The Poetic Edda
Henry Adams Bellows (translator)
3,671 passages indexed from The Poetic Edda (Henry Adams Bellows (translator)) — Page 17 of 74
License: Public Domain
The Poetic Edda, passage 935
35. “Great was my gain, | though long was I gone,
To the gods as a hostage given;
The son did I have | whom no man hates,
And foremost of gods is found.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 670
31. “With three-headed giants | thou shalt dwell ever,
Or never know a husband;
(Let longing grip thee, | let wasting waste thee,—)
Be like to the thistle | that in the loft
Was cast and there was crushed.
The Poetic Edda, passage 905
6. “Thirsty I come | into this thine hall,
I, Lopt, from a journey long,
To ask of the gods | that one should give
Fair mead for a drink to me.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2626
5. “Who worked this woe | for the woman thus,
Or why so sudden | is Borgny sick?”
The Poetic Edda, passage 793
18. Lines 1–2 are obscure, but apparently Harbarth means that the women
were wise to give in to him cheerfully, resistance to his power being
as impossible as (lines 3–4) making ropes of sand or digging the
bottoms out of the valleys. Nothing further is known of these unlucky
“seven sisters.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 1665
THE FIRST LAY OF HELGI HUNDINGSBANE
The Poetic Edda, passage 2526
10. Few the words | of Hogni were,
Bitter his heart | from heavy sorrow:
“Greater, Guthrun, | thy grief shall be
If the ravens so | my heart shall rend.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 105
49. Now Garm howls loud | before Gnipahellir,
The fetters will burst, | and the wolf run free;
Much do I know, | and more can see
Of the fate of the gods, | the mighty in fight.
The Poetic Edda, passage 146
28. The Hauksbok version omits all of stanzas 28–34, stanza 27 being
there followed by stanzas 40 and 41. Regius indicates stanzas 28 and 29
as a single stanza. Bugge puts stanza 28 after stanza 22, as the second
stanza of his reconstructed poem. The Volva here addresses Othin
directly, intimating that, although he has not told her, she knows why
he has come to her, and what he has already suffered in his search for
knowledge regarding his doom. Her reiterated “would you know yet more?”
seems to mean: “I have proved my wisdom by telling of the past and of
your own secrets; is it your will that I tell likewise of the fate in
store for you?” The Old One: Othin.
The Poetic Edda, passage 943
43. “Had I birth so famous | as Ingunar-Freyr,
And sat in so lofty a seat,
I would crush to marrow | this croaker of ill,
And beat all his body to bits.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 387
87. The stanza is doubtless incomplete. Some editors add from a late
paper manuscript two lines running:
The Poetic Edda, passage 2749
10. The manuscript indicates no lacuna, but probably two lines have
dropped out, for the Volsungasaga paraphrase runs: “Give us to drink in
great cups, for it may well be that this shall be our last feast.”
Fjornir: Gunnar’s cup-bearer.
The Poetic Edda, passage 208
14. Drunk I was, | I was dead-drunk,
When with Fjalar wise I was;
’Tis the best of drinking | if back one brings
His wisdom with him home.
The Poetic Edda, passage 850
30. Hlorrithi then, | when the cup he held,
Struck with the glass | the pillars of stone;
As he sat the posts | in pieces he shattered,
Yet the glass to Hymir | whole they brought.
The Poetic Edda, passage 937
37. “Of the heroes brave | is Freyr the best
Here in the home of the gods;
He harms not maids | nor the wives of men,
And the bound from their fetters he frees.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 3356
Hlath′-guth, a swan-maiden, 254–256.
The Poetic Edda, passage 112
56. In anger smites | the warder of earth,—
Forth from their homes | must all men flee;—
Nine paces fares | the son of Fjorgyn,
And, slain by the serpent, | fearless he sinks.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2073
The so-called Fafnismol, contained in full in the Codex Regius, where
it immediately follows the Reginsmol without any indication of a break,
is quoted by Snorri in the Gylfaginning (stanza 13) and the
Skaldskaparmal (stanzas 32 and 33), and stanzas 6, 3, and 4 appear in
the Sverrissaga. Although the Volsungasaga does not actually quote any
of the stanzas, it gives a very close prose parallel to the whole poem
in chapters 18 and 19.
The Poetic Edda, passage 438
8. “Gagnrath they call me, | and thirsty I come
From a journey hard to thy hall;
Welcome I look for, | for long have I fared,
And gentle greeting, giant.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 1239
16. The manuscript marks line 3 as the beginning of a stanza.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1037
16. Then Thor the mighty | his answer made:
“Me would the gods | unmanly call
If I let bind | the bridal veil.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 958
56. “Be silent, Beyla! | thou art Byggvir’s wife,
And deep art thou steeped in sin;
A greater shame | to the gods came ne’er,
Befouled thou art with thy filth.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 3163
Bol′-thorn, Othin’s grandfather, 4, 61.
