Studia Islandica - 01.06.1957, Blaðsíða 11

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once to the North, reaching Bægisá in November. His
arrival was quiet and unostentatious, in fact, pathetic.
He was poorly dressed and travelled alone, on foot.1)
Who would have surmised that here journeyed the poet
laureate of his generation, one who was destined to en-
rich Icelandic literature as only few have done, past and
present?
Þorláksson desired to have his wife, Margrét Boga-
dóttir, whom he had married some years before, join
him at Bægisá, but she preferred to remain in their former
home, not wishing to leave comfortable circumstances for
the uncertainty and the meager prospects of her hus-
band’s new parish, fearing also that their domestic trou-
bles would not diminish under more straightened condi-
tions. Therefore, although no formal seperation took
place, she resided at their former home until her death
in 1808.2)
Although Þorláksson’s arrival at Bægisá was made
under inauspicious circumstances, it marked the beginn-
ing of the most important period in his life. During his
stay there, which lasted until his death, he gained the
friendship of many excellent and learned men, who not
oniy aided him financially, but, what is much more im-
portant, encouraged him to literary pursuits of the
highest order. These years at Bægisá saw him undertake
and successfully complete the gigantic labors of trans-
lating into Icelandic no less than three literary master-
pieces, Pope’s Essay on Man, Milton’s Paradise Lost, and
Klopstock’s Messias, besides writing and translating a
number of shorter poems — a task it seems quite suf-
ficient for one who could devote all his time to literary
work. Þorláksson had to meet many other demands. Al-
though he probably did not take much of a part in public
affairs, he must have devoted much time, first to his
1) Ljóöabók, II, pp. 531-533.
2) Jón Þorláksson, Dánarminning, p. 17 (footnote).