The Icelandic Canadian - 01.06.1967, Page 75

THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
derives its strength from a (barren
patch of land where other trees had
not dared to take root. This poem with
all its striking images reflects the
spiritual development of the poet
himself.
In this poem one discerns two kinds
of conditions which constitute a
threat to human progress. In the first
instacne. the meagre soil and the un-
attractive environment symbolize a
scarcity of intellectual resources.
Secondly, the unfriendly appearance
of the yellow hill which is on one side
of the attractive spruce tree represents
the ever present threat of bourgeois
arrogance. But in spite of these op-
posing forces, the spruce tree grows so
tall that its underbrush has great dif-
ficulties in even catching a glimpse
of its top.
Such was our poet’s faith in his
fellow men that he believed that the
individual could, on his own resources,
overcome any restrictions which either
social circumstances or other environ-
mental conditions may create.
The foregoing discussion reveals
that in many of his poems Stephan G.
Step'hansson was deeply concerned
with the attainments of individual hu-
man beings. Nonetheless, the same
poems clearly indicate that hard work
alone is not of great significance in
this regard, unless it is motivated by an
unselfish desire to contribute to the
welfare of others. This view is clearly
expounded in the poem BraeSrabyti
(I, 576-581) which contains an account
of two brothers who fell heir to a bar-
ren and deteriorated farm. Both bro-
thers became keenly interested in in-
creasing the yield of their property,
hut their interest had different moti-
vations. In his search for hidden trea-
sures in the ground, one brother fell
victim to greed and perished, while
/ O
the other brother through unselfish
labour managed to reverse a long pre-
vailing trend towards deterioration
and thus improve his part of the land
for the use of future generations.
VI
As a poet who wrote all his works in
Icelandic, Stephansson often reflected
upon his own cultural heritage. This
is the main theme of Kolbeinslag (The
Lay of Kolbeinn, from 1914, III, 73-
98), a long poem based on folk tales
about an Icelandic farmer-poet iby the
name of Kolbeinn.
In Kolbeinslag the poet equates the
Icelandic language and the literary
traditions of Iceland with the very
soul of the Icelandic people, a con-
siderable part of which is contained
in the literary compositions of Iceland-
ic farmer-poets. The history of Iceland
shows that for long periods the soul
of the nation was indeed beset with
disaster. Therefore, it has always been
a legitimate question to ask just what
it was that kept the Icelanders alive
down through the centuries; this is the
question put forth in Kolbeinslag.
In this poem the powers of evil are
represented by Satan who has dedi-
cated himself to the task of bringing
about the ruin of all civilization in
Iceland. Satan is fully aware that in
order to achieve this end he must be-
gin by destroying the Icelandic lan-
guage, and since the farmer-poets have
contributed much to the preservation
of this language, it is only logical for
Satan to dispose of them first. It is
with this intention that Satan persu-
ades Kolbeinn, the representative of
the farmer-poets, to pledge his own
soul in a verse-making contest in which
the two of them engage.
Both contestants show great skill in