The Poetic Edda
Henry Adams Bellows (translator)
3,671 passages indexed from The Poetic Edda (Henry Adams Bellows (translator)) — Page 56 of 74
License: Public Domain
The Poetic Edda, passage 2387
40. “One alone | of all I loved,
Nor changing heart | I ever had;
All in the end | shall Atli know,
When he hears I have gone | on the death-road hence.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 894
The Lokasenna is found only in Regius, where it follows the
Hymiskvitha; Snorri quotes four lines of it, grouped together as a
single stanza.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2680
27. In the manuscript these three lines follow line 2 of stanza 28. No
gap is indicated in the manuscript. In the Volsungasaga Guthrun gives
her brother the harp, with which he puts the serpents to sleep. The
episode is undoubtedly related to the famous thirtieth Aventiure of the
Nibelungenlied, in which Volker plays the followers of Gunther to sleep
before the final battle.
The Poetic Edda, passage 3084
22. Line 2 in the original is thoroughly obscure; some editors directly
reverse the meaning here indicated by giving the line a negative force,
while others completely alter the phrase rendered “his arms he called
for” into one meaning “he stroked his cheeks.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 3033
2. Not now, nor yet | of yesterday was it,
Long the time | that since hath lapsed,
So that little there is | that is half as old,
Since Guthrun, daughter | of Gjuki, whetted
Her sons so young | to Svanhild’s vengeance.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2045
Prose. Hjalprek: father of Alf, Sigurth’s step-father; cf. Fra Dautha
Sinfjotla, and note. Grani: cf. Gripisspo, 5 and note. Regin
(“Counsel-Giver”): undoubtedly he goes back to the smith of the German
story; in the Thithrekssaga version he is called Mimir, while Regin is
there the name of the dragon (here Regin’s brother, Fafnir). The
Voluspo (stanza 12) names a Regin among the dwarfs, and the name may
have assisted in making Regin a dwarf here. Hreithmar: nothing is known
of him outside of this story. Othin, Hönir and Loki: these same three
gods appear in company in Voluspo, 17–18. Andvari’s fall: according to
Snorri, who tells this entire story in the Skaldskaparmal, Andvari’s
fall was in the world of the dark elves, while the one where Loki
killed the otter was not; here, however, the two are considered
identical. With his eyes shut: according to Snorri, Otr ate with his
eyes shut because he was so greedy that he could not bear to see the
food before him diminishing. Ron: wife of the sea-god Ægir, who draws
down drowning men with her net; cf. Helgakvitha Hjorvarthssonar, 18 and
note. Snorri says that Loki caught the pike with his hands.
The Poetic Edda, passage 58
2. I remember yet | the giants of yore,
Who gave me bread | in the days gone by;
Nine worlds I knew, | the nine in the tree
With mighty roots | beneath the mold.
The Poetic Edda, passage 3656
Vith′-of-nir, a cock, 243, 245, 246.
The Poetic Edda, passage 107
51. O’er the sea from the north | there sails a ship
With the people of Hel, | at the helm stands Loki;
After the wolf | do wild men follow,
And with them the brother | of Byleist goes.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2917
28. Perhaps a line has been lost before line 1; Grundtvig supplies:
“Gunnar and Hogni, | the heirs twain of Gjuki.” Snævar (the
manuscript here has “Snevar”), Solar and Orkning appear only in this
poem and in the prose narratives based on it. Lines 2–3 may have been
expanded out of one line, or possibly line 3 is spurious. The
manuscript indicates line 4 as beginning a new stanza, and many
editions make a separate stanza out of lines 4–5, many of them assuming
the loss of two lines. Shield-tree: warrior (Orkning), here identified
as Kostbera’s brother. Fair-decked ones: women, i.e., Glaumvor and
Kostbera. Fjord: perhaps specifically the Limafjord mentioned in stanza
4.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2553
37. The warders now | on the lofty walls
Opened the gates, | and in we rode.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2832
44. Then out did she go, | she flung open the doors,
All fearless she went, | and the guests did she welcome;
To the Niflungs she went— | her last greeting it was,—
In her speech truth was clear, | and much would she speak.
The Poetic Edda, passage 3064
1. This stanza looks like a later interpolation from a totally
unrelated source. Sorrow of elves: the sun; cf. Alvissmol, 16 and note.
