Why Birds Flock to Iceland The North Prepares for ... - Land og saga

Men who Made IcelandMatthías Jochumsson, poet and writer of Iceland’s national anthemThe West Fjörds have produced someof Iceland’s outstanding leaders indifferent fields, particularly in the 19 thcentury, at a time when many of theworld’s greatest names were born.Matthías Jochumsson (11 November,1835–18 December, 1920) was born on theSkógar farm on the south part of the WestFjörds to a poor farming family. He didnot begin school until a comparatively lateage when his talents were recognised andhe attended the Latin School in Reykjavik.During the Christmas holiday in 1861,he wrote a play called, ‘The Outlaws’which his fellow students performedthe following year. It became an instantsuccess, thereby distinguishing Matthíasas a major poet, which marked thebeginning of modern Icelandic drama.The play tells the story of the outlaw Skuggaand his companions and their conflicts withthe locals, and was inspired by the stories ofoutlaws living in the Icelandic wilderness. Ithas since been performed many times andMatthías, who had been planning to become abusinessman, discovered his love of languagesand literature that was to define his life.On graduating, he became a priest but,when he lost his second wife, it led to greatmental anguish and a reconsideration ofhis religious beliefs. He took a break fromthe priesthood for some years, becomingthe editor of the most popular weeklyIcelandic journal, Þjólðólfur.Although he returned to the Lutheranpriesthood, his was a liberal thinking incontrast to the harsh religious dogmatismof the day. He travelled extensively, being62 www.icelandictimes.comdrawn to the Romanticist and Reformmovements like the Unitarian church. Heread the works of Ralph Waldo Emersonand was said to be Iceland’s most ableproponent of the liberal religious position.He translated many works fromdifferent languages, including a number ofShakespeare’s works, but it was his prolificpoetry that made him popular. He wrotehis most famous poem for the 1,000 yearcelebration of Ingólfur Árnason’s pioneeringof the country. This was destined to becomeIceland’s national anthem.He was the first poet to be granted apension and the title of National Poet bythe Alþingi, the Icelandic governing bodyin 1900, when he retired as a clergyman.Through his religious poetry, hymnsand funeral elegies, along with his heroicnarrative poems, he continued to preachChristian faith and humanity.He moved to the northern town ofAkureyri, where he built a house in 1903,where he lived until his death. The houseis now open as a museum and study centre.–asfTour OperatorAuthorised byIcelandic Tourist Board