Skírnir - 01.09.2002, Page 68

290
MARGRÉT EGGERTSDÓTTIR
SKÍRNIR
fjallað um eiga það sameiginlegt með ýmsum öðrum hugsjóna-
mönnum að telja rétta hugmyndafræði mikilvægari en efnahags-
lega velsæld. Trúin á landið er órjúfanlega tengd trúnni á kirkju og
konungsvald. Að baki kvæðunum liggur sú heimsmynd sem ein-
kennir allan kveðskap á barokktímanum að ríkjandi kerfi sé gott
og komið frá Guði, hugmynd sem kölluð hefur verið „Ordo-
Gedanke“, eldgamalt kristilegt fyrirbæri sem var í hávegum haft
eftir siðskiptin.60 Menntuð skáld á íslandi á 16. og 17. öld hljóta
að hafa þekkt landlýsingarkvæði erlendis frá. Þaðan kemur hug-
myndin að baki þessum kvæðum. Hins vegar fá þau sín sérstöku
íslensku einkenni vegna þess að aðstæður voru hér allt aðrar en t.d.
í Danmörku. Ekki var sama hvort verið var að lýsa afskekktri ný-
lendu eða landsvæði sem þáði ljóma sinn af nærveru konungsins.
Summary
The genre concept “topographical-historical poetry” is used within an Icelandic
context by Kristján Eldjárn in an introduction to his translation of the poem
“Nordlands trompet” by the Norwegian Petter Dass. Otherwise the concept is not
found at all in the various histories of Icelandic literature. This paper argues that
the poem by Einar Sigurðsson (1538-1626), “Vísnaflokkur um íslands gæði”, as
well as the poems by his grandson Bjarni Gissurarson (1621-1712), “Um landsins
góða kosti” and “Vísa um Mjóafjarðar kosti”, should be counted as falling within
this genre. After an elucidation of the characteristics of this genre in the Nordic
countries, especially in the poetry of Thomas Kingo and Petter Dass, there is a dis-
cussion of the relationship between different genres and how topographical-hi-
storical poetry is often subsumed under the wider concept of occasional poetry,
since the description of some district is often dedicated to members of the ruling
class of that district. Poems within this genre quite often rely on prose descriptions
and other written sources. Mention is made of such works that were written
around this time in defence of Iceland (since distortions were common in foreign
accounts). Two poems are adduced as belonging to the topographical genre while
usually grouped as polemical or satirical, namely “Árgali” by Ólafur Einarsson
(1573-1651) and “Um hrörnan íslands” by Ólafur Jónsson (1560-1627). With re-
gard to subject-matter, these poems are clearly related to the topographical genre,
60 Friese: tilvitnað rit, bls. 298: „Die Welt und das Weltbild des europáischen Nor-
dens werden getragen durch den ordo-Gedanken, der fest im Christentum
verwurzelt ist.“