The Poetic Edda
Henry Adams Bellows (translator)
3,671 passages indexed from The Poetic Edda (Henry Adams Bellows (translator)) — Page 19 of 74
License: Public Domain
The Poetic Edda, passage 39
THE VERSE-FORMS OF THE EDDIC POEMS
The Poetic Edda, passage 1194
20. Thus was he there | for three nights long,
Then forward he went | on the midmost way,
And so nine months | were soon passed by.
The Poetic Edda, passage 3468
Mund″-il-fer′-i, father of Sol, 5, 74, 99.
The Poetic Edda, passage 401
112. Lines 1–3 are the formula, repeated (abbreviated in the
manuscript) in most of the stanzas, with which Othin prefaces his
counsels to Loddfafnir, and throughout this section, except in stanzas
111 and 138, Loddfafnir represents himself as simply quoting Othin’s
words. The material is closely analogous to that contained in the first
eighty stanzas of the poem. In some cases (e.g., stanzas 117, 119, 121,
126 and 130) the formula precedes a full four-line stanza instead of
two (or three) lines.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2809
21. “A gallows saw I ready, | thou didst go to thy hanging,
Thy flesh serpents ate, | and yet living I found thee;
. . . . . . . . | . . . . . . . .
The gods’ doom descended; | now say what it boded.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 2037
21. “Another it is | if out thou art come,
And art ready forth to fare,
To behold on the path | before thy house
Two fighters greedy of fame.
The Poetic Edda, passage 355
161. A fifteenth I know, | that before the doors
Of Delling sang Thjothrörir the dwarf;
Might he sang for the gods, | and glory for elves,
And wisdom for Hroptatyr wise.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2810
22. “A sword drawn bloody | from thy garments I saw,—
Such a dream is hard | to a husband to tell,—
A spear stood, methought, | through thy body thrust,
And at head and feet | the wolves were howling.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 267
73. Two make a battle, | the tongue slays the head;
In each furry coat | a fist I look for.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2933
46. The warlike deeds of Guthrun represent an odd transformation of the
German tradition. Kriemhild, although she did no actual fighting in the
Nibelungenlied, was famed from early times for her cruelty and
fierceness of heart, and this seems to have inspired the poet of the
Atlamol to make his Guthrun into a warrior outdoing Brynhild herself.
Kriemhild’s ferocity, of course, was directed against Gunther and
especially Hagene, for whose slaying she rather than Etzel was
responsible; here, on the other hand, Guthrun’s is devoted to the
defense of her brothers.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1926
4. Then Geitir went | and to Gripir spake:
“A stranger comes | and stands without;
Lofty he is | to look upon,
And, prince, thyself | he fain would see.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 1217
43. Soon grew up | the sons of Jarl,
Beasts they tamed, | and bucklers rounded,
Shafts they fashioned, | and spears they shook.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1402
32. “Women, sick | with child, shall seek
Its fruit to the flames to bear;
Then out shall come | what within was hid,
And so is it mighty with men.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 2609
10. Ne’er saw man sight | more sad than this,
How burned were the hands | of Herkja then;
In a bog so foul | the maid they flung,
And so was Guthrun’s | grief requited.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2442
27. Sigurth means that although Guthrun may have seven sons by a later
marriage, none of them will equal Sigmund, “son of their (i.e.,
Gunnar’s and Hogni’s) sister.” Thing: council.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2494
13. “Yet Guthrun reproached me, | Gjuki’s daughter,
That I in Sigurth’s | arms had slept;
Then did I hear | what I would were hid,
That they had betrayed me | in taking a mate.
The Poetic Edda, passage 21
From all this it is evident that the Poetic Edda, as we now know it, is
no definite and plainly limited work, but rather a more or less
haphazard collection of separate poems, dealing either with Norse
mythology or with hero-cycles unrelated to the traditional history of
greater Scandinavia or Iceland. How many other similar poems, now lost,
may have existed in such collections as were current in Iceland in the
later twelfth and thirteenth centuries we cannot know, though it is
evident that some poems of this type are missing. We can say only that
thirty-four poems have been preserved, twenty-nine of them in a single
manuscript collection, which differ considerably in subject-matter and
style from all the rest of extant Old Norse poetry, and these we group
together as the Poetic Edda.
