Lögberg-Heimskringla - 01.04.2019, Síða 5

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Lögberg-Heimskringla • 1. apríl 2019 • 5
The work of poet Kristján
Jónsson fjallaskáld is
familiar to Icelanders
everywhere through the lyrics
of the popular folksong “Nú er
frost á Fróni,” which is sung by
choirs and partygoers alike. A
rather playful tongue-twister, it
is more buoyant than most of his
poems and its author emerged as
one of Iceland’s most beloved
poets, although he was also one
of the shortest lived.
Kristján was born at
Krossdalur, not far from
Ásbyrgi, on June 13, 1842. His
father, the local hreppstjóri
(reeve) who died when Kristján
was only five years old, was
described as “a farmer of very
small means but highly gifted.”
His mother remarried and the
young boy was ill treated by his
stepfather. He was educated at
home and self-taught in Danish,
English, German, and Swedish.
At 12, he went to live with
relatives and by the time he
was 14, he was working as a
farm labourer. He acquired
the nickname fjallaskáld
(mountain poet) while working
at Hólsfjöll. At 22, he caught a
break and entered the Learned
School in Reykjavík, thanks
to the generosity of several
well-off admirers of his poetry.
Among his classmates were
Jón Bjarnason, the Lutheran
minister and community
leader in Winnipeg, Valdimar
Briem, the distinguished poet
and minister in the Church of
Iceland, and Jón Ólafsson, the
noteworthy editor and member
of Alþingi. In Reykjavík, he
also made the acquaintance of
Matthías Jochumsson, who had
graduated from the Learned
School a year before he arrived.
He spent the better part of four
years at the school but he didn’t
graduate. In the spring of 1868,
he left the school and took a
position as a private tutor at
Vopnafjörður where he worked
until his untimely death the
following April.
“Kristján Jónsson’s poetry
and outlook upon life can be
fully understood and appreciated
only in the light of his early
experiences,” according to
Richard Beck. “Uncommonly
gifted, he grew up in poverty
and under circumstances most
adverse to the development of
his genius; his desire for learning
was thwarted; he was compelled
to do work little to his liking
and alien to his temperament;
and his peculiarities, resulting
directly from his dreamy, poetic
nature, were the butt of ridicule.
Naturally, his sensitive soul was
deeply hurt. His spirit was one of
melancholy and hopelessness,
and a disappointment in love
aggravated that state of mind.
He became addicted to drink,
which both affected his attitude
and shortened his life.”
One of his poems,
“Dettifoss,” offered a magnificent
description of the powerful
waterfall in northeastern Iceland,
“which he was the first to put on
the literary map,” in the view of
Stefán Einarsson. Some have
argued that it was Kristján’s
evocative poem, as much as the
waterfall itself, that first drew
public attention to this popular
tourist destination.
“O thou of rolling waters
fairest,
Terribly, marvellously fair,
Resistless in thy might thou
farest,
Through rocky solitudes
and bare;
Things change, for joy’s
bright fairy dower
Forsakes the woeful heart
of flame;
Unbroken bides thy fearful
power;
Thou rollest onward just the
same.”
Influenced by Lord Byron,
Kristján’s poems reflected
a “world-weariness and
melancholy” that resonated
with the experiences of
common Icelanders who daily
toiled in the harsh conditions
of the difficult years before
the emigration began. Indeed,
according to Beck, Kristján’s
“negative view of life, his
melancholy and pessimism,
doubtless largely accounted for
the great vogue that his poems
enjoyed for a time.”
After leaving the Learned
School, Kristján was hired by
Gustav Iversen, the Danish
merchant at Vopnafjörður, as a
private tutor for his children.
The poet lived in a small room
in the warehouse where oil, tar,
and other barrelled goods were
stored – perhaps the brennivín,
too – and it is said that he died
alone in his room on April 9,
1869, after a party celebrating
the birthday of King Christian
IX.
Following his death,
Kristján’s collected poems,
Ljóðmæli, were published
by his junior classmate,
Jón Ólafsson, in 1872. This
collection has been republished
several times since, including
the second edition, which
was edited and introduced
by Kristján’s nephew, Rev.
Björn B. Jónsson, a Lutheran
minister in the United States
and Canada.
PHOTO: STEFAN JONASSON
Left: Kristján Jónsson fjallaskáld. Right: Kornhúsið (The Granary) is the house
where Kristján lived and died in Vopnafjörður. It is in now located at the
Árbær Open Air Museum in Reykjavík.
KRISTJÁN JÓNSSON FJALLASKÁLD
iiiiinfo@icelandicfestival.com
www.icelandicfestival.com
ÍSLEN
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ST 2 – 5, 2019!
The Icelandic Festival of Manitoba invites you to submit previously unpublished poetry
and/or a short story for our 2019 Poetry and Prose Contest.
Prize entries will be awarded and successful entries will be published in the 2019 festival
program and/or on the festival website.
Winners and honourable mentions may also be contacted with an opportunity to share
their writing at the Sunday Afternoon Music and Poetry in the Park.
POETRY AND PROSE CONTEST
Poetry
Junior (12 and under) 1st Place $50
Intermediate (13-18) 1st Place $75
Open 1st Place $125
Short Story
Junior (12 and under) 1st Place $50
Intermediate (13-18) 1st Place $75
Open 1st Place $125
POETRY AND PROSE GUIDELINES:
• You do not need to be of Icelandic descent to submit an entry however material refl ecting
Icelandic culture and interests will be given preference, as will entries that refl ect our 2019
festival theme “Take a Viking Voyage”.
• Selected winners will not be eligible for entry to compete for the following 3 years, although a
short story winner may compete in poetry or vice versa.
• Poetry will have a maximum of 3 entries per person.
• Short Stories; a maximum of 1 per person and a maximum of 1200 words.
• No Entry Fee.
• Names will be masked for judging.
JUDGE
Elin Thordarson has a Master’s degree from the University of Manitoba’s Icelandic Department.
She is writer and translator working in the children’s department in Winnipeg’s largest public library.

Please send your material by June 3rd, 2019
with your complete contact information to:
ed@icelandicfestival.com
Entries will not be returned
The Grave
Where is on earth a safe retreat,
A rest from care and pain?
Where ne’er a grieving heath doth beat
And peace serene doth reign?
Is it the deep and silent grave
Where strife and sorrows cease;
Beyond life’s weary ocean wave
A port of rest and peace.
You cool the passions’ fiery blaze
And quench the flame of hate;
You hush the yearning lover’s lays
And seal the book of fate.
The excerpt from “Dettifoss” was translated by Runólfur
Fjeldsted and “The Grave,” by Kristján Jónsson fjallaskáld,
was translated by Guðmundur J. Gíslason.