''Aldarháttur'' ('signs of the times') is a seventeenth-century Icelandic poem by the famous poet and churchman

Hallgrímur Pétursson Hallgrímur Pétursson (1614 – 27 October 1674) was an Icelandic poet and a minister at Hvalsneskirkja and Saurbær in Hvalfjörður. Being one of the most prominent Icelandic poets, the Hallgrímskirkja in Reykjavík and the Hallgrímskirkja ...

. It is one of the first poetic examples of Icelanders regarding their medieval past as a

golden age The term Golden Age comes from Greek mythology, particularly the ''Works and Days'' of Hesiod, and is part of the description of temporal decline of the state of peoples through five Ages of Man, Ages, Gold being the first and the one during wh ...

Origin

The poem was almost certainly composed in 1663, inspired by the Icelanders officially accepting the King of Denmark as their absolute monarch in 1662.Margrét Eggertsdóttir, 'From Reformation to Enlightenment', trans. by Joe Allard, in ''A History of Icelandic Literature'', ed. by Daisy Nejmann, Histories of Scandinavian Literature, 5 (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2006), pp. 174-250 (at p. 211).

Form

The poem is hexametrical, written in leonine metre. It is the first example of the adaptation of this metre to Icelandic poetry, showing the influence of early modern

humanism Humanism is a philosophy, philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential, and Agency (philosophy), agency of human beings, whom it considers the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry. The me ...

in Iceland. However, it also draws on the language of medieval Icelandic

skaldic verse A skald, or skáld (Old Norse: ; , meaning "poet"), is one of the often named poets who composed skaldic poetry, one of the two kinds of Old Norse poetry in alliterative verse, the other being Eddic poetry. Skaldic poems were traditionally compo ...

. Thus the poem combines Classical and indigenous traditions in a striking way.

Content

The poem is a polemic which compares the Iceland of Hallgrímur's own time with the

Icelandic commonwealth The Icelandic Commonwealth, also known as the Icelandic Free State, was the political unit existing in Iceland between the establishment of the Althing () in 930 and the pledge of fealty to the Norwegian king with the Old Covenant in 1262. W ...

(c. 930-1262, before Iceland came under foreign rule). :: In those days people were valiant, appreciated their freedom more than gold, and did not subit to oppression by threat. Here, Iceland's medieval past is for the first time glamorized in Icelandic poetry. The poet criticizes his own era for laziness, lack of solidarity, cowardice, and an unjust legal system.

Influence

The poem is the stated model for Bjarki Karlsson's 2013 ''heimsósómakvæði'' (lament on the state of the world), 'Þúsaldarháttur'.Helga Birgisdóttir, 'Ég er að fíla þessa bók: Frumlega ófrumleg ljóðabók', ''spássían'', 11 October 2013, http://www.spassian.is/greinar/2013/10/eg-er-ad-fila-thessa-bok-frumlega-ofrumleg-ljodabok/ .

Editions

*Séra Hallgrímur Pétursson, ''Hallgrímsljóð: Sálmar og kvæði'', ed. by Freysteinn Gunnarsson (Reykjavík: Leiftur, 1944), pp. 263–72

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aldarhattur Icelandic literature Icelandic poetry Nordic literature Poems