The Poetic Edda
Henry Adams Bellows (translator)
3,671 passages indexed from The Poetic Edda (Henry Adams Bellows (translator)) — Page 58 of 74
License: Public Domain
The Poetic Edda, passage 2036
20. “Many the signs, | if men but knew,
That are good for the swinging of swords;
It is well, methinks, | if the warrior meets
A raven black on his road.
The Poetic Edda, passage 531
3. Hail to thee, Agnar! | for hailed thou art
By the voice of Veratyr;
For a single drink | shalt thou never receive
A greater gift as reward.
The Poetic Edda, passage 3256
Geit′-ir, Gripir’s servant, 340–342.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2356
9. “(Now Gjuki’s child | to her lover goes,)
And the Hunnish king | with his wife is happy;
Joyless I am | and mateless ever,
Till cries from my heavy | heart burst forth.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 1459
50. Loki, the one god named, was the builder of the hall, with the aid
of the nine dwarfs. Jari, Dori, and Ori appear in the Voluspo catalogue
of the dwarfs (stanzas 13 and 15); Delling appears in Hovamol, 161, and
Vafthruthnismol, 25, in the latter case, however, the name quite
possibly referring to some one else. The other dwarfs’ names do not
appear elsewhere. The manuscripts differ as to the forms of many of
these names.
The Poetic Edda, passage 257
63. To question and answer | must all be ready
Who wish to be known as wise;
Tell one thy thoughts, | but beware of two,—
All know what is known to three.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1565
Without attempting to enter into the discussion in detail, certain
theories should be noted. Helgi appears originally to have been a
Danish popular hero, the son of King Halfdan. Saxo Grammaticus has a
good deal to say about him in that capacity, and it has been pointed
out that many of the place names in the Helgi lays can be pretty
clearly identified with parts of Denmark and neighboring stretches of
the Baltic. The Danish Helgi, according to Saxo, was famed as the
conqueror of Hunding and Hothbrodd, the latter as the result of a naval
expedition at the head of a considerable fleet.
The Poetic Edda, passage 3337
Her″-var-ar-sag′-a, the Saga of Hervor, 366, 484.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1701
33. Then Gothmund asked, | goodly of birth,
. . . . . . . . | . . . . . . . .
“Who is the monarch | who guides the host,
And to the land | the warriors leads?”
The Poetic Edda, passage 3663
Ygg, Othin, 70, 105, 140, 384.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1810
Helgi then assembled a great sea-host and went to Frekastein. On the
sea he met a perilous storm; lightning flashed overhead and the bolts
struck the ship. They saw in the air that nine Valkyries were riding,
and recognized Sigrun among them. Then the storm abated, and they came
safe and sound to land. Granmar’s sons sat on a certain mountain as the
ships sailed toward the land. Gothmund leaped on a horse and rode for
news to a promontory near the harbor; the Volsungs were even then
lowering their sails. Then Gothmund said, as is written before in the
Helgi lay:
The Poetic Edda, passage 1250
27. Fathir and Mothir: Father and Mother. Perhaps lines 3–4 should form
a stanza with 28, 1–2.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2682
29. Many editions combine this stanza with lines 3–4 of stanza 28. The
sound: cf. note on stanza 28.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2027
14. “Here shall I foster | the fearless prince,
Now Yngvi’s heir | to us is come;
The noblest hero | beneath the sun,
The threads of his fate | all lands enfold.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 1195
21. A son bore Amma, | with water they sprinkled him,
Karl they named him; | in a cloth she wrapped him,
He was ruddy of face, | and flashing his eyes.
The Poetic Edda, passage 3351
Hjor′-leif, follower of Helgi, 298.
The Poetic Edda, passage 558
30. Glath and Gyllir, | Gler and Skeithbrimir,
Silfrintopp and Sinir,
Gisl and Falhofnir, | Golltopp and Lettfeti,
On these steeds the gods shall go
When dooms to give | each day they ride
To the ash-tree Yggdrasil.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2206
32. Then eighth I rede thee, | that evil thou shun,
And beware of lying words;
Take not a maid, | nor the wife of a man,
Nor lure them on to lust.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1775
52. The manuscript indicates line 3 as beginning a new stanza; some
editors combine lines 3–4 with all or part of stanza 53, while others
assume the loss of two lines following line 4. Fire-beasts: dragons,
i.e., ships. The Norse ships of war, as distinguished from merchant
vessels, were often called dragons because of their shape and the
carving of their stems.
The Poetic Edda, passage 3103
G is always hard, as in “get,” never soft, as in “gem;” following “n”
it has the same sound as in “sing.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 2856
68. “Our childhood did we have | in a single house,
We played many a game, | in the grove did we grow;
Then did Grimhild give us | gold and necklaces;
Thou shalt ne’er make amends | for my brother’s murder,
Nor ever shalt win me | to think it was well.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1717
49. Mightily then | they made to run
Sviputh and Sveggjuth | to Solheimar;
(By dewy dales | and chasms dark,
Mist’s horse shook | where the men went by;)
The king they found | at his courtyard gate,
And told him the foeman | fierce was come.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1800
8. “Latest of all, | the Ylfings’ son
On the western sea, | if know thou wilt,
Captured bears | in Bragalund,
And fed the eagles | with edge of sword.
Now is it shown | why our shirts are bloody,
And little our food | with fire is cooked.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 656
17. “Art thou of the elves | or the offspring of gods,
Or of the wise Wanes?
How camst thou alone | through the leaping flame
Thus to behold our home?”
