- Grímur Thomsen
Grímur Thomsen (
May 15 ,1820 –November 27 ,1896 ), Icelandic poet and editor, was born inBessastaðir in 1820. He was the son ofÞorgrímur Tómasson , agoldsmith . In 1837, he went to theUniversity of Copenhagen , where he studiedlaw andphilology , but he also became interested inphilosophy andaesthetics . He became an enthusiastic follower of the Pan-Scandinavian movement, although this was not generally favored by his countrymen.At the
University of Copenhagen , Thomsen wrote a dissertation onByron and received a masters 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 onByron . In 1848, Thomsen entered the Danish diplomatic service. In 1851, he returned toCopenhagen , 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 ) and a farmer in Bessastaðir. Thomsen died in 1896.Thomsen is considered one of Iceland's most important romantic era writers. His poems are unaffected and mostly free from
rhetoric , the besetting sin of Icelandic poets. His subjects are principally taken from Icelandic or Scandinavian history andmythology . He is unlike most of his contemporaries, both in style and thought: he is Icelandic to the core, and on that account is perhaps the modern Icelandic poet most appreciated by foreigners. 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. Grímur Thomsen was an admirer of Greek literature and translated a great number of poems from Greek into Icelandic.References
*1911
External links
* [http://encyclopedia.jrank.org/THE_TOO/THOMSEN_GRIMUR_182o_1896_.html Entry at Online Encyclopedia]
* [http://www.althingi.is/altext/thingm/1505200008.html Grímur Thomsen at althingi.is] is icon
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