The Poetic Edda
Henry Adams Bellows (translator)
3,671 passages indexed from The Poetic Edda (Henry Adams Bellows (translator)) — Page 32 of 74
License: Public Domain
The Poetic Edda, passage 567
39. Skoll is the wolf | that to Ironwood
Follows the glittering god,
And the son of Hrothvitnir, | Hati, awaits
The burning bride of heaven.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1419
49. “Now answer me, Fjolsvith, | the question I ask,
For now the truth would I know:
What one of the gods | has made so great
The hall I behold within?”
The Poetic Edda, passage 157
39. The stanza is almost certainly in corrupt form. The third line is
presumably an interpolation, and is lacking in most of the late paper
manuscripts. Some editors, however, have called lines 1–3 the remains
of a full stanza, with the fourth line lacking, and lines 4–5 the
remains of another. The stanza depicts the torments of the two worst
classes of criminals known to Old Norse morality—oath-breakers and
murderers. Nithhogg (“the Dread Biter”): the dragon that lies beneath
the ash Yggdrasil and gnaws at its roots, thus symbolizing the
destructive elements in the universe; cf. Grimnismol, 32, 35. The wolf:
presumably the wolf Fenrir, one of the children of Loki and the
giantess Angrbotha (the others being Mithgarthsorm and the goddess
Hel), who was chained by the gods with the marvelous chain Gleipnir,
fashioned by a dwarf “out of six things: the noise of a cat’s step, the
beards of women, the roots of mountains, the nerves of bears, the
breath of fishes, and the spittle of birds.” The chaining of Fenrir
cost the god Tyr his right hand; cf. stanza 44.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2907
17. Two lines may have been lost after line 2, but the Volsungasaga
paraphrase gives no clue. Ice-bear: polar bears, common in Greenland,
are very rarely found in Iceland, and never in Norway, a fact which
substantiates the manuscript’s reference to Greenland as the home of
the poem.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2444
29. Cf. Guthrunarkvitha I, 15.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2010
4. “A mighty payment | the men must make
Who in Vathgelmir’s waters wade;
On a long road lead | the lying words
That one to another utters.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 892
39. This deliberate introduction of the story-teller is exceedingly
rare in the older poetry.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1719
51. “Swift keels lie | hard by the land,
(Mast-ring harts | and mighty yards,
Wealth of shields | and well-planed oars;)
The king’s fair host, | the Ylfings haughty;
Fifteen bands | to land have fared,
But out in Sogn | are seven thousand.
The Poetic Edda, passage 936
36. “Give heed now, Njorth, | nor boast too high,
No longer I hold it hid;
With thy sister hadst thou | so fair a son,
Thus hadst thou no worse a hope.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 890
37. No gap is indicated in the manuscripts. Some editors put the
missing line as 2, some as 3, and some, leaving the present three lines
together, add a fourth, and metrically incorrect, one from late paper
manuscripts: “Who with Hymir | followed after.” Whales of the
waste: giants.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1846
41. “Go forth, Sigrun, | from Sevafjoll,
If fain the lord | of the folk wouldst find;
(The hill is open, | Helgi is come;)
The sword-tracks bleed; | the monarch bade
That thou his wounds | shouldst now make well.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 2200
26. Then fourth I rede thee, | if thou shalt find
A wily witch on thy road,
It is better to go | than her guest to be,
Though night enfold thee fast.
The Poetic Edda, passage 3474
Myrk′-wood, a forest in Muspellsheim, 165.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2821
33. They tenderly looked | till each turned on his way,
Then with changing fate | were their farings divided.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1639
9. The sword is carved with magic runes and with snakes. Fame: the
original word is uncertain.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2013
The gods gave Hreithmar the gold, and filled up the otter-skin, and
stood it on its feet. Then the gods had to heap up gold and hide it.
And when that was done, Hreithmar came forward and saw a single
whisker, and bade them cover it. Then Othin brought out the ring
Andvaranaut and covered the hair. Then Loki said:
The Poetic Edda, passage 2886
95. “From the Thing thou camst never, | for thus have we heard,
Having won in thy quarrels, | or warriors smitten;
Full yielding thou wast, | never firm was thy will,
In silence didst suffer, | . . . . . . . .”
The Poetic Edda, passage 313
119. I rede thee, Loddfafnir! | and hear thou my rede,—
Profit thou hast if thou hearest,
Great thy gain if thou learnest:
If a friend thou hast | whom thou fully wilt trust,
Then fare to find him oft;
For brambles grow | and waving grass
On the rarely trodden road.
