of the speeches of which the poem is
composed cannot be twisted into any known Old Norse metre, and appear
to be simply prose.
The Poetic Edda, passage 3420
Īth′-un, a goddess, 102, 113, 128, 152, 157, 158, 175.
The Poetic Edda, passage 3594
Sver″-ris-sag′-a, the Saga of Sverrir, 370.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2368
21. It was easy to rouse | the reckless one.
. . . . . . . . | . . . . . . . .
The sword in the heart | of Sigurth stood.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2787
The poem is in Malahattr (cf. Introduction) throughout, the verse being
far more regular than in the Atlakvitha. The compilers of the
Volsungasaga evidently knew it in very much the form in which we now
have it, for in the main it is paraphrased with great fidelity.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2448
35. Three kings: Gunnar, Hogni, and Sigurth.
The Poetic Edda, passage 768
48. “Sif has a lover at home, | and him shouldst thou meet;
More fitting it were | on him to put forth thy strength.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 2761
23. Most editions assume a gap (lines 1–2, 2–3 or 3–4). Hjalli: Atli’s
cook, killed to deceive Gunnar, as Atli hoped to wring the secret of
the hoard from Hogni if Gunnar remained silent. In the Atlamol (stanzas
59–60) Atli’s men prepare to kill Hjalli, but he is spared at Hogni’s
intercession.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2515
In the Codex Regius the poem is entitled simply Guthrunarkvitha; the
numeral has been added in nearly all editions to distinguish this poem
from the other two Guthrun lays, and the phrase “the old” is borrowed
from the annotator’s comment in the prose note at the end of the Brot.
The Poetic Edda, passage 916
16. “Well, prithee, Bragi, | his kinship weigh,
Since chosen as wish-son he was;
And speak not to Loki | such words of spite
Here within Ægir’s hall.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 2779
42. Line 1 appears to be in Fornyrthislag. Guthrun distributes Atli’s
treasures among his followers apparently to prevent their wrath at the
slaying of Erp and Eitil from turning against her; Atli, as stanza 43
shows, is too drunk to realize or prevent what she is doing.
The Poetic Edda, passage 3403
Hrung′-nir, a giant, 125, 126, 143, 171, 172, 394.
The Poetic Edda, passage 3650
Vind′-heim, Wind-Home, 25, 26.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1660
36. Sigar (“The Victorious”): cf. the foregoing note.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2310
14. Then Guthrun bent, | on her pillow bowed,
Her hair was loosened, | her cheek was hot,
And the tears like raindrops | downward ran.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2479
The little Helreith Brynhildar immediately follows the “short” Sigurth
lay in the Codex Regius, being linked to it by the brief prose note;
the heading, “Brynhild’s Ride on Hel-Way,” stands just before the first
stanza. The entire poem, with the exception of stanza 6, is likewise
quoted in the Nornageststhattr. Outside of one stanza (No. 11), which
is a fairly obvious interpolation, the poem possesses an extraordinary
degree of dramatic unity, and, certain pedantic commentators
notwithstanding, it is one of the most vivid and powerful in the whole
collection. None the less, it has been extensively argued that parts of
it belonged originally to the so-called Sigrdrifumol. That it stands in
close relation to this poem is evident enough, but it is difficult to
believe that such a masterpiece of dramatic poetry was ever the result
of mere compilation. It seems more reasonable to regard the Helreith,
with the exception of stanza 11 and allowing for the loss of two lines
from stanza 6, as a complete and carefully constructed unit, based
undoubtedly on older poems, but none the less an artistic creation in
itself.
The Poetic Edda, passage 329
135. I rede thee, Loddfafnir! | and hear thou my rede,—
Profit thou hast if thou hearest,
Great thy gain if thou learnest:
Curse not thy guest, | nor show him thy gate,
Deal well with a man in want.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1752
29. The manuscript indicates no gap, and some editions combine the
stanza with lines 3–4 of stanza 28. Sisters of Kolga: the waves, Kolga
(“The Gold”) being one of the daughters of the sea-god, Ægir. As the
Volsungasaga says, “Now there was a great storm.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 3207
Eld′-ir, Ægir’s servant, 153, 154.
The Poetic Edda, passage 326
132. I rede thee, Loddfafnir! | and hear thou my rede,—
Profit thou hast if thou hearest,
Great thy gain if thou learnest:
Scorn or mocking | ne’er shalt thou make
Of a guest or a journey-goer.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1131
26. Wildfire: the word may mean any one of various things, including
“Wave,” which is not unlikely.
The Poetic Edda, passage 246
52. No great thing needs | a man to give,
Oft little will purchase praise;
With half a loaf | and a half-filled cup
A friend full fast I made.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2023
12. “In friendly wise | the wealth shalt thou ask
Of thy brother, and better will;
Not seemly is it | to seek with the sword
Fafnir’s treasure to take.”