Þorsteinn Erlingsson (1858–1914) was an

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

ic poet. He graduated from

Menntaskólinn í Reykjavík Menntaskólinn í Reykjavík (MR; official name in English: Reykjavik Junior College) is a junior college in Iceland. It is located in Reykjavík. The school traces its origin to 1056, when a school was established in Skálholt, and it remains o ...

in 1883 and went to

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

to study law. He never finished law school but during his time in Copenhagen his poems became known in Iceland. He returned to his home country in 1895 and died of

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severity ...

Reykjavík Reykjavík ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland, on the southern shore of Faxaflói bay. Its latitude is 64°08' N, making it the world's northernmost capital of a sovereign state. With a po ...

in 1914. Þorsteinn was an atheist and a

socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...

. While much of his poetry attacked the ruling classes and the church he also composed popular ditties and poems on nature reminiscent of

romanticism Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century, and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate ...

. Sometimes, as in his poem ''Sólskríkjan'', the two themes are intertwined. Other well-known poems include: *''Arfurinn'' - an attack on Iceland's Danish "oppressors". *''Í Hlíðarendakoti'' - fond memories of a childhood home *''Rask'' - in memory of

Rasmus Christian Rask Rasmus Kristian Rask (; born Rasmus Christian Nielsen Rasch; 22 November 1787 – 14 November 1832) was a Danish linguist and philologist. He wrote several grammars and worked on comparative phonology and morphology. Rask traveled extensively to ...

*''Snati og Óli'' - a ditty on a boy and his dog *''Þið munið hann Jörund'' - An extremely sarcastic take on the coup in 1809. *''Við fossinn'' - Another sarcastic poem, directed against industrialization. *''Örlög guðanna'' - a lament for the pagan gods Þorsteinn's volume of poetry, ''Þyrnar'' ("Thorns"), was first published in 1897 although many of the poems had been published before individually.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Erlingsson, Thorsteinn 1858 births 1914 deaths Thorsteinn Erlingsson Thorsteinn Erlingsson Thorsteinn Erlingsson Icelandic atheists Icelandic socialists Deaths from pneumonia in Iceland