The Poetic Edda, passage 3552
Skāld″-skap-ar-māl, the Treatise on Poetics, 189, 192, 221, 274, 359,
370, 538, 547.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2579
25. In the manuscript, and in some editions, the first line is in the
third person plural: “Then they forgot, | when the draught they had
drunk.” The second line in the original is manifestly in bad shape, and
has been variously emended. I forgot: this emendation is doubtful, in
view of stanza 30, but cf. note to stanza 22. The kings all three:
probably Atli’s emissaries, though the interpolated lines of stanza 20
name four of them. I suspect that line 4 is wrong, and should read:
“Ere he himself (Atli) | to speak began.” Certainly stanzas 26–27
fit Atli much better than they do Grimhild, and there is nothing
unreasonable in Atli’s having come in person, along with his tributary
kings, to seek Guthrun’s hand. However, the “three kings” may not be
Atli’s followers at all, but Gunnar, Hogni, and the unnamed third
brother possibly referred to in Sigurtharkvitha en skamma, 18.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1889
34. Vandilsve (“Vandil’s Shrine”): who Vandil was we do not know; this
and Vigdalir (“Battle-Dale”) are purely mythical places.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1382
15. “Now fare on the way | where danger waits,
Let evils not lessen thy love!
I have stood at the door | of the earth-fixed stones,
The while I chanted thee charms.
The Poetic Edda, passage 781
Prose. Harbarth (“Gray-Beard”): Othin. On the nature of the prose notes
found in the manuscripts, cf. Grimnismol, introduction. Thor: the
journeys of the thunder-god were almost as numerous as those of Othin;
cf. Thrymskvitha and Hymiskvitha. Like the Robin Hood of the British
ballads, Thor was often temporarily worsted, but always managed to come
out ahead in the end. His “Journey in the East” is presumably the
famous episode, related in full by Snorri, in the course of which he
encountered the giant Skrymir, and in the house of Utgartha-Loki lifted
the cat which turned out to be Mithgarthsorm. The Hymiskvitha relates a
further incident of this journey.
The Poetic Edda, passage 47
Variations frequently appear in all three kinds of verse, and these I
have attempted to indicate through the rhythm of the translation. In
order to preserve so far as possible the effect of the Eddic verse, I
have adhered, in making the English version, to certain of the
fundamental rules governing the Norse line and stanza formations. The
number of lines to each stanza conforms to what seems the best guess as
to the original, and I have consistently retained the number of
accented syllables. In translating from a highly inflected language
into one depending largely on the use of subsidiary words, it has,
however, been necessary to employ considerable freedom as to the number
of unaccented syllables in a line. The initial-rhyme is generally
confined to two accented syllables in each line. As in the original,
all initial vowels are allowed to rhyme interchangeably, but I have
disregarded the rule which lets certain groups of consonants rhyme only
with themselves (e.g., I have allowed initial s or st to rhyme with sk
or sl). In general, I have sought to preserve the effect of the
original form whenever possible without an undue sacrifice of accuracy.
For purposes of comparison, the translations of the three stanzas just
given are here included:
The Poetic Edda, passage 2154
38. Giant: Regin was certainly not a frost-giant, and the whole stanza
looks like some copyist’s blundering reproduction of stanza 34.
The Poetic Edda, passage 11
Völundarkvitha 252
Helgakvitha Hjorvarthssonar 269
Helgakvitha Hundingsbana I 290
Helgakvitha Hundingsbana II 309
Fra Dautha Sinfjotla 332
Gripisspo 337
Reginsmol 356
Fafnismol 370
Sigrdrifumol 386
Brot af Sigurtharkvithu 402
Guthrunarkvitha I 411
Sigurtharkvitha en Skamma 420
Helreith Brynhildar 442
Drap Niflunga 447
Guthrunarkvitha II, en Forna 450
Guthrunarkvitha III 465
Oddrunargratr 469
Atlakvitha en Grönlenzka 480
Atlamol en Grönlenzku 499
Guthrunarhvot 536
Hamthesmol 545
The Poetic Edda, passage 1067
16. Possibly a line has been lost from this stanza.
The Poetic Edda, passage 3657
Vols′-ung, father of Sigmund, 218, 219, 226, 270, 293, 302, 307, 310,
332–334, 366, 421.
