Jón Bjarnason Academy - 01.05.1936, Síða 32

of him, Jochumsson paints his word pictures in large strokes.
Generally he likewise writes best on the largest themes.
His poems on subjects from the history of Iceland, of
which he possessed both unusual knowledge and penetrating
understanding, are particularly noteworthy. He glories in por-
traying the great men in the history of his country, vividly
picturing them at the most decisive moments in their career.
No less notable are his elegiac and memorial poems, many of
which rank with the greatest productions of their kind in the
Icelandic language. Nor has any Icelandic poet, past or present,
written as large and varied a group of such poems as has Joch-
umsson.17 Frequently, moreover, he succeeds admirably in in-
dividualizing the persons whom he makes the subject of his
eulogy. As has been well observed, his sympathy was so great
that his obituary poems may be said to be as widely different
as were the people whom he wrote about.18
Jochumsson gives much thought to the deepest problems
of human existence, life and death, and the hereafter. His
religious poems and hymns, often reaching the highest peaks of
inspiration, breathe deep faith and strong idealism. His in-
spired hymn “6 GuS vors lands” (Our Country’s God), written
in 1874 for the millennial celebration of the settlement of Ice-
land, has deservedly become the Icelandic national anthem.
Mrs. Jakobina Johnson’s English translation retains much of
the beauty and the elevated tone of the original:19
Our country’s God! Our country’s God!
We worship Thy name in its wonder sublime
The suns of the heavens are set in Thy crown
By Thy legions, the ages of time!
With thee is each day as a thousand years,
Each thousand of years, but a day.
Eternity’s flow’r, with its homage of tears,
That reverently passes away.
Iceland’s thousand years!
Eternity’s flow’r, with its homage of tears
That reverently passes away.
Our God, our God, we bow to Thee,
Our spirit most fervent we place in Thy care.
Lord, God of our fathers from age unto age,
We are breathing our holiest prayer.
We pray and we thank Thee a thousand years
For safely protected we stand;
We pray and we bring Thee our homage of tears—
17 About this phase of his poetry see especially GuSmundur Finnboga-
son, “Matthias Jochumsson vi<5 Llkabong,” Matthias Jochumsson, Reykja
vlk, 1905, pp. 91-112.
18 SigurSur Nordal, Islcnzk Lestrarbok, p. 246.
19 Beck, Icelandic Lyrics, pp. 101-102.
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