The Poetic Edda, passage 90
34. His hands he washed not, | his hair he combed not,
Till he bore to the bale-blaze | Baldr’s foe.
But in Fensalir | did Frigg weep sore
For Valhall’s need: | would you know yet more?
The Poetic Edda, passage 1536
16. The manuscript definitely assigns this stanza to Völund, but many
editors give the first two lines to Nithuth. In the manuscript stanza
16 is followed by the two lines of stanza 2, and many editions make of
lines 3–4 of stanza 16 and stanza 2 a single speech by Völund. Grani’s
way: Grani was Sigurth’s horse, on which he rode to slay Fafnir and win
Andvari’s hoard; this and the reference to the Rhine as the home of
wealth betray the southern source of the story. If lines 1–2 belong to
Völund, they mean that Nithuth got his wealth in the Rhine country, and
that Völund’s hoard has nothing to do with it; if the speaker is
Nithuth, they mean that Völund presumably has not killed a dragon, and
that he is far from the wealth of the Rhine, so that he must have
stolen his treasure from Nithuth himself.
The Poetic Edda, passage 941
41. “By the mouth of the river | the wolf remains
Till the gods to destruction go;
Thou too shalt soon, | if thy tongue is not stilled,
Be fettered, thou forger of ill.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 614
32. Ratatosk (“The Swift-Tusked”): concerning this squirrel, the Prose
Edda has to add only that he runs up and down the tree conveying the
abusive language of the eagle (see note on stanza 31) and the dragon
Nithhogg (cf. Voluspo, 39 and note) to each other. The hypothesis that
Ratatosk “represents the undying hatred between the sustaining and the
destroying elements—the gods and the giants,” seems a trifle
far-fetched.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2612
3. Holy stone: just what this refers to is uncertain; it may be
identical with the “ice-cold stone of Uth” mentioned in an oath in
Helgakvitha Hundingsbana II, 29. Thjothmar’s son: the manuscript has
simply “Thjothmar.” Some editions change it as here, some assume that
Thjothmar is another name or an error for Thjothrek, and Finnur Jonsson
not only retains Thjothmar here but changes Thjothrek to Thjothmar in
stanza 5 to conform to it.
The Poetic Edda, passage 232
38. Away from his arms | in the open field
A man should fare not a foot;
For never he knows | when the need for a spear
Shall arise on the distant road.
The Poetic Edda, passage 3288
Grō″-u-galdr′, Groa’s Spell, 234–239.
The Poetic Edda, passage 341
147. The songs I know | that king’s wives know not,
Nor men that are sons of men;
The first is called help, | and help it can bring thee
In sorrow and pain and sickness.
The Poetic Edda, passage 949
49. “Light art thou, Loki, | but longer thou mayst not
In freedom flourish thy tail;
On the rocks the gods bind thee | with bowels torn
Forth from thy frost-cold son.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 1283
15. “Strengthened by Eymund, | the strongest of men,
Sigtrygg he slew | with the ice-cold sword;
His bride was Almveig, | the best of women,
And eighteen boys | did Almveig bear him.
The Poetic Edda, passage 210
16. The sluggard believes | he shall live forever,
If the fight he faces not;
But age shall not grant him | the gift of peace,
Though spears may spare his life.
