The Poetic Edda
Henry Adams Bellows (translator)
3,671 passages indexed from The Poetic Edda (Henry Adams Bellows (translator)) — Page 54 of 74
License: Public Domain
The Poetic Edda, passage 2210
36. Battle and hate | and harm, methinks,
Full seldom fall asleep;
Wits and weapons | the warrior needs
If boldest of men he would be.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2556
40. “Fire a dream | of steel shall follow
And willful pride | one of woman’s wrath;
A baneful sore | I shall burn from thee,
And tend and heal thee, | though hated thou art.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 3272
Gorm (the Old), King of Denmark, 201, 202.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1481
8. Red gold he fashioned | with fairest gems,
And rings he strung | on ropes of bast;
So for his wife | he waited long,
If the fair one home | might come to him.
The Poetic Edda, passage 25
All that is reasonably certain is that by the middle or last of the
twelfth century there existed in Iceland one or more written
collections of Old Norse mythological and heroic poems, that the Codex
Regius, a copy made a hundred years or so later, represents at least a
considerable part of one of these, and that the collection of
thirty-four poems which we now know as the Poetic or Elder Edda is
practically all that has come down to us of Old Norse poetry of this
type. Anything more is largely guesswork, and both the name of the
compiler and the meaning of the title “Edda” are conjectural.
The Poetic Edda, passage 216
22. A paltry man | and poor of mind
At all things ever mocks;
For never he knows, | what he ought to know,
That he is not free from faults.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2945
59. Cook: the original word is doubtful. The Volsungasaga does not
paraphrase lines 3–5; the passage may be a later addition, and line 5
is almost certainly so.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1664
Prose. Regarding this extraordinary bit see the prose note at the end
of Helgakvitha Hundingsbana II. Gering thinks the reborn Helgi
Hjorvarthsson was Helgi Hundingsbane, while Svava, according to the
annotator himself, became Sigrun. The point seems to be simply that
there were so many Helgi stories current, and the hero died in so many
irreconcilable ways, that tradition had to have him born over again,
not once only but several times, to accommodate his many deaths, and to
avoid splitting him up into several Helgis. Needless to say, the poems
themselves know nothing of this rebirth, and we owe the suggestion
entirely to the annotator, who probably got it from current tradition.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2446
32. This stanza, which all editors have accepted as an integral part of
the poem, apparently refers to the same story represented by stanzas
37–39, which most editors have (I believe mistakenly) marked as
interpolated. As is pointed out in the notes on stanzas 3, 5, 6 and 10,
the poet throughout seems to have accepted the version of the story
wherein Gunnar and Sigurth besiege Atli, and are bought off by the gift
of Atli’s sister, Brynhild, to Gunnar as wife, her consent being won by
Atli’s representation that Gunnar is Sigurth (cf. also Guthrunarkvitha
I, 24 and note).
The Poetic Edda, passage 151
33. The lines in this and the following stanza have been combined in
various ways by editors, lacunæ having been freely conjectured, but the
manuscript version seems clear enough. The brother of Baldr: Vali, whom
Othin begot expressly to avenge Baldr’s death. The day after his birth
he fought and slew Hoth.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2279
2. A few editors ascribe this speech to Brynhild. Gunnar, if the stanza
is his, has believed Brynhild’s statement regarding Sigurth’s
disloyalty to his blood-brother.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2916
27. Five: Gunnar, Hogni, and the three mentioned in stanza 28.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2558
42. “I dreamed my hawks | from my hand had flown,
Eager for food, | to an evil house;
I dreamed their hearts | with honey I ate,
Soaked in blood, | and heavy my sorrow.
The Poetic Edda, passage 3566
Sleip′-nir, Othin’s horse, 97, 102, 126, 160, 196, 230, 342, 394.
The Poetic Edda, passage 16
Even if the poems of the so-called Edda were not so significant and
intrinsically so valuable, the long series of scholarly struggles which
have been going on over them for the better part of three centuries
would in itself give them a peculiar interest. Their history is
strangely mysterious. We do not know who composed them, or when or
where they were composed; we are by no means sure who collected them or
when he did so; finally, we are not absolutely certain as to what an
“Edda” is, and the best guess at the meaning of the word renders its
application to this collection of poems more or less misleading.
The Poetic Edda, passage 3651
Vind′-sval, father of Winter, 75.
The Poetic Edda, passage 582
54. Now am I Othin, | Ygg was I once,
Ere that did they call me Thund;
Vak and Skilfing, | Vofuth and Hroptatyr,
Gaut and Jalk midst the gods;
Ofnir and Svafnir, | and all, methinks,
Are names for none but me.
