Le Nord : revue internationale des Pays de Nord - 01.06.1942, Side 59

ICELANDIC EMIGRATION TO AMERICA
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first in 'W’isconsin, then in North Dakota, and finally, in 1889,
in Alberta, where he lived at Markerville till his death. Though
he thus was a settler under pioneer conditions three times, and
though he had to work hard with his hands all his life to make
both ends meet, his indefatigable energy enabled him to acquire
a fund of solid information by self-study — for throughout his
life he never went to school or received any other kind of instruc-
tion. During his youth in Iceland he had, in spite of poverty
and hard work, assimilated a thorough knowledge of the national
literature, and this mental ballast — practically the only posses-
sion he brought with him when he left home — came to lend
to his poetry its distinctive note. His poetry is pervaded by a
deep and sincere love of the country of his birth, its language,
and its history. His life in the New World, and the multiform
impressions he received there, have contributed to its subject-
matter, but at bottom it is Icelandic, even when he writes about
American scenery and American conditions of life. He takes his
subjects from many spheres: from the past and present of Ice-
land, from the Icelandic settlements overseas, and from the
social and political controversies of his own time. Politically,
he was a Radical, and more closely akin to the Socialists than
to any of the other political parties, but he never joined any of
them. Party discipline was indeed hardly compatible with his
deep-rooted scepticism and the independent and aristocratic cast
of his mind. He was never afraid of giving expression to views
which went against the current of public opinion, as e. g. in the
poems written during the Great War, in which he fiercely de-
nounced war and warlike enthusiasm. These poems got him many
opponents, even among his friends, many of whom could not
understand the detached spirit in which he regarded the events of
the time. The six volumes of his poems constitute the proudest
monument imaginable, both to the emigrants themselves, and to
the civilization which could create such a national work of art
among alien surroundings.
In 1917 Stephan G. Stephansson was invited to visit Iceland
by various societies, which paid the expenses of the journey. He
was feted all over the country, and the Althing voted him a
gift of honour. After his death, his letters and posthumous
writings were published in Iceland. His career well accorded
with the philosophy which he taught: he gave the labour of his
Le Nord, 1942, 1
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