Grímur Thomsen

Þórir Óskarsson (University of Iceland)

Ed. by Ármann Jakobsson, University of Iceland
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.3.4: Icelandic Writing and Culture.
Vol. editors: Ármann Jakobsson (University of Iceland), Sven Hakon Rossel (Universitat Wien), Herbert Rowland (Purdue University), Jakob Stougaard-Nielsen (University College London)

Dates

Born 15 May 1820
Died 27 Nov 1896

Places

Active in Iceland

Activities

Primary

Poet

Resources

Thomsen's Works

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In his popular travel poem “Á Sprengisandi” (“On Sprengisandur”, 1877) the Icelandic poet and literary scholar Grímur Thomsen guides his readers – or singing companions – in three short verses into a world which is concurrently familiar and exotic, static and in motion. There he describes a long journey of horse riders on a mountain road which traverses the rugged and barren Icelandic central highlands, encountering well-known terrain; vast deserts, glacier-covered peaks, formidable lava fields, and deep gorges. And as the poet renders objective and realistic snapshots of this uninhabitable and terrifying landscape, he lets the reader inside the mind of one of the travelers who anxiously watches the sun set behind the mountains and dusk move over the glaciers, and there is…

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1976 words

Citation: Óskarsson, Þórir. "Grímur Thomsen". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 07 March 2023 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=15008, accessed 21 November 2024.]