The Poetic Edda, passage 82
26. In swelling rage | then rose up Thor,—
Seldom he sits | when he such things hears,—
And the oaths were broken, | the words and bonds,
The mighty pledges | between them made.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1914
That the story of Sigurth reached the North from Germany, having
previously developed among the Franks of the Rhine country, is now
universally recognized. How and when it spread from northwestern
Germany into Scandinavia are less certainly known. It spread, indeed,
in every direction, so that traces of it are found wherever Frankish
influence was extensively felt; but it was clearly better known and
more popular in Norway, and in the settlements established by
Norwegians, than anywhere else. We have historical proof that there was
considerable contact, commercial and otherwise, between the Franks of
northwestern Germany and the Norwegians (but not the Swedes or the
Danes) throughout the period from 600 to 800; coins of Charlemagne have
been found in Norway, and there is other evidence showing a fairly
extensive interchange of ideas as well as of goods. Presumably, then,
the story of the Frankish hero found its way into Norway in the seventh
century. While, at this stage of its development, it may conceivably
have included a certain amount of verse, it is altogether probable that
the story as it came into Norway in the seventh century was told
largely in prose, and that, even after the poets had got hold of it,
the legend continued to live among the people in the form of oral prose
saga.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1748
25. Tronueyr: “Crane-Strand.” Long-stemmed: literally “long-headed,” as
the high, curving stem of a Norse ship was often carved to represent a
head and neck. Orvasund: almost certainly the Danish Öresund, off
Seeland. Such bits of geography as this followed Helgi persistently.
The Poetic Edda, passage 3094
Prose. Regarding the “old” Hamthesmol, cf. Guthrunarhvot, introductory
note.
The Poetic Edda, passage 3397
Hrol′-laug, a warrior, 319, 320.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1282
14. “Of old the noblest | of all was Ali,
Before him Halfdan, | foremost of Skjoldungs;
Famed were the battles | the hero fought,
To the corners of heaven | his deeds were carried.
The Poetic Edda, passage 717
The poem is simply a contest of abuse, such as the early Norwegian and
Icelander delighted in, the opposing figures being Thor and Othin, the
latter appearing in the disguise of the ferryman Harbarth. Such
billingsgate lent itself readily to changes, interpolations and
omissions, and it is little wonder that the poem is chaotic. It
consists mainly of boasting and of references, often luckily obscure,
to disreputable events in the life of one or the other of the
disputants. Some editors have sought to read a complex symbolism into
it, particularly by representing it as a contest between the noble or
warrior class (Othin) and the peasant (Thor). But it seems a pity to
take such a vigorous piece of broad farce too seriously.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2297
1. Then did Guthrun | think to die,
When she by Sigurth | sorrowing sat;
Tears she had not, | nor wrung her hands,
Nor ever wailed, | as other women.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2075
In any case, and while the extant Fafnismol can be spoken of as a
distinct poem far more justly than the Reginsmol, there is still no
indication that the compiler regarded it as a poem by itself. His prose
notes run on without a break, and the verses simply cover a dramatic
episode in Sigurth’s early life. The fact that the work of compilation
has been done more intelligently than in the case of the Reginsmol
seems to have resulted chiefly from the compiler’s having been familiar
with longer consecutive verse passages dealing with the Fafnir episode.
The Reginsmol is little more than a clumsy mosaic, but in the Fafnismol
it is possible to distinguish between the main substance of the poem
and the interpolations.
The Poetic Edda, passage 3383
Hoth′-brodd, son of Granmar, 269, 270, 291, 296, 297, 301, 304–306,
309, 316, 317, 319, 321, 322.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1621
36. Sigar riding | did Helgi send
To seek out Eylimi’s | only daughter:
“Bid her swiftly | ready to be,
If her lover | alive she would find.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 1365
The two poems, Grougaldr (Groa’s Spell) and Fjolsvinnsmol (the Ballad
of Fjolsvith), which many editors have, very wisely, united under the
single title of Svipdagsmol, are found only in paper manuscripts, none
of them antedating the seventeenth century. Everything points to a
relatively late origin for the poems: their extensive use of “kennings”
or poetical circumlocutions, their romantic spirit, quite foreign to
the character of the unquestionably older poems, the absence of any
reference to them in the earlier documents, the frequent errors in
mythology, and, finally, the fact that the poems appear to have been
preserved in unusually good condition. Whether or not a connecting link
of narrative verse joining the two parts has been lost is an open
question; on the whole it seems likely that the story was sufficiently
well known so that the reciter of the poem (or poems) merely filled in
the gap with a brief prose summary in pretty much his own words. The
general relationship between dialogue and narrative in the Eddic poems
is discussed in the introductory note to the Grimnismol, in connection
with the use of prose links.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2429
13. This stanza has been the subject of many conjectural emendations.
Some editions assume a gap after line 2, and make a separate stanza of
lines 3–7; others mark lines 5–7 as spurious. The stanza seems to have
been expanded by repetition. Grief (line 1): the manuscript has
“wrath,” involving a metrical error.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1509
32. Without stood the wife | of Nithuth wise,
And in she came | from the end of the hall;
But he by the wall | in weariness sat:
“Wakest thou, Nithuth, | lord of the Njars?”
The Poetic Edda, passage 1208
34. A son had Mothir, | in silk they wrapped him,
With water they sprinkled him, | Jarl he was;
Blond was his hair, | and bright his cheeks,
Grim as a snake’s | were his glowing eyes.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1358
43. Nothing further is known of the myth here referred to, wherein Loki
(Lopt) eats the cooked heart of a woman and thus himself gives birth to
a monster. The reference is not likely to be to the serpent, as,
according to Snorri (Gylfaginning, 34), the wolf, the serpent, and Hel
were all the children of Loki and Angrbotha.