The Poetic Edda, passage 901
3. “In shall I go | into Ægir’s hall,
For the feast I fain would see;
Bale and hatred | I bring to the gods,
And their mead with venom I mix.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 161
43. Gollinkambi (“Gold-Comb”): the cock who wakes the gods and heroes,
as Fjalar does the giants. The rust-red bird: the name of this bird,
who wakes the people of Hel’s domain, is nowhere stated.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1020
The Thrymskvitha has been preserved in excellent condition, without any
serious gaps or interpolations. In striking contrast to many of the
poems, it contains no prose narrative links, the story being told in
narrative verse—a rare phenomenon in the poems of the Edda.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2272
16. “Gunnar, I dreamed | a dream full grim:
In the hall were corpses; | cold was my bed;
And, ruler, thou | didst joyless ride,
With fetters bound | in the foemen’s throng.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1014
61. Hrungnir’s slayer: the hammer; the story of how Thor slew this
stone-headed giant is indicated in Harbarthsljoth, 14–15, and outlined
in the note to stanza 14 of that poem.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1292
24. “Eastward in Bolm | were born of old
The sons of Arngrim | and Eyfura;
With berserk-tumult | and baleful deed
Like fire o’er land | and sea they fared,—
And all are thy kinsmen, | Ottar, thou fool!
The Poetic Edda, passage 2587
34. The kings: presumably Gunnar and Hogni. My sons: regarding
Guthrun’s slaying of her two sons by Atli, Erp and Eitil, cf. Drap
Niflunga, note.
The Poetic Edda, passage 227
33. Oft should one make | an early meal,
Nor fasting come to the feast;
Else he sits and chews | as if he would choke,
And little is able to ask.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1100
19. “Answer me, Alvis! | thou knowest all,
Dwarf, of the doom of men:
What call they the wind, | that widest fares,
In each and every world?”
The Poetic Edda, passage 2170
1. “What bit through the byrnie? | how was broken my sleep?
Who made me free | of the fetters pale?”
The Poetic Edda, passage 2923
35. The manuscript indicates line 4 as beginning a new stanza, and many
editions combine it with stanza 36, some of them assuming the loss of a
line from stanza 35. In the Volsungasaga paraphrase the second half of
line 4 is made a part of Vingi’s speech: “Better had ye left this
undone.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 1114
33. “Answer me, Alvis! | thou knowest all,
Dwarf, of the doom of men:
What call they the ale, | that is quaffed of men,
In each and every world?”
The Poetic Edda, passage 3305
Hālf, King of Horthaland, 222, 223.
The Poetic Edda, passage 3324
Hel, goddess of the dead, 16, 17, 19, 20, 22, 93, 95, 97, 115, 118,
146, 196, 231, 237, 245, 377, 441–443, 518, 551.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2374
27. “No son will ride, | though seven thou hast,
To the Thing as the son | of their sister rides;
Well I see | who the ill has worked,
On Brynhild alone | lies the blame for all.
The Poetic Edda, passage 316
122. I rede thee, Loddfafnir! | and hear thou my rede,—
Profit thou hast if thou hearest,
Great thy gain if thou learnest:
Exchange of words | with a witless ape
Thou must not ever make.
The Poetic Edda, passage 798
24. Valland: this mythical place (“Land of Slaughter”) is elsewhere
mentioned, but not further characterized; cf. prose introduction to
Völundarkvitha, and Helreith Brynhildar, 2. On the bringing of slain
heroes to Othin, cf. Voluspo, 31 and note, and, for a somewhat
different version, Grimnismol, 14. Nowhere else is it indicated that
Thor has an asylum for dead peasants.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1325
5. Some editors, following Simrock, assign this whole stanza to Hyndla;
others assign to her lines 3–4. Giving the entire stanza to Freyja
makes better sense than any other arrangement, but is dependent on
changing the manuscript’s “thy” in line 3 to “my,” as suggested by
Bugge. The boar on which Freyja rides (“my worthy steed”) is, of
course, Ottar.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1524
3. In the manuscript these two lines follow stanza 1, with no gap
indicated, and the first line marked as the beginning of a stanza. Many
editors have combined them with stanza 4.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1647
19. Apparently both Hrimgerth and her mother, Hati’s wife, had sought
to destroy Helgi’s ships, and had actually killed some of his
companions, the sons of Hlothvarth, concerning whom nothing more is
known. Many editors assume that a stanza containing a speech by Atli
has been lost after stanza 19.
The Poetic Edda, passage 177
59. Here begins the description of the new world which is to rise out
of the wreck of the old one. It is on this passage that a few critics
have sought to base their argument that the poem is later than the
introduction of Christianity (circa 1000), but this theory has never
seemed convincing (cf. introductory note).
The Poetic Edda, passage 372
41. In line 3 the manuscript adds “givers again” to “gift-givers.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 1898
44. Lines 4 and 6 have been marked by various editors as probably
spurious. Others regard lines 1–2 as the beginning of a stanza the rest
of which has been lost, or combine lines 5–6 with lines 5–6 of stanza
45 to make a new stanza. South-maid: cf. Helgakvitha Hundingsbana I, 17
and note.
The Poetic Edda, passage 3125
And″-var-a-naut′, a ring, 114, 361, 448.
