Short poem #52059
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Short poems. Realistic philosophy of life. Texts by Sveinn Bergsveinsson, drawings by Halldór Pétursson.
Dr. Sveinn Bergsveinsson was born in Aratunga in Staðardalur in Steingrímsfjörður on October 23, 1907. His parents were Bergsveinn Sveinsson, a farmer there, and his wife, Sigríður G. Friðriksdóttir, a housewife.
So, immediately after birth, Sveinn was taken to his relatives who lived in Kirkjuból in the same region. There he grew up under the conditions that were common in those days and he worked most jobs that came his way to the best of his ability and conscientiousness.
Sveinn quickly learned to read and write, and his mind was drawn to a different direction than his uncles' farming. At the age of seventeen he went to sea at Steingrímsfjörður and also worked in Hnífsdalur at baiting and surgery. But at the age of 20 he left his hometown and headed to Akureyri and enrolled in high school there. To pay for his schooling, he worked during the summers on roads or on the herring farms in Siglufjörður. Sveinn studied 5th grade extramurally and then completed his matriculation examination from Akureyri in the spring of 1932. Then in the fall he enrolled in Icelandic studies at the University of Iceland. In 1936 he completed his cand. mag. degree there and went on to further studies in Berlin. In the middle of his intensive studies, World War II broke out and Svein was locked up in the German occupation zone. Those were difficult times, but he managed to defend his doctoral thesis, written in German, on Icelandic phonology, at the University of Copenhagen in 1941.
Sveinn fell ill with tuberculosis in 1944 and lay sick amidst the ruins of Berlin until he reached Copenhagen and later to Iceland and Vífilstaðir, where he lay sick for two years.
Sveinn received a grant to research the poetry of Stefán frá Hvítadalur, taught German at MR and Icelandic at Gaggó Vest, worked on the University Dictionary and on collecting new words. In 1953 he received a position at Humboldt University in East Berlin and remained in Germany until his death.
During the 35 years that Sveinn lived in East Berlin, he was a prolific writer. He published a highly acclaimed Icelandic-German dictionary, and wrote many academic articles on phonetics for foreign journals, as well as fiction, poetry, stories, short stories, and plays, some of which have been published in German and Danish.
Sveinn always had a hard time getting his writing published in Iceland. He felt that both the Icelandic National Broadcasting Corporation and book publishers were knocking on his door. This did not surprise Sveinn, because his poetry was neither intended as a commercial product nor an imitation of recognized poetry, but as a contribution from his own heart. Icelandic cultural experts did not appreciate this in his opinion. Sveinn therefore decided to try to publish some of his work at his own expense. This led to the publication of Stutt ljóð in 1983, which came about while he was working on Spegilinn, and the short story collection Eylönd in 1987.
Dr. Sveinn Bergsveinsson was born in Aratunga in Staðardalur in Steingrímsfjörður on October 23, 1907. His parents were Bergsveinn Sveinsson, a farmer there, and his wife, Sigríður G. Friðriksdóttir, a housewife.
So, immediately after birth, Sveinn was taken to his relatives who lived in Kirkjuból in the same region. There he grew up under the conditions that were common in those days and he worked most jobs that came his way to the best of his ability and conscientiousness.
Sveinn quickly learned to read and write, and his mind was drawn to a different direction than his uncles' farming. At the age of seventeen he went to sea at Steingrímsfjörður and also worked in Hnífsdalur at baiting and surgery. But at the age of 20 he left his hometown and headed to Akureyri and enrolled in high school there. To pay for his schooling, he worked during the summers on roads or on the herring farms in Siglufjörður. Sveinn studied 5th grade extramurally and then completed his matriculation examination from Akureyri in the spring of 1932. Then in the fall he enrolled in Icelandic studies at the University of Iceland. In 1936 he completed his cand. mag. degree there and went on to further studies in Berlin. In the middle of his intensive studies, World War II broke out and Svein was locked up in the German occupation zone. Those were difficult times, but he managed to defend his doctoral thesis, written in German, on Icelandic phonology, at the University of Copenhagen in 1941.
Sveinn fell ill with tuberculosis in 1944 and lay sick amidst the ruins of Berlin until he reached Copenhagen and later to Iceland and Vífilstaðir, where he lay sick for two years.
Sveinn received a grant to research the poetry of Stefán frá Hvítadalur, taught German at MR and Icelandic at Gaggó Vest, worked on the University Dictionary and on collecting new words. In 1953 he received a position at Humboldt University in East Berlin and remained in Germany until his death.
During the 35 years that Sveinn lived in East Berlin, he was a prolific writer. He published a highly acclaimed Icelandic-German dictionary, and wrote many academic articles on phonetics for foreign journals, as well as fiction, poetry, stories, short stories, and plays, some of which have been published in German and Danish.
Sveinn always had a hard time getting his writing published in Iceland. He felt that both the Icelandic National Broadcasting Corporation and book publishers were knocking on his door. This did not surprise Sveinn, because his poetry was neither intended as a commercial product nor an imitation of recognized poetry, but as a contribution from his own heart. Icelandic cultural experts did not appreciate this in his opinion. Sveinn therefore decided to try to publish some of his work at his own expense. This led to the publication of Stutt ljóð in 1983, which came about while he was working on Spegilinn, and the short story collection Eylönd in 1987.