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Stephan G. Stephansson
Icelandic poet and farmer (1853–1927) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Stephan G. Stephansson (born Stefán Guðmundur Guðmundsson; October 3, 1853 – August 10, 1927), was a Western Icelander, poet, and farmer who was Dubbed "the poet of the Rocky Mountains."[1] His influence on English poetry is however limited, as he wrote almost exclusively in his native Icelandic.[2]
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Early life
He was born in Skagafjörður, Iceland but immigrated to Wisconsin, United States in 1873, at age 19. In 1889 he moved to Markerville, Red Deer County, Alberta, Canada. He did not see Iceland again until 1917, when he was 64 years old.
Stephan was self-educated and worked hard all his life. He wrote after work, and, being an insomniac, he often wrote till dawn. He was under the influence of the American writer Ralph Waldo Emerson and they shared the same beliefs in many matters, including equal rights for men and women. Stephan wrote only in Icelandic and had great influence in his home country.
His poems were published in a six volume book called "Andvökur" (Wakeful Nights).
His letters and essays were published in four volumes, and even if nothing of his poetry had survived, those would have been enough to single him out as one of Iceland's foremost men of letters.[citation needed]
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Death and Legacy
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On 16 December 1926, Stephansson suffered a severe stroke.[3] Although advised by doctors to be moved to a nearby hospital, Stephansson refused. He struggled greatly with writing, although, with assistance from Helga and his daughter Rósa, he regained the ability to write and continued to produce poetry.[4] Despite this recovery, his health worsened throughout the spring of 1927 and on 9 August 1927, he suffered another stroke, passing away in the early morning of 10 August.[5]
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His homestead near Markerville, Stephansson House, is an Alberta Provincial Historic Site.[6] It has been restored to 1927 condition and is open to the public from May 17 until September 1.[7]
Several monuments have been erected in Stephansson's honour. The first was constructed on his grave near Markerville and was unveiled on 19 July 1936. This was followed by a more substantial cenotaph constructed in Markerville in September 1950 by the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of the Government of Alberta in recognition of Stephansson's poetic influence.[8][9] In 1937, he was described as "the greatest poet of the western world" by literary critic F. Stanton Crawley.[10]
On 10 August 1953, Stephansson's daughter Rosa Siglaug Benediktson and the Government of Iceland opened a monument in Vatnsskarð Pass near Varmahlíð in northern Iceland dedicated to Stephansson.[11] A small monument to Stephansson can also be found at his homestead site near Gardar.
The Stephan G. Stephansson Award for Poetry is named in his honour and awarded annually by the Writers Guild of Alberta.[12]
In 1984 folk artist Richard White released an album of Stephansson's poems that were translated and sung in English, set to original music called Sun Over Darkness Prevail.[13]
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See also
References
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