The Poetic Edda, passage 384
81. With this stanza the verse-form, as indicated in the translation,
abruptly changes to Malahattr. What has happened seems to have been
something like this. Stanza 80 introduces the idea of man’s love for
woman. Consequently some reciter or compiler (or possibly even a
copyist) took occasion to insert at this point certain stanzas
concerning the ways of women. Thus stanza 80 would account for the
introduction of stanzas 81 and 82, which, in turn, apparently drew
stanza 83 in with them. Stanza 84 suggests the fickleness of women, and
is immediately followed—again with a change of verse-form—by a list of
things equally untrustworthy (stanzas 85–90). Then, after a few more
stanzas on love in the regular measure of the Hovamol (stanzas 91–95),
is introduced, by way of illustration, Othin’s story of his adventure
with Billing’s daughter (stanzas 96–102). Some such process of growth,
whatever its specific stages may have been, must be assumed to account
for the curious chaos of the whole passage from stanza 81 to stanza
102.
The Poetic Edda, passage 170
52. Surt: the ruler of the fire-world. The scourge of branches: fire.
This is one of the relatively rare instances in the Eddic poems of the
type of poetic diction which characterizes the skaldic verse.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2869
80. “Grim wast thou, Guthrun, | in so grievous a deed,
My draught with the blood | of thy boys to mingle;
Thou hast slain thine own kin, | most ill it beseemed thee,
And little for me | twixt my sorrows thou leavest.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 2128
Sigurth rode along Fafnir’s trail to his lair, and found it open. The
gate-posts were of iron, and the gates; of iron, too, were all the
beams in the house, which was dug down into the earth. There Sigurth
found a mighty store of gold, and he filled two chests full thereof; he
took the fear-helm and a golden mail-coat and the sword Hrotti, and
many other precious things, and loaded Grani with them, but the horse
would not go forward until Sigurth mounted on his back.
The Poetic Edda, passage 3090
28. Most editors regard stanzas 28–30 as a speech by Hamther, but the
manuscript does not indicate the speaker, and some editors assign one
or two of the stanzas to Sorli. Lines 1–2 are quoted in the
Volsungasaga. The manuscript does not indicate line 1 as beginning a
stanza. Erp: Hamther means that while the two brothers had succeeded
only in wounding Jormunrek, Erp, if he had been with them, would have
killed him. Lines 3–4 may be a later interpolation. Norns: the fates;
the word used in the original means the goddesses of ill fortune.
The Poetic Edda, passage 499
23. Mundilferi (“the Turner”?): known only as the father of Mani (the
Moon) and Sol (the Sun). Note that, curiously enough, Mani is the boy
and Sol the girl. According to Snorri, Sol drove the horses of the sun,
and Mani those of the moon, for the gods, indignant that they should
have been given such imposing names, took them from their father to
perform these tasks. Cf. Grimnismol, 37.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2757
19. These two lines, apparently the remains of a full stanza, may
belong after stanza 20. Burgundians’ king: the phrase may mean
“Burgundians’ men,” i.e., they bound all the Burgundians who were left
alive after the battle. This is the only place in the poems in which
the name “Burgundian” appears; that the poet had no very clear
conception of its meaning is indicated by the fact that in stanza 21 he
calls Gunnar “king of the Goths.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 1322
2. Heerfather: Othin; cf. Voluspo, 30. Hermoth: mentioned in the Prose
Edda as a son of Othin who is sent to Hel to ask for the return of the
slain Baldr. Sigmund: according to the Volsungasaga Sigmund was the son
of Volsung, and hence Othin’s great-great-grandson (note that Wagner
eliminates all the intervening generations by the simple expedient of
using Volsung’s name as one of Othin’s many appellations). Sigmund
alone was able to draw from the tree the sword which a mysterious
stranger (Othin, of course) had thrust into it (compare the first act
of Wagner’s Die Walküre).
The Poetic Edda, passage 771
51. “Thou womanish Harbarth! | here hast thou held me too
long.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 816
The poem is a distinctly inferior piece of work, obviously based on
various narrative fragments, awkwardly pieced together. Some critics,
Jessen and Edzardi for instance, have maintained that the compiler had
before him three distinct poems, which he simply put together; others,
like Finnur Jonsson and Mogk, think that the author made a new poem of
his own on the basis of earlier poems, now lost. It seems probable that
he took a lot of odds and ends of material concerning Thor, whether in
prose or in verse, and worked them together in a perfunctory way,
without much caring how well they fitted. His chief aim was probably to
impress the credulous imaginations of hearers greedy for wonders.
The Poetic Edda, passage 813
58. Line 2: so Regius; the other manuscript has “ere sunrise.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 253
59. He must early go forth | whose workers are few,
Himself his work to seek;
Much remains undone | for the morning-sleeper,
For the swift is wealth half won.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1159
3. Father of magic: Othin appears constantly as the god of magic. Hel:
offspring of Loki and the giantess Angrbotha, as were the wolf Fenrir
and Mithgarthsorm. She ruled the world of the unhappy dead, either
those who had led evil lives or, according to another tradition, those
who had not died in battle. The manuscript marks line 3 as the
beginning of a stanza, and thus the editions vary in their grouping of
the lines of this and the succeeding stanzas.