Grímur Thomsen (May 15, 1820 – November 27, 1896),

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

ic poet and editor, was born in

Bessastaðir Bessastaðir (, ) is the official residence of the president of Iceland. It is situated in Álftanes ( Garðabær Municipality), about from the capital city, Reykjavík. History Bessastaðir was first settled in 1000. It became one of Snorri S ...

in 1820. He was the son of Þorgrímur Tómasson, a

goldsmith A goldsmith is a Metalworking, metalworker who specializes in working with gold and other precious metals. Modern goldsmiths mainly specialize in jewelry-making but historically, they have also made cutlery, silverware, platter (dishware), plat ...

. In 1837, he went to the

University of Copenhagen The University of Copenhagen (, KU) is a public university, public research university in Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1479, the University of Copenhagen is the second-oldest university in Scandinavia, after Uppsala University. ...

, where he studied

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...

and

philology Philology () is the study of language in Oral tradition, oral and writing, written historical sources. It is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics with strong ties to etymology. Philology is also de ...

, but he also became interested in

philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

and

aesthetics Aesthetics (also spelled esthetics) is the branch of philosophy concerned with the nature of beauty and taste (sociology), taste, which in a broad sense incorporates the philosophy of art.Slater, B. H.Aesthetics ''Internet Encyclopedia of Ph ...

. He became an enthusiastic follower of the Pan-Scandinavian movement, although this was not generally favored by his countrymen. At the

, Thomsen wrote a dissertation on

Byron George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824) was an English poet. He is one of the major figures of the Romantic movement, and is regarded as being among the greatest poets of the United Kingdom. Among his best-kno ...

and received a master's degree. Because of the quality of his written dissertation, he received a scholarship to travel around Europe for two years. Eventually he would be awarded a doctoral degree for his written dissertation on

. In 1848, Thomsen entered the Danish diplomatic service. In 1851, he returned to

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

, where he was appointed chief of the ministry of foreign affairs. He retired in 1866 and returned to Iceland. In Iceland, he became a member of parliament (

Alþing The (; ), anglicised as Althingi or Althing, is the supreme national parliament of Iceland. It is the oldest surviving parliament in the world. The Althing was founded in 930 at (' thing fields' or 'assembly fields'), about east of what la ...

) and a farmer in Bessastaðir. Thomsen died in 1896. Thomsen is considered one of Iceland's most important romantic era writers. In addition to being a poet (two separate collections, ''Reykjavik'', 1880, and ''Copenhagen'', 1895) he is also the author of numerous critical and historical essays in Icelandic and Danish. Thomsen was an admirer of Greek literature and translated a great number of poems from Greek into Icelandic.

Notes

References

External links

*
Grímur Thomsen at althingi.is
1820 births 1896 deaths Grimur Thomsen Grimur Thomsen Grimur Thomsen 19th-century male writers {{Iceland-writer-stub