The Poetic Edda, passage 178
60. The third line of this stanza is not found in Regius. Ithavoll: cf.
stanza 7 and note. The girdler of earth: Mithgarthsorm, who, lying in
the sea, surrounded the land. The Ruler of Gods: Othin. The runes were
both magic signs, generally carved on wood, and sung or spoken charms.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2305
9. “In jealous rage | her wrath she spake,
And beat me oft | with heavy blows;
Never a better | lord I knew,
And never a woman | worse I found.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 1767
44. Several editions assign this stanza to Sinfjotli instead of to
Gothmund. Bravoll (“Field of the Brow”): not elsewhere mentioned in the
poems. Grani: Sigurth’s horse (cf. Völundarkvitha, 16 and note);
Gothmund means that Sinfjotli had turned into a mare, after the fashion
of Loki (cf. Grimnismol, 44, note). The meaning of line 4 in the
original is uncertain.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2087
8. “Thou blamest me, Fafnir, | that I see from afar
The wealth that my father’s was;
Not bound am I, | though in battle taken,
Thou hast found that free I live.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 3427
Jot′-un-heim, the world of the giants, 3, 5, 6, 21, 107, 111, 128,
179–181, 186.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2653
31. “Oft have I wondered | how after this,
Serpents’-bed goddess! | I still might live,
For well I loved | the warrior brave,
The giver of swords, | as my very self.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2681
28. In the manuscript the three lines of stanza 27 follow line 2, and
line 3 is marked as beginning a new stanza. Geirmund: nothing further
is known of him, but he seems to be an ally or retainer of Atli, or
possibly his brother. Hlesey: the poet’s geography is here in very bad
shape. Hlesey is (or may be) the Danish island of Läsö, in the Kattegat
(cf. Harbarthsljoth, 37 and note), and thither he has suddenly
transported not only Gunnar’s death-place but Atli’s whole dwelling
(cf. stanza 29), despite his previous references to the ride to Hunland
(stanzas 3–4) and the “murky wood” (stanza 23). Geirmund’s home, where
Oddrun has gone, is separated from Hlesey and Atli’s dwelling by a
sound (stanza 29). However, geographical accuracy is seldom to be
looked for in heroic epic poetry.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1219
45. Bird-chatter learned he, | flames could he lessen,
Minds could quiet, | and sorrows calm;
. . . . . . . . | . . . . . . . .
The might and strength | of twice four men.
The Poetic Edda, passage 726
6. “Three good dwellings, | methinks, thou hast not;
Barefoot thou standest, | and wearest a beggar’s dress;
Not even hose dost thou have.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 910
Then Vithar arose and poured drink for Loki; but before he drank he
spoke to the gods:
The Poetic Edda, passage 2282
7. One line of this stanza, but it is not clear which, seems to have
been lost. The gray horse: Grani.
The Poetic Edda, passage 763
43. “Where foundest thou | so foul and scornful a speech?
More foul a speech | I never before have heard.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 3258
Gin″-nung-a-gap′, Yawning Gap, 4, 77.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1934
11. “The fiery dragon | alone thou shalt fight
That greedy lies | at Gnitaheith;
Thou shalt be of Regin | and Fafnir both
The slayer; truth | doth Gripir tell thee.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 180
“The gods shall find there, | wondrous fair,
The golden tables | amid the grass.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 1558
39. The manuscript does not name the speaker. Either line 4 or line 5
may be an interpolation; two editions reject lines 3–5, combining lines
1–2 with stanza 40. In the Thithrekssaga Nithuth actually compels Egil,
Völund’s brother, to shoot at Völund. The latter has concealed a
bladder full of blood under his left arm, and when his brother’s arrow
pierces this, Nithuth assumes that his enemy has been killed. This
episode likewise appears among the scenes from Völund’s career rudely
carved on an ancient casket of ivory, bearing an Anglo-Saxon
inscription in runic letters, which has been preserved.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1315
46. “To my boar now bring | the memory-beer,
So that all thy words, | that well thou hast spoken,
The third morn hence | he may hold in mind,
When their races Ottar | and Angantyr tell.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 2452
39. Some editions combine this stanza with lines 4–5 of stanza 38, with
lines 1–2 of stanza 40, or with the whole of stanza 40. The bond:
Brynhild thought she was marrying Sigurth, owner of the treasure,
whereas she was being tricked into marrying Gunnar.
The Poetic Edda, passage 64
8. In their dwellings at peace | they played at tables,
Of gold no lack | did the gods then know,—
Till thither came up | giant-maids three,
Huge of might, | out of Jotunheim.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2668
13. The manuscript indicates line 3 as the beginning of a new stanza;
many editions combine lines 1–2 with stanza 12 and lines 3–4 with lines
1–2 of stanza 14. The hero: Buthli, father of Oddrun, Atli, and
Brynhild.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2198
24. Then third I rede thee, | that thou at the Thing
Shalt fight not in words with fools;
For the man unwise | a worser word
Than he thinks doth utter oft.
The Poetic Edda, passage 3083
21. The word here rendered men (line 1) is missing in the original,
involving a metrical error, and various words have been suggested.