Trý kvæði eftir Jens Hendrik Djurhuus - Three ballads by )ens Hendrik Djurhuus

Abstract

Abstract

The article analyzes the historical ballads „Eirkur og Rollar" and „Rodmunds kvæði" by Jens Hendrik Djurhuus (1799-1892). The first ballad is a rewriting of the story about the Danish king Frode Fredegod in Saxo Crammaticus Cesto Danorum. The „Rodmunds kvæði" is rewriting an Old Norse „fornaldar" story. Djurhuus was long considered as an oral poet but as a manuscript from his hand was discovered in 1982 it became known that he had written at least one of his ballads himself and a part of another.

„Eirikur og Rollar,, (Eric and Rollar) is the complete ballad from Djurhuus' hand. It is about two young men who are sent to Denmark to spy for the Norwegian King Gøter. The ballad only uses the introduction of Saxo's story where the two Norwegians get the guardians of king Frode who is an adult at the time of the story put aside in order to let Frode reign himself. This can be seen as a comment on the historic situation of the Faroes which in 1815 were separated from Norway.

The ballad is even more interesting as one of the very few pieces of the Romantic literature in Faroese written in a period of time where the written language was Danish. It is probably composed sometimes after 1829 as a continuation of the oral ballads that were collected and written down during the 19th century. Djurhuus' ballad is the very first poem in Faroese that is introduced by a nature metaphor

The article also characterizes two more ballads of Djurhuus: „Rodmunds kvæði" that is incomplete from his hand and tells the story of the Old Norse story of Hrómundar saga Gripssonar. The last ballad mentioned in the article is „Gotuskeggjar" which attributed to Djurhuus and tells a story from another lcelandic story, Færeyingasaga.

Úrtak

Greinin viðger trý kvæði eftir Jens Hendrik Djurhuus, Sjóvarbóndan yngra: „Eirikur og Rollar", „Rodmunds kvæði" og „Gøtuskeggjar". Serliga kvæði hansara „Eirikur og Rollar" er áhugavert. Tað man vera fyrsta føroyska yrking, sum leggur fyri við eini lýsing av veðri, sum umfatar ein myndburð og skapar eina rammu um gongdina í kvæðinum. „Eirikur og Rollar" hevur evni úr danmarkarkrýniku Saxos um Fróða Friðargóða, „Rodmunds kvæði" hevur evni úr norrønari søgu um Hrómund Gripsson, og „Gøtuskeggjar" er úr Føroyingasøgu. Av hesum kvæðum eftir Jens Hendrik er „Eirikur og Rollar" tað mest nýskapandi í mun til onnur kvæði - tað er týðiliga romantiskt.