Stephan G. Stephansson
Stephan G Stefansson
Selected translations from Andvökur
Homestead Restoration Committee
Size: 6"w x 9"h Softcover
112 Pages
From the Preface:
Farming was Stephansson’s vocation. Versifying was his avocation. He was a prolific writer by any standards but his productivity is all the more amazing when one realizes that the vast majority of his poetry was written late at night after his family had retired. It was not uncommon for Helga to find her husband the next morning dozing at his desk and, to let him sleep a little longer, she undertook the task of lighting the fires and making the coffee. Helga’s comprehension of and appreciation for the creative force which drove her husband played an unheralded, but vitally important, role in his success.
Stephansson’s remarkable poetic talents were recognized in 1908, when the first three volumes of Andvökur (“Wakeful Nights”) were published, winning him acclaims as the foremost Icelandic poet since the thirteenth century. It was his marriage of Icelandic poetic forms, style and language to the lyricism of the Romantic Movement which won him this commendation. Since childhood, Stephan G. had been fascinated by his native tongue and the power of its diction. His effective use of an extensive vocabulary muted those who criticized the difficult structure of his poems, his cold detachment from his subject matter, and the oblique conveyance of some of his messages. Stephansson usually followed traditional metre, alliteration, assonance and rhyme, but he also experimented occasionally with new metres of his own creation.
Stephansson wrote almost exclusively in Icelandic. Yet he was quite conversant, and on two known occasions, wrote verses in English.
The translated poems which appear in this book were chosen by the Stephan G. Stephansson Homestead Restoration Committee. The members of the Committee are: G.A. Arnason, Chairman, Edmonton; C. Marteinson, Calgary; J.H. Johannsson, Markerville; N. Campbell, Edmonton; B. Sigurdson, Calgary and R. Benediktson, the youngest child of Stephan G. Stephansson, Red Deer. Coordinator for the book was Jane Ross, Alberta Culture, Historic Sites Service.