The Poetic Edda, passage 678
39. “My tidings all | must I truly learn
Ere homeward hence I ride:
How soon thou wilt | with the mighty son
Of Njorth a meeting make.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 2837
49. All the morning they fought | until midday shone,
(All the dusk as well | and the dawning of day,)
When the battle was ended, | the field flowed with blood;
Ere they fell, eighteen | of their foemen were slain,
By the two sons of Bera | and her brother as well.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1506
“Now vengeance I have | for all my hurts,
Save one alone, | on the evil woman.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 623
42. With this stanza Othin gets back to his immediate situation, bound
as he is between two fires. He calls down a blessing on the man who
will reach into the fire and pull aside the great kettle which, in
Icelandic houses, hung directly under the smoke-vent in the roof, and
thus kept any one above from looking down into the interior. On Ull,
the archer-god, cf. stanza 5 and note. He is specified here apparently
for no better reason than that his name fits the initial-rhyme.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2562
Prose. Thjothrek: the famous Theoderich, king of the Ostrogoths, who
became renowned in German story as Dietrich von Bern. The German
tradition early accepted the anachronism of bringing together Attila
(Etzel, Atli), who died in 453, and Theoderich, who was born about 455,
and adding thereto Ermanarich (Jormunrek), king of the Goths, who died
about 376. Ermanarich, in German tradition, replaced Theoderich’s
actual enemy, Odovakar, and it was in battle with Jormunrek (i.e.,
Odovakar) that Thjothrek is here said to have lost most of his men. The
annotator found the material for this note in Guthrunarkvitha III, in
which Guthrun is accused of having Thjothrek as her lover. At the time
when Guthrunarkvitha II was composed (early tenth century) it is
probable that the story of Theoderich had not reached the North at all,
and the annotator is consequently wrong in giving the poem its setting.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1170
Not only does the Rigsthula praise royalty, but it has many of the
earmarks of a poem composed in praise of a particular king. The
manuscript breaks off at a most exasperating point, just as the
connection between the mythical “Young Kon” (Konr ungr, konungr,
“king”; but cf. stanza 44, note) and the monarch in question is about
to be established. Owing to the character of the Norse settlements in
Iceland, Ireland, and the western islands generally, search for a
specific king leads back to either Norway or Denmark; despite the
arguments advanced by Edzardi, Vigfusson, Powell, and others, it seems
most improbable that such a poem should have been produced elsewhere
than on the Continent, the region where Scandinavian royalty most
flourished. Finnur Jonsson’s claim for Norway, with Harald the
Fair-Haired as the probable king in question, is much less impressive
than Mogk’s ingenious demonstration that the poem was in all
probability composed in Denmark, in honor of either Gorm the Old or
Harald Blue-Tooth. His proof is based chiefly on the evidence provided
by stanza 49, and is summarized in the note to that stanza.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2140
16. With this stanza Fafnir returns to the situation. Fear-helm:
regarding the “ægis-hjalmr” cf. Reginsmol, prose after stanza 14 and
note.
The Poetic Edda, passage 3012
1. The poet’s introduction of himself in this stanza is a fairly
certain indication of the relative lateness of the poem.
The Poetic Edda, passage 702
28. Hrimnir: a frost-giant, mentioned elsewhere only in Hyndluljoth,
33. Line 3 is probably spurious. Watchman of the gods: Heimdall; cf.
Voluspo, 46.
The Poetic Edda, passage 3590
Svāv′-a, daughter of Eylimi, 14, 270, 271, 276–278, 282, 284, 285,
287–289, 311, 313, 335, 339, 345.
The Poetic Edda, passage 3431
Ket′-il Horth′-a = Kār′-i, husband of Hildigun, 223, 224.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2095
16. “The fear-helm I wore | to afright mankind,
While guarding my gold I lay;
Mightier seemed I | than any man,
For a fiercer never I found.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 449
19. “Wise art thou, guest! | To my bench shalt thou go,
In our seats let us speak together;
Here in the hall | our heads, O guest,
hall we wager our wisdom upon.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 2911
21. The manuscript does not indicate the speakers in this dialogue
(stanzas 21–26). No gap is indicated after line 2. Most editors assume
the loss of two lines or of a full stanza after stanza 21 giving
Gunnar’s interpretation of Glaumvor’s dream, but the Volsungasaga gives
no clue, as it does not mention this first dream at all. Grundtvig
suggests as Gunnar’s answer: “Banners are gleaming, | since of
gallows didst dream, / And wealth it must mean | that thou serpents
didst watch.” Gods’ doom: an odd, and apparently mistaken, use of the
phrase “ragna rök” (cf. Voluspo, introductory note).