The Poetic Edda, passage 663
24. “For no man’s sake | will I ever suffer
To be thus moved by might;
But gladly, methinks, | will Gymir seek
To fight if he finds thee here.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 2359
12. “The son shall fare | with his father hence,
And let not long | the wolf-cub live;
Lighter to pay | is the vengeance-price
After the deed | if the son is dead.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 1630
Prose: In the manuscript the sub-title, “Of Hjorvarth and Sigrlin,”
stands as the title for the whole poem, though it clearly applies only
to the first five stanzas. Most editions employ the title here given.
Hjorvarth: the name is a not uncommon one; there are two men of that
name mentioned in the mythical-heroic genealogies of the Hyndluljoth
(stanzas 23 and 28), and Hjorvarth appears in Helgakvitha Hundingsbana
I (stanza 14) and II (prose after stanza 12) as a son of Hunding. This
particular Hjorvarth is called by the annotator, but not directly so in
the verse, a king of Norway. The name means “Sword-Guardian.” Four
wives: polygamy, while very infrequent, appears occasionally in the
Norse sagas. Alfhild: “Elf-Warrior.” Hethin: “Fur-Clothed” (?).
Særeith: “Sea-Rider.” Sinrjoth: “Ever-Red.” The fourth wife, not here
named, may be Sigrlin. It has been suggested that Særeith and Sinrjoth
may be northern and southern forms of the same name, as also Humlung
and Hymling, their sons. Svafnir: the annotator calls him king of
Svavaland, apparently a place on the mainland which could be reached
from Norway either by land or by sea. Sigrlin: “The Conquering
Serpent.” Atli: Norse form of the Gothic Attila (Etzel). Alof: perhaps
a feminine form of Olaf. A bird: compare the counsel given by the birds
to Sigurth after the slaying of Fafnir (Fafnismol, stanzas 32–38). This
is one of the many curious resemblances between the Helgi and the
Sigurth stories.
The Poetic Edda, passage 529
1. Hot art thou, fire! | too fierce by far;
Get ye now gone, ye flames!
The mantle is burnt, | though I bear it aloft,
And the fire scorches the fur.
The Poetic Edda, passage 3074
12. Many editors assume the loss of a line after line 1. In several
editions lines 2–3 are placed after line 2 of stanza 18. Hunnish: the
word meant little more than “German”; cf. Guthrunarhvot, 3 and note.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1152
11. “Rind bears Vali | in Vestrsalir,
And one night old | fights Othin’s son;
His hands he shall wash not, | his hair he shall comb not,
Till the slayer of Baldr | he brings to the flames.
Unwilling I spake, | and now would be still.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 979
16. Ithun: Bragi’s wife; cf. note on introductory prose. The goddesses
who, finding that their husbands are getting the worst of it, take up
the cudgels with Loki, all find themselves confronted with undeniable
facts in their own careers; cf. stanzas 26 (Frigg), 52 (Skathi) and 54
(Sif). Gefjun and Freyja are silenced in similar fashion. Wish-son:
adopted son; Loki was the son of the giant Farbauti and the giantess
Laufey, and hence was not of the race of the gods, but had been
virtually adopted by Othin, who subsequently had good reason to regret
it.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1185
11. Soon in the midst | of the room she sat,
By her side there sat | the son of the house;
They whispered both, | and the bed made ready,
Thræll and Thir, | till the day was through.
The Poetic Edda, passage 455
25. “The father of day | is Delling called,
And the night was begotten by Nor;
Full moon and old | by the gods were fashioned,
To tell the time for men.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 1246
23. Bring: the word literally means “drove in a wagon”—a mark of the
bride’s social status. Snör: “Daughter-in-Law.” Bugge, followed by
several editors, maintains that line 4 was wrongly interpolated here
from a missing stanza describing the marriage of Kon.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2300
4. Then spake Gjaflaug, | Gjuki’s sister:
“Most joyless of all | on earth am I;
Husbands five | were from me taken,
(Two daughters then, | and sisters three,)
Brothers eight, | yet I have lived.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 2638
16. “At her weaving Brynhild | sat in her bower,
Lands and folk | alike she had;
The earth and heaven | high resounded
When Fafnir’s slayer | the city saw.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2183
9. Wave-runes learn, | if well thou wouldst shelter
The sail-steeds out on the sea;
On the stem shalt thou write, | and the steering-blade,
And burn them into the oars;
Though high be the breakers, | and black the waves,
Thou shalt safe the harbor seek.
The Poetic Edda, passage 521
The Grimnismol follows the Vafthruthnismol in the Codex Regius and is
also found complete in the Arnamagnæan Codex, where also it follows the
Vafthruthnismol. Snorri quotes over twenty of its stanzas.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1318
49. “Around the giantess | flames shall I raise,
So that forth unburned | thou mayst not fare.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 3399
Hrȫ′-rek, King of Denmark, 227.
The Poetic Edda, passage 3246
Frīth, Mengloth’s handmaid, 249.