The Poetic Edda, passage 3601
Thjaz′-i, a giant, 89, 90, 128, 152, 167, 168, 175, 228.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2696
4. “Shields shall ye choose there, | and shafts made of
ash-wood,
Gold-adorned helmets, | and slaves out of Hunland,
Silver-gilt saddle-cloths, | shirts of bright scarlet,
With lances and spears too, | and bit-champing steeds.
The Poetic Edda, passage 3543
Sigr′-lin, wife of Hjorvarth, 271–276, 287.
The Poetic Edda, passage 3062
31. Then Sorli beside | the gable sank,
And Hamther fell | at the back of the house.
The Poetic Edda, passage 563
35. Yggdrasil’s ash | great evil suffers,
Far more than men do know;
The hart bites its top, | its trunk is rotting,
And Nithhogg gnaws beneath.
The Poetic Edda, passage 169
51. North: a guess; the manuscripts have “east,” but there seems to be
a confusion with stanza 50, line 1. People of Hel: the manuscripts have
“people of Muspell,” but these came over the bridge Bifrost (the
rainbow), which broke beneath them, whereas the people of Hel came in a
ship steered by Loki. The wolf: Fenrir. The brother of Byleist: Loki.
Of Byleist (or Byleipt) no more is known.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2110
30. “Thy rede it was | that I should ride
Hither o’er mountains high;
The glittering worm | would have wealth and life
If thou hadst not mocked at my might.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 3416
In′-stein, father of Ottar, 220, 222, 224.
The Poetic Edda, passage 338
144. Othin for the gods, | Dain for the elves,
And Dvalin for the dwarfs,
Alsvith for giants | and all mankind,
And some myself I wrote.
The Poetic Edda, passage 300
106. Gunnloth gave | on a golden stool
A drink of the marvelous mead;
A harsh reward | did I let her have
For her heroic heart,
And her spirit troubled sore.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1566
From Denmark the story appears to have spread northward into Norway and
westward into the Norse settlements among the islands. Not many of its
original features remained, and new ones were added here and there,
particularly with regard to Helgi’s love affair with Sigrun. The
victories over Hunding and Hothbrodd, however, were generally retained,
and out of material relating to these two fights, and to the
Helgi-Sigrun story, were fashioned the two lays of Helgi Hundingsbane.
The Poetic Edda, passage 612
30. This stanza, again possibly an interpolation, is closely
paraphrased by Snorri following the passage quoted in the previous
note. Glath (“Joyous”): identified in the Skaldskaparmal with Skinfaxi,
the horse of day; cf. Vafthruthnismol, 12. Gyllir: “Golden.” Gler:
“Shining.” Skeithbrimir: “Swift-Going.” Silfrintopp: “Silver-Topped.”
Sinir: “Sinewy.” Gisl: the meaning is doubtful; Gering suggests
“Gleaming.” Falhofnir: “Hollow-Hoofed.” Golltopp (“Gold-Topped”): this
horse belonged to Heimdall (cf. Voluspo, 1 and 46). It is noteworthy
that gold was one of the attributes of Heimdall’s belongings, and,
because his teeth were of gold, he was also called Gullintanni
(“Gold-Toothed”). Lettfeti: “Light-Feet.” Othin’s eight-footed horse,
Sleipnir, is not mentioned in this list.
The Poetic Edda, passage 190
In its present shape it involves the critic of the text in more puzzles
than any other of the Eddic poems. Without going in detail into the
various theories, what happened seems to have been somewhat as follows.
There existed from very early times a collection of proverbs and wise
counsels, which were attributed to Othin just as the Biblical proverbs
were to Solomon. This collection, which presumably was always elastic
in extent, was known as “The High One’s Words,” and forms the basis of
the present poem. To it, however, were added other poems and fragments
dealing with wisdom which seemed by their nature to imply that the
speaker was Othin. Thus a catalogue of runes, or charms, was tacked on,
and also a set of proverbs, differing essentially in form from those
comprising the main collection. Here and there bits of verse more
nearly narrative crept in; and of course the loose structure of the
poem made it easy for any reciter to insert new stanzas almost at will.
This curious miscellany is what we now have as the Hovamol.
The Poetic Edda, passage 3193
Dög′-lings, descendants of Dag, 223.
The Poetic Edda, passage 3277
Gran′-i, Sigurth’s horse, 259, 260, 303, 342, 344, 350, 358, 359, 385,
395, 403, 406, 417, 431, 432, 445, 446, 452, 476.
The Poetic Edda, passage 385
84. Lines 3 and 4 are quoted in the Fostbræthrasaga.
The Poetic Edda, passage 345
151. A fifth I know, | if I see from afar
An arrow fly ’gainst the folk;
It flies not so swift | that I stop it not,
If ever my eyes behold it.