The Poetic Edda, passage 2705
13. Then let the bold heroes | their bit-champing horses
On the mountains gallop, | and through Myrkwood the secret;
All Hunland was shaken | where the hard-souled ones rode,
On the whip-fearers fared they | through fields that were
green.
The Poetic Edda, passage 805
40. To what expedition this refers is unknown, but apparently Othin
speaks of himself as allied to the foes of the gods.
The Poetic Edda, passage 3466
Mōth′-i, son of Thor, 82, 148.
The Poetic Edda, passage 3171
Brag′-i Bod′-da-son, a skald, 102.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1298
FRAGMENT OF “THE SHORT VOLUSPO”
The Poetic Edda, passage 1192
18. Then took Amma | . . . . . . . .
The vessels full | with the fare she set,
Calf’s flesh boiled | was the best of the dainties.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2734
42. Gold did she scatter, | the swan-white one,
And rings of red gold | to the followers gave she;
The fate she let grow, | and the shining wealth go,
Nor spared she the treasure | of the temple itself.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2360
13. Sad was Gunnar, | and bowed with grief,
Deep in thought | the whole day through;
Yet from his heart | it was ever hid
What deed most fitting | he should find,
(Or what thing best | for him should be,
Or if he should seek | the Volsung to slay,
For with mighty longing | Sigurth he loved.)
The Poetic Edda, passage 2688
It is altogether probable that both poems belong to the eleventh
century, the shorter Atlakvitha being generally dated from the first
quarter thereof, and the longer Atlamol some fifty years or more later.
In each case the poet was apparently a Christian; in the Atlamol
(stanza 82) Guthrun expresses her readiness to die and “go into another
light,” and in the Atlakvitha there is frequent use of mythological
names (e.g., Valhall, Hlithskjolf) with an evident lack of
understanding of their relation to the older gods. These facts fit the
theory of a Greenland origin exceedingly well, for the Greenland
settlement grew rapidly after the first explorations of Eirik the Red,
which were in 982–985, and its most flourishing period was in the
eleventh century. The internal evidence, particularly in the case of
the Atlamol, points likewise to an origin remote from Iceland, Norway,
and the “Western Isles”; and the two poems are sufficiently alike so
that, despite the efforts of Finnur Jonsson and others to separate
them, assigning one to Greenland and the other to Norway or elsewhere,
it seems probable that the manuscript statement is correct in both
instances, and that the two Atli poems did actually originate in
Greenland. An interesting account of this Greenland settlement is given
in William Hovgaard’s Voyages of the Norsemen to America, published by
the American-Scandinavian Foundation in 1914, and an extraordinarily
vivid picture of the sufferings of the early settlers appears in
Maurice Hewlett’s Thorgils, taken from the Floamannasaga.
The Poetic Edda, passage 697
19. Apples: the apple was the symbol of fruitfulness, and also of
eternal youth. According to Snorri, the goddess Ithun had charge of the
apples which the gods ate whenever they felt themselves growing old.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1713
45. “A brainless fellow | didst seem to be,
When once for Gollnir | goats didst milk,
And another time | when as Imth’s daughter
In rags thou wentest; | wilt longer wrangle?”
The Poetic Edda, passage 1247
24. No line indicated in the manuscript as beginning a stanza. The
names mean: Hal, “Man”; Dreng, “The Strong”; Holth, “The Holder of
Land”; Thegn, “Freeman”; Smith, “Craftsman”; Breith, “The
Broad-Shouldered”; Bondi, “Yeoman”; Bundinskeggi, “With Beard Bound”
(i.e., not allowed to hang unkempt); Bui, “Dwelling-Owner”; Boddi,
“Farm-Holder”; Brattskegg, “With Beard Carried High”; Segg, “Man.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 561
33. Four harts there are, | that the highest twigs
Nibble with necks bent back;
Dain and Dvalin, | . . . . . . . .
Duneyr and Dyrathror.
The Poetic Edda, passage 3407
Hveth′-na, mother of Haki, 227.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2033
18. “Hnikar I was | when Volsung once
Gladdened the ravens | and battle gave;
Call me the Man | from the Mountain now,
Feng or Fjolnir; | with you will I fare.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 712
42. Abbreviated to initial letters in the manuscript.
The Poetic Edda, passage 3285
Grīp″-is-spǭ′, Gripir’s Prophecy, 14, 87, 226, 336–359, 365, 371, 383,
386, 388, 403, 404, 406, 409, 412, 417, 418, 421, 422, 429, 440–442,
446, 447, 450, 451, 456, 469, 481, 484, 499, 518, 536.
The Poetic Edda, passage 741
21. “Thou didst repay good gifts with evil mind.”