The Poetic Edda
Henry Adams Bellows (translator)
3,671 passages indexed from The Poetic Edda (Henry Adams Bellows (translator)) — Page 63 of 74
License: Public Domain
The Poetic Edda, passage 2199
25. Ill it is | if silent thou art,
A coward born men call thee,
And truth mayhap they tell;
Seldom safe is fame,
Unless wide renown be won;
On the day thereafter | send him to death,
Let him pay the price of his lies.
The Poetic Edda, passage 3152
Best′-la, Othin’s mother, 4, 61, 160.
The Poetic Edda, passage 851
31. But the loved one fair | of the giant found
A counsel true, | and told her thought:
“Smite the skull of Hymir, | heavy with food,
For harder it is | than ever was glass.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 3249
Frōth′-i, father of Kari (?), 224.
The Poetic Edda, passage 3500
Ork′-ning, brother of Kostbera, 449, 509, 510, 517.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2088
9. “In all I say | dost thou hatred see,
Yet truth alone do I tell;
The sounding gold, | the glow-red wealth,
And the rings thy bane shall be.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 1049
28. Hard by there sat | the serving-maid wise,
So well she answered | the giant’s words:
“No sleep has Freyja | for eight nights found,
So hot was her longing | for Jotunheim.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 2078
Sigurth and Regin went up to the Gnitaheith, and found there the track
that Fafnir made when he crawled to water. Then Sigurth made a great
trench across the path, and took his place therein. When Fafnir crawled
from his gold, he blew out venom, and it ran down from above on
Sigurth’s head. But when Fafnir crawled over the trench, then Sigurth
thrust his sword into his body to the heart. Fafnir writhed and struck
out with his head and tail. Sigurth leaped from the trench, and each
looked at the other. Fafnir said:
The Poetic Edda, passage 721
1. “Who is the fellow yonder, | on the farther shore of the
sound?”
The Poetic Edda, passage 476
46. “Much have I fared, | much have I found,
Much have I got of the gods:
Whence comes the sun | to the smooth sky back,
When Fenrir has snatched it forth?”
The Poetic Edda, passage 204
10. A better burden | may no man bear
For wanderings wide than wisdom;
It is better than wealth | on unknown ways,
And in grief a refuge it gives.
The Poetic Edda, passage 3364
Hloth′-varth, follower of Helgi, 280.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2345
Although there are probably several interpolated passages, and
indications of omissions are not lacking, the poem as we now have it
seems to be a distinct and coherent unit. From the narrative point of
view it leaves a good deal to be desired, for the reason that the
poet’s object was by no means to tell a story, with which his hearers
were quite familiar, but to use the narrative simply as the background
for vivid and powerful characterization. The lyric element, as Mogk
points out, overshadows the epic throughout, and the fact that there
are frequent confusions of narrative tradition does not trouble the
poet at all.
The Poetic Edda, passage 285
91. Clear now will I speak, | for I know them both,
Men false to women are found;
When fairest we speak, | then falsest we think,
Against wisdom we work with deceit.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2462
52. With this stanza begins Brynhild’s prophesy of what is to befall
Gunnar, Guthrun, Atli, and the many others involved in their fate. Line
3 is a proverbial expression meaning simply “your troubles are not at
an end.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 2019
10. “Lyngheith and Lofnheith, | fled is my life,
And mighty now is my need!”
The Poetic Edda, passage 2149
Prose. Rithil (“Swift-Moving”): Snorri calls the sword Refil
(“Serpent”).
The Poetic Edda, passage 2457
46. The manuscript marks line 3 as beginning a stanza; some editions
treat lines 1–2 as a separate stanza, and combine lines 3–4 with lines
1–2 of stanza 47. Jewel-bearer (literally “land of jewels”): woman,
here Brynhild. Bond-women, etc.: in stanza 69 we learn that five female
slaves and eight serfs were killed to be burned on the funeral pyre,
and thus to follow Sigurth in death.
The Poetic Edda, passage 3487
Njars, the people of Nithuth, 254, 257, 259, 265, 268.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1687
19. “My father has pledged | his daughter fair
As bride to Granmar’s | son so grim;
But, Helgi, I | once Hothbrodd called
As fine a king | as the son of a cat.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2051
5. This stanza apparently comes from a different source from stanzas
1–4 (or 1–2 if 3–4 are interpolated) and 6–10; cf. Introductory Note.
In the Volsungasaga Andvari lays his curse particularly on the ring.
Gust: possibly a name for Andvari himself, or for an earlier possessor
of the treasure. Brothers twain: Fafnir and Regin. Heroes eight: the
word “eight” may easily have been substituted for something like “all”
to make the stanza fit the case; the “eight” in question are presumably
Sigurth, Gotthorm, Gunnar, Hogni, Atli, Erp, Sorli and Hamther, all of
whom are slain in the course of the story. But the stanza may
originally not have referred to Andvari’s treasure at all.
The Poetic Edda, passage 3141
Aur′-both-a, a giantess, 109, 228.
The Poetic Edda, passage 683
43. “Long is one night, | longer are two;
How then shall I bear three?
Often to me | has a month seemed less
Than now half a night of desire.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 2226
16. Bragi: the god of poetry; cf. Grimnismol, 44 and note.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1187
13. Daughters had they, | Drumba and Kumba,
Ökkvinkalfa, | Arinnefja,
Ysja and Ambott, | Eikintjasna,
Totrughypja | and Tronubeina;
And thence has risen | the race of thralls.
The Poetic Edda, passage 3524
Sǣ′-far-i, father of Ulf, 222.
The Poetic Edda, passage 963
60. “That thou hast fared | on the East-road forth
To men shouldst thou say no more;
In the thumb of a glove | didst thou hide, thou great one,
And there forgot thou wast Thor.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 3491
Nor (or Norv′-i), father of Not, 75, 192.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1835
33. “Mad art thou, sister, | and wild of mind,
Such a curse | on thy brother to cast;
Othin is ruler | of every ill,
Who sunders kin | with runes of spite.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1990
37. In the Nibelungenlied Siegfried merely makes himself invisible in
order to lend Gunther his strength for the feats which must be
performed in order to win the redoubtable bride. In the northern
version Sigurth and Gunnar change forms, “as Grimhild had taught them
how to do.” The Volsungasaga tells how Sigurth and Gunnar came to
Heimir, who told them that to win Brynhild one must ride through the
ring of fire which surrounded her hall (cf. the hall of Mengloth in
Svipdagsmol). Gunnar tries it, but his horse balks; then he mounts
Grani, but Grani will not stir for him. So they change forms, and
Sigurth rides Grani through the flames. Oaths: the blood-brotherhood
sworn by Sigurth, Gunnar, and Hogni makes it impossible for the
brothers to kill him themselves, but they finally get around the
difficulty by inducing their half-brother, Gotthorm (cf. Hyndluljoth,
27 and note) to do it.
The Poetic Edda, passage 862
2. Mountain-dweller: the giant (Ægir). Line 2: the principal word in
the original has defied interpretation, and any translation of the line
must be largely guesswork. Ygg: Othin; his son is Thor. Some editors
assume a gap after this stanza.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2015
7. “Gifts ye gave, | but ye gave not kindly,
Gave not with hearts that were whole;
Your lives ere this | should ye all have lost,
If sooner this fate I had seen.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 213
19. Shun not the mead, | but drink in measure;
Speak to the point or be still;
For rudeness none | shall rightly blame thee
If soon thy bed thou seekest.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1380
13. “Then eighth will I chant thee, | if ever by night
Thou shalt wander on murky ways:
Yet never the curse | of a Christian woman
From the dead shall do thee harm.
