Greinar (Vísindafélag Íslendinga) - 01.01.1943, Side 160

156
his poetry. We shall see later, in connection with the
Passion-Hymns, that the morning was the time best sui-
ted for his creative activity, and never does his purity of
thought and loftiness of spirit seem to have been greater
than during these very hours.
Hallgrímur Pétursson composes several of his great
poems on the occasion of certain incidents in his
life, and their number is certainly much greater than we
can tell, because only the poems remain without clearly
indicating the occasion or incident which caused them to
be written. It is said for instance that “Flærðarsenna”
was written because a certain man failed to keep a promise
made to Hallgrímur Pétursson. He was undoubtedly very
sensitive, as is often the case with poets, although he was
of a sanguine disposition. Then his mood gave birth to
his masterpieces and littera scripta manet, the poem re-
mained although the mood passed. One of his superb
hymns was written when the farmhouse at Saurbær was
burnt to the ground, whereby Hallgrímur Pétursson lost
what little he had. It is his “Befiehl du deine Wege” and
is in no way inferior to this famous hymn of Gerhardt’s.
He also composed a magnificent poem on his recovery of
health etc. Some of these poems no doubt belong to a later
period than that with which we are concerned at present,
although nothing definite can be said about it.
Hallgr. Pétursson’s poetry, like that of most other poets
from this period, is made up of yet another element: the
so-called satires, but these are poems in which this world
with all its faults and defects is described. Hallgrímur
Pétursson is too great an optimist and too good-natured
to produce much of this kind of poetry, but when he does,
it is supreme. He does not exaggerate, as others so often
were apt to. He knows that this world is transitory, as
everybody must admit. He knows that conceit and föppery
are unworthy of any man, that fickleness and untruthful-
ness are vices which are too rampant among us. He reali-
ses that virtue is not always given its due, that honours
do not always go to the deserving and talented. But as a