The Poetic Edda
Henry Adams Bellows (translator)
3,671 passages indexed from The Poetic Edda (Henry Adams Bellows (translator)) — Page 55 of 74
License: Public Domain
The Poetic Edda, passage 347
153. A seventh I know, | if I see in flames
The hall o’er my comrades’ heads;
It burns not so wide | that I will not quench it,
I know that song to sing.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1123
8. Every world: concerning the nine worlds, cf. Voluspo, 2 and note.
Many editors follow this stanza with one spoken by Alvis, found in late
paper manuscripts, as follows: “Ask then, Vingthor, | since eager
thou art / The lore of the dwarf to learn; / Oft have I fared | in
the nine worlds all, / And wide is my wisdom of each.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 2819
31. Then did Bera speak forth, | and fair was her thought,
. . . . . . . . | . . . . . . . .
“May ye sail now happy, | and victory have,
To fare as I bid ye, | may nought your way bar.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 3134
Ās′-garth, home of the gods, 3, 11, 12, 141, 179, 186.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1537
17. Line 1 is lacking in the manuscript, lines 2–4 following
immediately after the two lines here given as stanza 2. Line 1,
borrowed from line 1 of stanza 32, is placed here by many editors,
following Bugge’s suggestion. Certainly it is Nithuth’s wife who utters
line 4. Who comes from the wood: Völund, noted as a hunter. Gering
assumes that with the entrance of Nithuth’s wife the scene has changed
from Völund’s house to Nithuth’s, but I cannot see that this is
necessary.
The Poetic Edda, passage 616
34. Cf. note on previous stanza. Nothing further is known of any of the
serpents here listed, and the meanings of many of the names are
conjectural. Snorri quotes this stanza. Editors have altered it in
various ways in an attempt to regularize the meter. Goin and Moin:
meaning obscure. Grafvitnir: “The Gnawing Wolf.” Grabak: “Gray-Back.”
Grafvolluth: “The Field-Gnawer.” Ofnir and Svafnir (“The Bewilderer”
and “The Sleep-Bringer”): it is noteworthy that in stanza 54 Othin
gives himself these two names.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1696
28. There was beat of oars | and clash of iron,
Shield smote shield | as the ships’-folk rowed;
Swiftly went | the warrior-laden
Fleet of the ruler | forth from the land.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2685
32. Some editions make line 4 a statement of the poet’s, and not part
of Oddrun’s speech.
The Poetic Edda, passage 3072
10. Some editors assign this speech to Hamther. Brothers: Gunnar and
Hogni. Boys: Erp and Eitil.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2759
21. Again apparently the remains of a Fornyrthislag stanza. Editors
have attempted various combinations of the lines. Gold: presumably
Sigurth’s treasure.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2220
10. Branch-runes: runes cut in the bark of trees. Such runes were
believed to transfer sickness from the invalid to the tree. Some
editors, however, have changed “limrunar” (“branch-runes”) to
“lifrunar” (“life-runes”).
The Poetic Edda, passage 2156
41. Gjuki: father of Gunnar and Guthrun: cf. Gripisspo, 13 and note.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2881
90. “But all to thee was | as if nought it were worth,
While the land lay before thee | that Buthli had left me;
Thou in secret didst work | so the treasure I won not;
My mother full oft | to sit weeping didst make,
No wedded joy found I | in fullness of heart.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 2141
18. Lines 3–4 do not appear in the manuscript, and no gap is indicated;
they are here conjecturally paraphrased from the prose passage in the
Volsungasaga.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1917
The next step was the blending of this story with one which had a clear
basis in history. In the year 437 the Burgundians, under their king,
Gundicarius (so the Latin histories call him), were practically
annihilated by the Huns. The story of this great battle soon became one
of the foremost of Rhineland traditions; and though Attila was
presumably not present in person, he was quite naturally introduced as
the famous ruler of the invading hordes. The dramatic story of Attila’s
death in the year 453 was likewise added to the tradition, and during
the sixth century the chain was completed by linking together the
stories of Sigurth and those of the Burgundian slaughter. Gundicarius
becomes the Gunther of the Nibelungenlied and the Gunnar of the Eddic
poems; Attila becomes Etzel and Atli. A still further development came
through the addition of another, and totally unrelated, set of
historical traditions based on the career of Ermanarich, king of the
Goths, who died about the year 376. Ermanarich figures largely in many
stories unconnected with the Sigurth cycle, but, with the zeal of the
medieval story-tellers for connecting their heroes, he was introduced
as the husband of Sigurth’s daughter, Svanhild, herself originally part
of a separate narrative group, and as Jormunrek he plays a considerable
part in a few of the Eddic poems.
