Lögberg-Heimskringla - 15.03.2019, Side 5

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Lögberg-Heimskringla • 15. mars 2019 • 5
Stefan Jonasson
“Few Icelandic poets, past
or present, have equaled
him in mastery of delicate
form and melodious language,”
declared Richard Beck in his
assessment of Guðmundur
Guðmundsson skólaskáld. “He
readily invented new verse
forms to suit his mood and
theme and often succeeded
admirably.”
Guðmundur Guðmundsson
was born on September 5,
1874, at Hrólfsstaðahellir in
Rangárvallasýsla in South
Iceland, not far from Mount
Hekla. He was the son of
Guðmundur Guðmundsson and
his wife, Guðrún Jónsdóttir,
who came from Þorkelsgerði
in Selvogur, along the
southwestern coast. Although
his parents were poor, they
valued literary pursuits and his
father had a reputation as a poet
in his own right. They nurtured
Guðmundur’s talents, despite
their humble means, and the
boy was a voracious reader,
especially fiction and poetry.
He came to the attention of
Rev. Valdimar Briem, who
encouraged his studies.
With the support of some
generous people who saw his
potential, Guðmundur was
enabled to enter the Learned
School in Reykjavík in 1890
and he graduated from the
school with top grades in
1897. The physical energy he
may have lacked was more
than made up for with his
literary agility. He quickly
distinguished himself for the
quality of his writing, earning
the nickname skólaskáld
(school poet), which stayed
with him throughout his
days. In 1898, he earned
his candidatus philosophiæ
degree, or bachelor of
philosophy, and began
studying medicine at the
Reykjavík Medical College,
but he didn’t complete his
studies. Instead, he turned
his attention to journalism,
teaching, and poetry.
In Reykjavík, Guðmundur
pursued work as a journalist.
Around the turn of the century,
he attracted attention for his
Alþingis rímur, created along
with Valdimar Ásmundsson,
which employed the traditional
poetic form of rímur to offer
a satirical commentary on
the proceedings of Alþingi,
Iceland’s parliament. Then,
after a short time in Akureyri,
he moved to Ísafjörður where
he worked as a journalist and
librarian from 1906 until he
moved back to Reykjavík.
Although only one of his
books appeared during the
Ísafjörður years, perhaps
owing to the demands of his
paid employment and growing
family, it was nevertheless the
period during which some of
his finest poems were written
and he laid the groundwork
for the prodigious volume of
poetry he published during the
last half dozen years of his life.
While living in Ísafjörður,
Guðmundur met Ólína
Þorsteinsdóttir and they
married on June 8, 1908. They
had three daughters together:
Hjördís, Steingerður, and
Droplaug.
By 1913, Guðmundur was
back in Reykjavík, where he
spent the remainder of his
short life. Tragically, he died
on March 19, 1919, during
the flu epidemic that gripped
Iceland and much of the rest of
the world over the winter that
followed the end of the Great
War.
“He was sensitive soul,”
according to Richard Beck,
“deeply religious in nature and
with strong mystic leanings
… His early prose efforts are
deliberately emotional and
lyrical in spirit, and in his later
poems as well those strains
run strong.” However, Beck
was also critical of his work,
saying, “he lacked originality
and forcefulness.” In fairness,
though, Beck seems to have
levelled similar criticisms
at just about every Icelandic
poet of the era. Nevertheless,
he applauded Guðmundur’s
nature poems, “describing
nature in her quieter moods
– dreamy evenings and
starlit nights, when stillness
reigns on land and sea” and
also his memorial poems,
which captured “the spirit of
sorrow and sense of loss” and
memorialized the noteworthy
Icelandic political and cultural
leaders who died during the
poet’s years as a journalist and
editor.
In the words of Stefán
Einarsson, Guðmundur was
“the greatest songbird among
the Icelandic poets and the
greatest master of the lyrical
form” and the “musical quality
of his verse” is witnessed in
the very names given to his
volumes of verse.
“Among his themes love
looms large,” observed Stefán,
“not only the saddened or
tragic love of youth but also
the love of his wife, home,
and hearth. Not a few of these
poems, though highly lyrical,
were cast in a narrative or
fable form; some of them
celebrated heroes and heroines
from Njála. In nature poetry
he continued the line of Jónas
Hallgrímsson, but nature and
love elements were often
combined.”
Rev. Þórhallur Bjarnarson,
Bishop of Iceland from 1908
to 1916, was so taken by
Guðmundur’s book, Friður
á jörðu (Peace on Earth), he
exclaimed the poet should
receive the Nobel Peace Prize
for it. Spiritual themes flowed
through Guðmundur’s work,
although, as a Theosophist, his
spiritual views were somewhat
unconventional. Beyond
Friður á jörðu, Guðmundur’s
most familiar and enduring
poem is Kirkjuhvoll (Church
Hill), which was set to music
by Árni Þorsteinsson.
In addition to his own
work, Guðmundur translated
the poetry and prose of several
foreign writers into Icelandic.
It is generally agreed that
his translation of Alfred,
Lord Tennyson’s Locksley
Hall stands out as his finest
accomplishment in this regard.
Unlike most translators, who
tended to focus on writers of a
single foreign language, he cast
a broad net for his work and so
his translations included works
from poets writing in English,
Hungarian, and various Slavic
and Romance languages.
Guðmundur published
seven volumes of poems
during his lifetime: Ljóðmæli
(Poems), 1900; Guðbjörg
í Dal (Guðbjörg at Dalur),
1902; Strengleikar (Melodies),
1903; Gígjan (The Fiddle),
1906; Friður á jörðu (Peace
on Earth), 1911; Ljósaskifti
(Twilight), 1913; and Ljóð
og kvæði (Songs and Poems),
1917. Following his death, a
collection of his translations,
Erlend ljóð (Foreign Poems),
was published in 1924.
Guðmundur’s enduring
reputation as a poet is
demonstrated by the three-
volume anthology of his
poetry, Ljóðasafn, which was
published in 1934.
A memorial to Guðmundur
was erected at Laugalandsskóli
í Holtum, near Hella, in 1991.
All three of his daughters were
in attendance and his middle
daughter, Steingerður, an
acclaimed actress, unveiled
the monument.
Na e
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Our Family Album 1919-2019
Guðmundur Guðmundsson skólaskáld
Guðmundur as a young man
IMAGE: GARDUR.IS
Church Hill (Kirkjuhvoll)
An excerpt
My grandmother thus cautioned me – on Sundays never go
In play to yonder Church Hill, when the sun is sinking low.
You might disturb the service where the elves at vespers pray.
Their church is up in yonder knoll and in my youthful day
I seemed to hear the fairy hymns floating out at sunset.
My grandmother believed in this and I would never doubt
Her tales of yonder Church Hill – or how they came about.
I listened in my childlike faith with mingled awe and fear,
Nor ever ventured there in play as eventide drew near.
I seemed to hear the elfin bells call to church at sunset.
But with my years temptations gained – I now became possessed
With longing to encounter what I had dimly guessed.
Then, on a summer Sabbath eve, beneath the sunset’s glow
I took the old forbidden path with measured step and slow.
Within the knoll in unison chimed the bells at sunset.
I stood transfixed upon the spot and gazed in silent awe,
When lo – a door was opened and through the cliff I saw
Such radiance incomparable and dazzling in its might –
A house of God thrown open to lure – but not invite.
Within the knoll in unison chimed the bells at sunset.
– Guðmundur Guðmundsson, translated by Jakobina Johnson
Guðmundur Guðmundsson
skólaskáld