Poetry
Fagra veröld
Not translated into English
Tómas Guðmundsson · 1933
Synopsis
Poems devoted to Reykjavík and urban life, to its streets, its bustle and its landscapes, which Icelandic writers had until then judged dreary, and to the land of their author's youth. The poet finds beauty in the everyday life of the capital, in an accessible voice that made these poems popular with readers. The book contains the poem that Bernard Scudder translated into English under the title Hotel Earth.
Context
The collection at once made its author a recognised poet and earned him the unofficial title of poet of Reykjavík: he was the first to bring the capital into Icelandic poetry. Britannica describes a neo-Romantic manner mixed with familiar realism, and notes that the first book, Við sundin blá, already showed mastery of form. Stjörnur vorsins followed in 1940 and Fljótið helga in 1950. The city created a literary prize in his name, and a statue by Halla Gunnarsdóttir, unveiled in 2010 south of the Tjörnin lake, shows him sitting at the water's edge.
Who it is for
A short collection, in Icelandic, in accessible language; a few poems exist in English translation.
Prizes and reception
This collection established its author and bound him to his city; its poems remain popular in Iceland.