The Poetic Edda, passage 166
48. This stanza in Regius follows stanza 51; in the Hauksbok it stands,
as here, after 47. Jotunheim: the land of the giants.
The Poetic Edda, passage 3640
Vē, brother of Othin, 4, 26, 160.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1828
27. “Good I find not | the sons of Granmar,
But for heroes ’tis seemly | the truth to speak;
At Moinsheimar | proved the men
That hearts for the wielding | of swords they had,
(And ever brave | the warriors are.)”
The Poetic Edda, passage 1135
32. Grain: the two words translated “grain” and “corn” apparently both
meant primarily barley, and thence grain in general, the first being
the commoner term of the two. Drink-Stuff: the word is identical with
the one used, and commented on, in stanza 24, and again I have followed
Gering’s interpretation for want of a better one. If his guess is
correct, the reference here is evidently to grain as the material from
which beer and other drinks are brewed.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1856
Then Helgi and his followers rode on their way, and the women went home
to the dwelling. Another evening Sigrun bade the maiden keep watch at
the hill. And at sunset when Sigrun came to the hill she said:
The Poetic Edda, passage 3155
Bik′-ki, follower of Jormunrek, 439, 487, 488, 538, 551.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1070
21. Goats: Thor’s wagon was always drawn by goats; cf. Hymiskvitha, 38
and note. Jotunheim: the world of the giants.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1904
It has been pointed out that the Helgi tradition, coming originally
from Denmark, was early associated with that of the Volsungs, which was
of German, or rather of Frankish, origin (cf. Introductory Note to
Helgakvitha Hjorvarthssonar). The connecting links between these two
sets of stories were few in number, the main point being the
identification of Helgi as a son of Sigmund Volsungsson. Another son of
Sigmund, however, appears in the Helgi poems, though not in any of the
poems dealing with the Volsung cycle proper. This is Sinfjotli, whose
sole function in the extant Helgi lays is to have a wordy dispute with
Gothmund Granmarsson.
The Poetic Edda, passage 925
25. “Of the deeds ye two | of old have done
Ye should make no speech among men;
Whate’er ye have done | in days gone by,
Old tales should ne’er be told.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 3175
Brim′-ir, a giant, 6, 16, 17, 394.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2032
17. “On the sea-trees here | are Sigurth and I,
The storm wind drives us | on to our death;
The waves crash down | on the forward deck,
And the roller-steeds sink; | who seeks our names?”
The Poetic Edda, passage 2559
43. “Hounds I dreamed | from my hand I loosed,
Loud in hunger | and pain they howled;
Their flesh methought | was eagles’ food,
And their bodies now | I needs must eat.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 1706
38. “Thou hast eaten | the entrails of wolves,
And of thy brothers | the slayer been;
Oft wounds to suck | thy cold mouth sought,
And loathed in rocky | dens didst lurk.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 389
88. This stanza follows stanza 89 in the manuscript. Many editors have
changed the order, for while stanza 89 is pretty clearly an
interpolation wherever it stands, it seriously interferes with the
sense if it breaks in between 87 and 88.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2954
69. Guthrun suddenly changes her tone in order to make Atli believe
that she is submissive to his will, and thus to gain time for her
vengeance. Line 2 in the original is thoroughly obscure; it runs
literally: “On the knee goes the fist | if the twigs are taken
off.” Perhaps the word meaning “fist” may also have meant “tree-top,”
as Gering suggests, or perhaps the line is an illogical blending of the
ideas contained in lines 1 and 3.
The Poetic Edda, passage 301
107. The well-earned beauty | well I enjoyed,
Little the wise man lacks;
So Othrörir now | has up been brought
To the midst of the men of earth.
The Poetic Edda, passage 472
42. “Twelfth answer me now | how all thou knowest
Of the fate that is fixed for the gods;
Of the runes of the gods | and the giants’ race
The truth indeed dost thou tell,
(And wide is thy wisdom, giant!)”