The Poetic Edda, passage 3541
Sigr′-drif-a, Brynhild, 296, 384–386, 388, 390, 391, 403.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1919
Those who read the Sigurth poems in the Edda, or the story told in the
Volsungasaga, expecting to find a critically accurate biography of the
hero, will, of course, be disappointed. If, however, they will
constantly keep in mind the general manner in which the legend grew,
its accretions ranging all the way from the Danube to Iceland, they
will find that most of the difficulties are simply the natural results
of conflicting traditions. Just as the Danish Helgi had to be “reborn”
twice in order to enable three different men to kill him, so the story
of Sigurth, as told in the Eddic poems, involves here and there
inconsistencies explicable only when the historical development of the
story is taken into consideration.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1286
18. “The mate of Dag | was a mother of heroes,
Thora, who bore him | the bravest of fighters,
Frathmar and Gyrth | and the Frekis twain,
Am and Jofurmar, | Alf the Old;
It is much to know,— | wilt thou hear yet more?
The Poetic Edda, passage 3223
Fenr′-ir, a wolf, 17–23, 81–83, 91, 93, 100, 140, 146, 152, 164, 165,
170, 196, 303.
The Poetic Edda, passage 3571
Sōl′-heim-ar, Hothbrodd’s home, 304.
The Poetic Edda, passage 980
17. We do not even know who Ithun’s brother was, much less who slew
him.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1933
10. “Noble king, | my kinsman, say
Thy meaning true, | for our minds we speak:
For Sigurth mighty | deeds dost see,
The highest beneath | the heavens all?”
The Poetic Edda, passage 2427
11. Line 5, or perhaps line 3, may be interpolated.
The Poetic Edda, passage 636
The Skirnismol differs sharply from the poems preceding it, in that it
has a distinctly ballad quality. As a matter of fact, however, its
verse is altogether dialogue, the narrative being supplied in the prose
“links,” concerning which cf. introductory note to the Grimnismol. The
dramatic effectiveness and vivid characterization of the poem seem to
connect it with the Thrymskvitha, and the two may possibly have been
put into their present form by the same man. Bugge’s guess that the
Skirnismol was the work of the author of the Lokasenna is also
possible, though it has less to support it.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2322
Guthrun went thence away to a forest in the waste, and journeyed all
the way to Denmark, and was there seven half-years with Thora, daughter
of Hokon. Brynhild would not live after Sigurth. She had eight of her
thralls slain and five serving-women. Then she killed herself with a
sword, as is told in the Short Lay of Sigurth.
The Poetic Edda, passage 3612
Thrym, a giant, 174, 176, 177, 179–182.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2401
54. “A maid shall then | the mother bear;
Brighter far | than the fairest day
Svanhild shall be, | or the beams of the sun.
The Poetic Edda, passage 57
1. Hearing I ask | from the holy races,
From Heimdall’s sons, | both high and low;
Thou wilt, Valfather, | that well I relate
Old tales I remember | of men long ago.
The Poetic Edda, passage 3265
Glaum′-vor, wife of Gunnar, 448, 500, 502, 507, 508, 510, 511.
The Poetic Edda, passage 266
72. A son is better, | though late he be born,
And his father to death have fared;
Memory-stones | seldom stand by the road
Save when kinsman honors his kin.
The Poetic Edda, passage 3624
Uth, daughter of Ægir, 323, 466.
The Poetic Edda, passage 302
108. Hardly, methinks, | would I home have come,
And left the giants’ land,
Had not Gunnloth helped me, | the maiden good,
Whose arms about me had been.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2496
Prose. The prose follows the last stanza of Sigurtharkvitha en skamma
without break. Two bale-fires: this contradicts the statement made in
the concluding stanzas of Sigurtharkvitha en skamma, that Sigurth and
Brynhild were burned on the same pyre; there is no evidence that the
annotator here had anything but his own mistaken imagination to go on.
The Poetic Edda, passage 918
18. “To Loki I speak not | with spiteful words
Here within Ægir’s hall;
And Bragi I calm, | who is hot with beer,
For I wish not that fierce they should fight.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 3276
Gram, Sigurth’s sword, 351, 365, 378, 427, 428.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2686
There are two Atli poems in the Codex Regius, the Atlakvitha (Lay of
Atli) and the Atlamol (Ballad of Atli). The poems are not preserved or
quoted in any other old manuscript, but they were extensively used by
the compilers of the Volsungasaga. In the manuscript superscription to
each of these poems appears the word “Greenland,” which has given rise
to a large amount of argument. The scribe was by no means infallible,
and in this case his statement proves no more than that in the period
round 1300 there was a tradition that these two poems originated in the
Greenland settlement.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1671
3. Mightily wove they | the web of fate,
While Bralund’s towns | were trembling all;
And there the golden | threads they wove,
And in the moon’s hall | fast they made them.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2467
57. Stanzas 57–58 seem to be the remains of two stanzas, but the
Volsungasaga paraphrase follows closely the form here given. Line 3 may
well be spurious; line 5 has likewise been questioned. Oddrun: this
sister of Atli and Brynhild, known mainly through the Oddrunargratr, is
a purely northern addition to the cycle, and apparently one of a
relatively late date. She figures solely by reason of her love affair
with Gunnar.
The Poetic Edda, passage 723
3. “Ferry me over the sound; | I will feed thee therefor in the
morning;
A basket I have on my back, | and food therein, none better;
At leisure I ate, | ere the house I left,
Of herrings and porridge, | so plenty I had.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 2080
Sigurth concealed his name because it was believed in olden times that
the word of a dying man might have great power if he cursed his foe by
his name. He said:
The Poetic Edda, passage 1842
One of Sigrun’s maidens went one evening to Helgi’s hill, and saw that
Helgi rode to the hill with many men. The maiden said: