The Poetic Edda
Henry Adams Bellows (translator)
3,671 passages indexed from The Poetic Edda (Henry Adams Bellows (translator)) — Page 66 of 74
License: Public Domain
The Poetic Edda, passage 3316
Hār″-barths-ljōth′, the Poem of Harbarth, 12, 24, 104, 121–140, 142,
143, 152, 167, 168, 170, 171, 174, 175, 185, 195, 228, 314, 394, 443,
478, 480.
The Poetic Edda, passage 3539
Sig′-mund, son of Volsung, 218, 219, 226, 270, 276, 290–295, 301, 302,
307, 310, 311, 315, 317, 318, 330–336, 341, 364–366, 368, 369, 373,
374, 388, 389, 432, 455.
The Poetic Edda, passage 124
2. Nine worlds: the worlds of the gods (Asgarth), of the Wanes
(Vanaheim, cf. stanza 21 and note), of the elves (Alfheim), of men
(Mithgarth), of the giants (Jotunheim), of fire (Muspellsheim, cf.
stanza 47 and note), of the dark elves (Svartalfaheim), of the dead
(Niflheim), and presumably of the dwarfs (perhaps Nithavellir, cf.
stanza 37 and note, but the ninth world is uncertain). The tree: the
world-ash Yggdrasil, symbolizing the universe; cf. Grimnismol, 29–35
and notes, wherein Yggdrasil is described at length.
The Poetic Edda, passage 3527
Sǣ′-var-stath, an island, 261, 262.
The Poetic Edda, passage 3452
Lyng′-vi, son of Hunding, 336, 368, 369.
The Poetic Edda, passage 490
10. This stanza sounds very much like many of those in the first part
of the Hovamol, and may have been introduced here from some such
source.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1710
42. “Thou didst not father | Fenrir’s-wolves,
Though older thou art | than all I know;
For they gelded thee | in Gnipalund,
The giant-women | at Thorsnes once.
The Poetic Edda, passage 3318
Heer′-fath-er, Othin, 13, 14, 69, 92, 94, 218, 390.
The Poetic Edda, passage 3279
Greip, mother of Heimdall, 229.
The Poetic Edda, passage 3534
Sig′-ars-holm, an island, 277.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1189
15. There sat the twain, | and worked at their tasks:
The man hewed wood | for the weaver’s beam;
His beard was trimmed, | o’er his brow a curl,
His clothes fitted close; | in the corner a chest.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2671
16. In stanzas 16–17 the underlying story seems to be the one used in
Sigurtharkvitha en skamma (particularly stanzas 32–39), and referred to
in Guthrunarkvitha I, 24, wherein Gunnar and Sigurth lay siege to
Atli’s city (it here appears as Brynhild’s) and are bought off only by
Atli’s giving Brynhild to Gunnar as wife, winning her consent thereto
by falsely representing to her that Gunnar is Sigurth. This version is,
of course, utterly at variance with the one in which Sigurth wins
Brynhild for Gunnar by riding through the ring of flames, and is
probably more closely akin to the early German traditions. In the
Nibelungenlied Brynhild appears as a queen ruling over lands and
peoples. Fafnir’s slayer: Sigurth.
The Poetic Edda, passage 927
27. “If a son like Baldr | were by me now,
Here within Ægir’s hall,
From the sons of the gods | thou shouldst go not forth
Till thy fierceness in fight were tried.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 1578
3. “Choose not Hjorvarth, | nor sons of his,
Nor the wives so fair | of the famous chief;
Ask not the brides | that the prince’s are;
Fair let us deal | in friendly wise.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 3254
Geir′-röth, a king, 84–87, 104–106.
The Poetic Edda, passage 261
67. To their homes men would bid me | hither and yon,
If at meal-time I needed no meat,
Or would hang two hams | in my true friend’s house,
Where only one I had eaten.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2548
32. “Seek not so eagerly | me to send
To be a bride | of yon baneful race;
On Gunnar first | his wrath shall fall,
And the heart will he tear | from Hogni’s breast.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 3133
Ār′-vak, a horse, 99, 100, 394.
The Poetic Edda, passage 140
21. This follows stanza 20 in Regius; in the Hauksbok version stanzas
25, 26, 27, 40 and 41 come between stanzas 20 and 21. Editors have
attempted all sorts of rearrangements. The war: the first war was that
between the gods and the Wanes. The cult of the Wanes (Vanir) seems to
have originated among the seafaring folk of the Baltic and the southern
shores of the North Sea, and to have spread thence into Norway in
opposition to the worship of the older gods; hence the “war.” Finally
the two types of divinities were worshipped in common; hence the treaty
which ended the war with the exchange of hostages. Chief among the
Wanes were Njorth and his children, Freyr and Freyja, all of whom
became conspicuous among the gods. Beyond this we know little of the
Wanes, who seem originally to have been water-deities. I remember: the
manuscripts have “she remembers,” but the Volva is apparently still
speaking of her own memories, as in stanza 2. Gollveig (“Gold-Might”):
apparently the first of the Wanes to come among the gods, her
ill-treatment being the immediate cause of the war. Müllenhoff
maintains that Gollveig is another name for Freyja. Lines 5–6, one or
both of them probably interpolated, seem to symbolize the refining of
gold by fire. Hor (“The High One”): Othin.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2854
66. “Not free of guilt am I; | a way shall I find
That is better by far,— | oft the fairest we shunned;—
With slaves I console thee, | with gems fair to see,
And with silver snow-white, | as thyself thou shalt choose.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 638
Freyr, the son of Njorth, had sat one day in Hlithskjolf, and looked
over all the worlds. He looked into Jotunheim, and saw there a fair
maiden, as she went from her father’s house to her bower. Forthwith he
felt a mighty love-sickness. Skirnir was the name of Freyr’s servant;
Njorth bade him ask speech of Freyr. He said:
The Poetic Edda, passage 1760
37. The manuscript does not name the speakers in this dialogue. No gap
indicated in the manuscript, and editors have attempted various
combinations of stanzas 37 and 38.
The Poetic Edda, passage 730
10. “Harbarth am I, | and seldom I hide my name.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 2225
15. Stanzas 15–17 constitute a wholly distinct rune-chant. Line 1 is
unusually long in the original, as here. Shield: the shield Svalin
(“Cooling”) that stands in front of the sun; cf. Grimnismol, 38. Arvak
(“Early Walter”) and Alsvith (“All-Swift”): the horses that draw the
sun’s car; cf. Grimnismol, 37. Hrungnir: the slayer of the giant
Hrungnir was Thor (cf. Harbarthsljoth, 14 and note), but the line is in
bad shape; the name may not be Hrungnir, and “killer” is a conjectural
addition. Sleipnir: Othin’s eight-legged horse; cf. Grimnismol, 44 and
note. Sledge: perhaps the one mentioned in Grimnismol, 49.
The Poetic Edda, passage 425
163. Some editors have combined these two lines with stanza 164. Others
have assumed that the gap follows the first half-line, making “so
that—from me” the end of the stanza.
The Poetic Edda, passage 80
24. Then sought the gods | their assembly-seats,
The holy ones, | and council held,
Whether the gods | should tribute give,
Or to all alike | should worship belong.
The Poetic Edda, passage 342
148. A second I know, | that men shall need
Who leechcraft long to use;
. . . . . . . . | . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The Poetic Edda, passage 3362
Hlith′-skjolf, Othin’s seat, 86, 88, 107, 108, 480, 487.
The Poetic Edda, passage 3293
Gunn′-loth, daughter of Suttung, 28, 32, 50–52.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1745
21. The manuscript has only lines 1 and 4 with the word “first” of line
2, and does not indicate Helgi as the speaker. The Volsungasaga, which
follows this poem pretty closely, expands Helgi’s speech, and lines 2–3
are conjectural versifications of the saga’s prose. Isung: nothing is
known of him beyond the fact, here indicated, that Hothbrodd killed
him.
The Poetic Edda, passage 3176
Brīs′-ings, the dwarfs, 159, 177–179, 236.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1966
43. “The marriage draught | will be drunk for both,
For Sigurth and Gunnar, | in Gjuki’s hall;
Your forms ye change, | when home ye fare,
But the mind of each | to himself remains.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 2822
34. Full stoutly they rowed, | and the keel clove asunder,
Their backs strained at the oars, | and their strength was
fierce;
The oar-loops were burst, | the thole-pins were broken,
Nor the ship made they fast | ere from her they fared.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1361
46. Freyja now admits the identity of her boar as Ottar, who with the
help of the “memory-beer” is to recall the entire genealogy he has just
heard, and thus win his wager with Angantyr.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1884
26–27. Cf. Helgakvitha Hundingsbana I, 47–48, which are nearly
identical. Stanza 27 in the manuscript is abbreviated to the first
letters of the words, except for line 5, which does not appear in the
other poem, and which looks like an interpolation.
The Poetic Edda, passage 3114
Alf, husband of Hjordis, 335, 336, 359, 374, 454.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2031
16. “Who yonder rides | on Rævil’s steeds,
O’er towering waves | and waters wild?
The sail-horses all | with sweat are dripping,
Nor can the sea-steeds | the gale withstand.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 1267
Inserted bodily in the Hyndluljoth proper is a fragment of fifty-one
lines, taken from a poem of which, by a curious chance, we know the
name. Snorri quotes one stanza of it, calling it “the short Voluspo.”
The fragment preserved gives, of course, no indication of the length of
the original poem, but it shows that it was a late and very inferior
imitation of the great Voluspo. Like the Hyndluljoth proper, it
apparently comes from the twelfth century; but there is nothing
whatever to indicate that the two poems were the work of the same man,
or were ever connected in any way until some blundering copyist mixed
them up. Certainly the connection did not exist in the middle of the
thirteenth century, when Snorri quoted “the short Voluspo.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 1120
4. Apparently the gods promised Thor’s daughter in marriage to Alvis
during her father’s absence, perhaps as a reward for some craftsmanship
of his (cf. Bugge’s suggestion as to stanza 3). The text of line 4 is
most uncertain.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2350
3. Thereafter went they | Brynhild to woo,
And so with them | did Sigurth ride,
The Volsung young, | in battle valiant,—
Himself would have had her | if all he had seen.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2803
“Yon garment of linen | lies little of worth,
It will soon be burned, | so thou sawest the bed-cover.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 1501
25. Their skulls, once hid | by their hair, he took,
Set them in silver | and sent them to Nithuth;
Gems full fair | from their eyes he fashioned,
To Nithuth’s wife | so wise he gave them.
The Poetic Edda, passage 549
21. Loud roars Thund, | and Thjothvitnir’s fish
Joyously fares in the flood;
Hard does it seem | to the host of the slain
To wade the torrent wild.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1377
10. “Then fifth I will chant thee, | if fetters perchance
Shall bind thy bending limbs:
O’er thy thighs do I chant | a loosening-charm,
And the lock is burst from the limbs,
And the fetters fall from the feet.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1985
15. Basing his story on the Sigrdrifumol, the poet here tells of
Sigurth’s finding of the Valkyrie, whom he does not identify with
Brynhild, daughter of Buthli (stanza 27), at all. His error in this
respect is not surprising, in view of Brynhild’s dual identity (cf.
Introductory Note, and Fafnismol, 44 and note). Helgi: according to
Helreith Brynhildar (stanza 8), with which the author of the Gripisspo
was almost certainly familiar, the hero for whose death Brynhild was
punished was named Hjalmgunnar. Is Helgi here identical with
Hjalmgunnar, or did the author make a mistake? Finnur Jonsson thinks
the author regarded Sigurth’s Valkyrie as a fourth incarnation of
Svava-Sigrun-Kara, and wrote Helgi’s name in deliberately. Many
editors, following Bugge, have tried to reconstruct line 2 so as to get
rid of Helgi’s name.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1619
35. “On a wolf there rode, | when dusk it was,
A woman who fain | would have him follow;
Well she knew | that now would fall
Sigrlin’s son | at Sigarsvoll.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 181
No lacuna (line 4) is indicated in the manuscripts. Golden tables: cf.
stanza 8 and note.
The Poetic Edda, passage 666
27. “On the eagle’s hill | shalt thou ever sit,
And gaze on the gates of Hel;
More loathsome to thee | than the light-hued snake
To men, shall thy meat become.
The Poetic Edda, passage 3457
Mīm′-a-meith, Yggdrasil, 242, 243.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1992
41. Something is clearly wrong with stanzas 41–43. In the manuscript
the order is 41, 43, 42, which brings two of Gripir’s answers together,
followed by two of Sigurth’s questions. Some editors have arranged the
stanzas as in this translation, while others have interchanged 41 and
43. In any case, Sigurth in stanza 42 asks about the “three nights”
which Gripir has never mentioned. I suspect that lines 3–4 of stanza
41, which are practically identical with lines 3–4 of stanza 23, got in
here by mistake, replacing two lines which may have run thus: “With thy
sword between, | three nights thou sleepest / With her thou winnest
| for Gunnar’s wife.” The subsequent poems tell how Sigurth laid his
sword Gram between himself and Brynhild.