Greinar (Vísindafélag Íslendinga) - 01.01.1943, Page 156

152
but it is rather improbable. These “rímur” comprise three
cycles: On Peter with the keys and Magellona based on
a French romance, “Pierre de Province”, from the middle
of the 15th century, which became very popular; on ‘Króka-
refur’, modelled on an Icelandic story; and lastly the
latter part of Flores and Leo, the first part having been
composed by another poet. This phase of Hallgrímur
Pétursson’s poetry will not be discussed at any length
here. His “rímur” are well composed, but artistically
hardly superior to various other “rímur”.
Yet it may be mentioned that their metre is often
masterly executed. He ventured upon a thing nobody had
done before, he composed a complete “ríma” in the metre
sléttubönd (palindrome), in which the words are so ar-
ranged that each stanza can be read backward as well as
forward, which as goes without saying, is a great metrical
feat.
Besides the “rímur”, Hallgrímur Pétursson, no doubt,
tried his hand at other kinds of poetry, of which nothing
is known with certainty. He no doubt wrote some hymns
during this period, for he was always strongly religious
and composed a beautiful hymn in 1637, when he left for
Iceland, or even as early as 1632. But the “rímur” repre-
sent the first phase of his poetical career, being as men-
tioned above an excellent school in the handling of metre
and treatment of subject matter. Preceding every “ríma”
is a love song, which as a rule is 'beautiful and well execu-
ted, and the fact that he chooses an Icelandic story for his
theme, shows his interest in Icelandic lore, an interest
which never deserted him, as will be shown later.
V.
In 1644 Pétursson’s breach of chastity had receded
so far into oblivion that the stern bishop Brynjólfur
Sveinsson could afford to relent towards his old ward.
The living of Hvalsnes, where Hallgrímur Pétursson lived,
was then vacant. It was a meagre living and it was diffi-