The Poetic Edda, passage 79
23. On the host his spear | did Othin hurl,
Then in the world | did war first come;
The wall that girdled | the gods was broken,
And the field by the warlike | Wanes was trodden.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1651
26. Something is clearly wrong with this stanza, and the manuscript
indicates line 6 as the beginning of a new one. Perhaps a line (between
lines 4 and 5) has been lost, or perhaps the lines in parenthesis are
interpolations. Hrimgerth here refers to Svava, or to the protectress
with whom the annotator has identified her, as having saved Helgi and
his ships from the vengeance of the giantesses. In the original line 1
includes Helgi’s name, which makes it metrically incorrect.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1883
24. The word here translated swords is a conjectural emendation; the
manuscript implies merely an invitation to continue the quarrel at
Frekastein. Hothbrodd: apparently he is here considered as present
during the dispute; some editors, in defiance of the meter, have
emended the line to mean “Time is it for Hothbrodd | vengeance to
have.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 283
89. Hope not too surely | for early harvest,
Nor trust too soon in thy son;
The field needs good weather, | the son needs wisdom,
And oft is either denied.
The Poetic Edda, passage 3394
Hring′-stoth, Ringsted (?), 293.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2470
60. To follow in death: this phrase is not in Regius, but is included
in late paper manuscripts, and has been added in most editions.
The Poetic Edda, passage 489
8. Gagnrath (“the Gain-Counsellor”): Othin on his travels always
assumes a name other than his own.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2596
The short Guthrunarkvitha III, entitled in the manuscript simply
Guthrunarkvitha, but so numbered in most editions to distinguish it
from the first and second Guthrun lays, appears only in the Codex
Regius. It is neither quoted nor paraphrased in the Volsungasaga, the
compilers of which appear not to have known the story with which it
deals. The poem as we have it is evidently complete and free from
serious interpolations. It can safely be dated from the first half of
the eleventh century, for the ordeal by boiling water, with which it is
chiefly concerned, was first introduced into Norway by St. Olaf, who
died in 1030, and the poem speaks of it in stanza 7 as still of foreign
origin.
The Poetic Edda, passage 3668
Yng″-ling-a-sag′-a, the Saga of the Ynglings, 160, 163.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2693
1. Atli sent | of old to Gunnar
A keen-witted rider, | Knefröth did men call him;
To Gjuki’s home came he | and to Gunnar’s dwelling,
With benches round the hearth, | and to the beer so sweet.
The Poetic Edda, passage 3113
Ag′-nar, son of Geirröth, 84, 87, 88, 106.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2756
18. The manuscript indicates no lacuna and does not name the speaker;
perhaps a line similar to line 1 of stanza 24 (or 26) should be
inserted here. Rhine: Gunnar’s Burgundian home is here clearly
localized. After this stanza it is probable that a passage describing
the battle has been lost.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2060
Prose. Gnitaheith: cf. Gripisspo, 11 and note. Fear-helm: the word
“ægis-hjalmr,” which occurs both here and in Fafnismol, suggests an
extraordinarily interesting, and still disputed, question of etymology.
Gram: according to the Volsungasaga Regin forged this sword from the
fragments of the sword given by Othin to Sigmund (cf. Fra Dautha
Sinfjotla and note).
The Poetic Edda, passage 1151
10. “Wise-woman, cease not! | I seek from thee
All to know | that I fain would ask:
Who shall vengeance win | for the evil work,
Or bring to the flames | the slayer of Baldr?”
The Poetic Edda, passage 3291
Gun′-nar, follower of Hrolf, 224.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2847
59. They seized Buthli’s cook, | and they came with the knife,
The frightened thrall howled | ere the edge did he feel;
He was willing, he cried, | to dung well the courtyard,
Do the basest of work, | if spare him they would;
Full happy were Hjalli | if his life he might have.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1403
33. “Now answer me, Fjolsvith, | the question I ask,
For now the truth would I know:
What cock is he | on the highest bough,
That glitters all with gold?”
The Poetic Edda, passage 294
100. So came I next | when night it was,
The warriors all were awake;
With burning lights | and waving brands
I learned my luckless way.