Fróðskaparrit - 01.01.2008, Side 138
136
Trý kvæði eftir Jens Hendrik Djurhuus
Three ballads by Jens Hendrik Djurhuus
Malcm Marnersdóttir
Fróðskaparsetur Føroya, Føroyamálsdeildin, V.U. Hammershaimbsgøta 13, FO-100 Tórshavn
Email: malanm@setur.fo
Abstract
The article analyzes the historical ballads „Eirkur og
Rollar" and „Rodmunds kvæði" by Jens Hendrik
Djurhuus (1799-1892). The first ballad is a rewritingof
the story about the Danish king Frode Fredegod in
Saxo Grammaticus Gesta Danorum. The „Rodmunds
kvæði" is rewriting an Old Norse „fornaldar" story.
Djurhuus was long considered as an oral poet but as a
manuscript from his hand was discovered in 1982 it
became known that he had written at least one of his
ballads himself and a part of another.
„Eirikur og Rollar,, (Eric and Rollar) is the complete
ballad from Djurhuus' hand. It is about two young men
who are sent to Denmark to spy for the Norwegian
King Gøter. The ballad only uses the introduction of
Saxo’s story where the two Norwegians get the
guardians of king Frode who is an adult at the time of
the story put aside in order to let Frode reign himself.
This can be seen as a comment on the historic situa-
tion of the Faroes which in 1815 were separated from
Norway.
The ballad is even more interesting as one of the
very few pieces of the Romantic literature in Faroese
written in a period of time where the written language
was Danish. It is probably composed sometimes after
1829 as a continuation of the oral ballads that were
collected and written down during the 19th century.
Djurhuus' ballad is the very first poem in Faroese that
is introduced by a nature metaphor
The article also characterizes two more ballads of
Djurhuus: „Rodmunds kvæði" that is incomplete from
his hand and tells the story of the Old Norse story of
Hrómundar saga Cripssonar. The last ballad men-
tioned in the article is „Gøtuskeggjar" which attributed
to Djurhuus and tells a story from another lcelandic
story, Fcereyingasaga.
Úrtak
Greinin viðger trý kvæði eftir Jens Hendrik Djurhuus,
Sjóvarbóndan yngra: „Eiríkur og Rollar", „Rodmunds
kvæði" og „Gøtuskeggjar". Serliga kvæði hansara „Eirik-
ur og Rollar" er áhugavert. Tað man vera fyrsta før-
oyska yrking, sum leggur fyri við eini lýsing av veðri,
sum umfatar ein myndburð og skapar eina rammu um
gongdina í kvæðinum. „Eirikur og Rollar" hevur evni úr
danmarkarkrýniku Saxos um Fróða Friðargóða, „Rod-
munds kvæði" hevur evni úr norrønari søgu um Hró-
mund Gripsson, og „Gøtuskeggjar" er úr Føroyinga-
søgu. Av hesum kvæðum eftir Jens Hendrik er „Eirikur
og Rollar" tað mest nýskapandi í mun til onnur kvæði
- tað er týðiliga romantiskt.
Høvundur og verk
Henda grein lýsir trý kvæði, sum eru skrivað
við hond Jens Hendriks Djurhuus. Creinin
hevði ikki verið til uttan vinaliga hjálp frá
fyrsta lærara mínum Jeffrei Henriksen og
handrit, har hann viðger skriftmálið hjá Jens
Hendriki Djurhuus (Henriksen, 1982).
Jens Hendrik Djurhuus (1799-1892) var
bóndi í Kollafirði og yrkti kvæði við søgu-
ligum evni og helt fram ta bókmentaleið,
sum Nólsoyar-Páll og faðirin Jens Chr. Djur-
huus byrjaðu. Men Jens Hendrik Djurhuus
fór eisini nýggjar leiðir formliga og tilfarsliga.
Handritini hjá Jens Hendriki Djurhuus eru í
varðveitslu á Føroyamálsdeildini á Fróðskap-
arsetrinum. Kvæðið „Eirikur og Rollar", sum
Fróðskaparrit 56. bók 2008:136-149