Poetry
Ljóðmæli
Not translated into English
Jónas Hallgrímsson · 1847
Synopsis
The collection brings together the poems the author had published in his lifetime, chiefly in the journals Fjölnir and Skírnir, and most of those found among his papers. It contains poems of the homeland, such as Ísland and Gunnarshólmi, which tie the landscapes and places of the sagas to the hope of a people free to govern itself, the first Icelandic sonnet, ironic pieces and others that carry on the spirit of the Enlightenment, in old metres renewed or borrowed from abroad.
Context
The volume appeared in Copenhagen in 1847, two years after the poet's death, prepared by two of his companions from the journal Fjölnir, Brynjólfur Pétursson and Konráð Gíslason; of 1,156 copies printed, 456 burned the same year in a fire in the city, so that the book has become rare. An enlarged edition followed in 1883, with prose pieces from Fjölnir and a study by Hannes Hafstein, then another in 1913; the first scholarly edition, in five volumes, appeared from 1929 to 1937, and the 1847 text was reproduced in facsimile in 1945.
Who it is for
A poetry collection in Icelandic; a bilingual anthology exists in English, extended by a website of the University of Wisconsin.
Prizes and reception
Its author's birthday has been Icelandic Language Day since 1996; he is regarded as one of the country's greatest poets.
Sources for this page 2
The pages consulted to check this page.