Einar Bragi (or Einar Bragi Sigurðsson) (7 April 1921, Eskifjördur - 26 March 2005,

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 ...

) 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 ...

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...

and publisher. He was a

modernist Modernism is both a philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new forms of art, philosophy, an ...

who founded and edited the journal '' Birtingur'', the leading forum for modernism in Iceland at the time. Einar Bragi published nine books of poetry between 1950 and 1980. He is known as one of the

Atom Poets The Atom Poets were a group of Icelandic modernist poets working in the wake of modernist poets like Steinn Steinarr and Jón úr Vör, the most prominent of whom were Einar Bragi, Hannes Sigfússon, Jón Óskar, Sigfús Daðason, Dagur Sigurða ...

. He also translated poetry into Icelandic.

Poetry

Einar Bragi's first two books were published while he was studying in Sweden; he returned to Iceland in 1953. His early writing was often polemic, and in the early stages of his career he felt the need to defend his own poetry and that of the other Atom Poets, arguing that modern poetry was intrinsically different from traditional poetry. Like other poets of his generation, he was influenced by

Tómas Guðmundsson Tómas Guðmundsson (6 January 1901 – 14 November 1983) was an Icelandic writer. He was known as Reykjavík's poet ''(Reykjavíkurskáldið, skáld Reykjavíkur)''. Tómas's parents were Steinunn Þorsteinsdóttir and Guðmundur Ögmundsson, liv ...

, and "even attempted to match Tómas Guðmundsson's polish in style." His subject matter includes love and nature, often joined together, and he is critical of greed and exploitation. His critique of social injustice, according to scholar of Icelandic literature Neijmann, is expressed through sarcasm or the use of imagery derived from nature, and is free from sermonizing. His forms are highly varied and he employed

alliteration Alliteration is the conspicuous repetition of initial consonant sounds of nearby words in a phrase, often used as a literary device. A familiar example is "Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers". Alliteration is used poetically in various ...

and

rhyme A rhyme is a repetition of similar sounds (usually, the exact same phonemes) in the final stressed syllables and any following syllables of two or more words. Most often, this kind of perfect rhyming is consciously used for a musical or aesthetic ...

, but also wrote

free verse Free verse is an open form of poetry, which in its modern form arose through the French ''vers libre'' form. It does not use consistent meter patterns, rhyme, or any musical pattern. It thus tends to follow the rhythm of natural speech. Definit ...

and

prose poetry Prose poetry is poetry written in prose form instead of verse form, while preserving poetic qualities such as heightened imagery, parataxis, and emotional effects. Characteristics Prose poetry is written as prose, without the line breaks associ ...

. Some of his longer poems employ the traditional Icelandic form of the

thula Thula ( ar, ثُلَاء, Thulāʾ) or Thila ( ar, ثِلَاء, Thilāʾ) is a town in west-central Yemen. It is located in the 'Amran Governorate. Thula is one of five towns in Yemen on the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List. Dating to the ...

. In the nine slim volumes of poetry he published, Einar Bragi reworks and revisits the same material, "so that in effect the poet was republishing his work over and over again." His prose poems were called "fine," with "a refined sense of poetic diction," and the ''Columbia dictionary of modern European literature'' likewise praises his "refined lyrical verse." French scholar

Régis Boyer Régis Boyer (25 June 1932 – 16 June 2017) was a French literary scholar, historian and translator, specialised on Nordic literature and the Viking Age. Biography Régis Boyer was born in Reims on 25 June 1932. At age 20 he earned a degree in lit ...

also commented on his admirably rhythmical prose. In addition to writing poetry, Einar Bragi also translated poetry "from virtually all European languages," including

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

, French and Scandinavian languages (

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

Sami Acronyms * SAMI, ''Synchronized Accessible Media Interchange'', a closed-captioning format developed by Microsoft * Saudi Arabian Military Industries, a government-owned defence company * South African Malaria Initiative, a virtual expertise net ...

, Greenlandic, etc.), and acquired a reputation as a translator.

Publishing ventures

With the Swiss-German artist

Dieter Roth Dieter Roth (April 21, 1930 – June 5, 1998) was a Swiss artist best known for his artist's books, editioned prints, sculptures, and works made of found materials, including rotting food stuffs. He was also known as Dieter Rot and Diter Rot. ...

, he founded the publishing company Forlag Editions, which published a number of important books by Roth. In 1953, he founded the journal '' Birtingur'', which became the "main forum for Icelandic modernists" and was published until 1968.

Bibliography

*''Eitt kvöld í júní'' (1950) *''Svanur á báru'' (1952) *''Gestaboð um nótt'' (1953) *''Regn í maí'' (1957) *''Hreintjarnir'' (1960, republished 1962) *''Í ljósmálinu'' (1970) *''Ljóð'' (1983) *''Ljós í augum dagsins'' (2000)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bragi, Einar 1921 births 2005 deaths

Einar Bragi Einar Bragi (or Einar Bragi Sigurðsson) (7 April 1921, Eskifjördur - 26 March 2005, Reykjavík) was an Icelandic poet and publisher. He was a modernist who founded and edited the journal '' Birtingur'', the leading forum for modernism in Icela ...

Modernist poets

20th-century translators