The Poetic Edda, passage 37
Most of the poems of the Poetic Edda have unquestionably reached us in
rather bad shape. During the long period of oral transmission they
suffered all sorts of interpolations, omissions and changes, and some
of them, as they now stand, are a bewildering hodge-podge of
little-related fragments. To some extent the diligent twelfth century
compiler to whom we owe the Codex Regius—Sæmund or another—was himself
doubtless responsible for the patchwork process, often supplemented by
narrative prose notes of his own; but in the days before written
records existed, it was easy to lose stanzas and longer passages from
their context, and equally easy to interpolate them where they did not
by any means belong. Some few of the poems, however, appear to be
virtually complete and unified as we now have them.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1091
10. “‘Earth’ to men, ‘Field’ | to the gods it is,
‘The Ways’ is it called by the Wanes;
‘Ever Green’ by the giants, | ‘The Grower’ by elves,
‘The Moist’ by the holy ones high.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 1802
10. “How didst thou know | that now our kin,
Maiden wise, | we have well avenged?
Many there are | of the sons of the mighty
Who share alike | our lofty race.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 3562
Skor′-u-strond, home of Varin, 281.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1807
14. From her heart the daughter | of Hogni spake,
Dear was Helgi, | she said, to her;
“Long with all | my heart I loved
Sigmund’s son | ere ever I saw him.
The Poetic Edda, passage 3610
Thrūth′-gel-mir, a giant, 76, 77.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1077
33. Some editors reject this line, which, from a dramatic standpoint,
is certainly a pity. In the manuscript it begins with a capital letter,
like the opening of a new stanza.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2726
34. By the warriors’ host | was the living hero
Cast in the den | where crawling about
Within were serpents, | but soon did Gunnar
With his hand in wrath on | the harp-strings smite;
The strings resounded,— | so shall a hero,
A ring-breaker, gold | from his enemies guard.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1704
36. “There will Hothbrodd | Helgi find,
In the midst of the fleet, | and flight he scorns;
Often has he | the eagles gorged,
Whilst thou at the quern | wert slave-girls kissing.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 3295
Guth″-rūn-ar-hvot′, Guthrun’s Inciting, 226, 410, 411, 439, 447, 450,
497, 535–547, 549, 551, 555.
The Poetic Edda, passage 983
21. Snorri quotes line 1; cf. note on stanza 29.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2371
24. Guthrun soft | in her bed had slept,
Safe from care | at Sigurth’s side;
She woke to find | her joy had fled,
In the blood of the friend | of Freyr she lay.
The Poetic Edda, passage 3576
Stark′-ath, son of Granmar, 316, 319, 320.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1570
The first Helgi lay is manifestly in bad shape, and includes at least
two distinct poems, differentiated not only by subject-matter but by
metrical form. Although the question is debatable, the longer of these
poems (stanzas 1–11 and 31–43) seems in turn to have been compounded
out of fragments of two or more Helgi poems. The first five stanzas are
a dialogue between a bird and Atli, one of Hjorvarth’s followers,
concerning the winning of Sigrlin, who is destined to be Hjorvarth’s
wife and Helgi’s mother. Stanzas 6–11 are a dialogue between Helgi and
a Valkyrie (the accompanying prose so calls her, and identifies her as
Svava, but there is nothing in the verse to prove this). Stanzas 12–30
form a fairly consecutive unit, in which Atli, on guard over Helgi’s
ship, has a vigorous argument with a giantess, Hrimgerth, whence this
section has sometimes been called the Hrimgertharmol (Lay of
Hrimgerth). The last section, stanzas 31–43, is again fairly
consecutive, and tells of the death of Helgi following the rash oath of
his brother, Hethin, to win Svava for himself.
The Poetic Edda, passage 373
55–56. The first pairs of lines are abbreviated in the manuscript.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2100
21. “Thy counsel is given, | but go I shall
To the gold in the heather hidden;
And, Fafnir, thou | with death dost fight,
Lying where Hel shall have thee.”