Janus Djurhuus

Janus Djurhuus, national poet of the Faroe Islands

Janus Djurhuus (actually Jens Hendrik Oliver Djurhuus ; born February 26, 1881 in Tórshavn , Faroe Islands , †  August 31, 1948 ibid), trained lawyer , was the first Faroese poet to write modern and lyrical poetry .

life and work

Djurhuus was born in 1881. His parents are Óla Jákup Djurhuus (1832–1909) and Else Marie (née Poulsen from Hósvík , 1847–1897). His younger brother Hans Andreas was born about two and a half years later and was also an important poet in the Faroe Islands - albeit very different ( see there ). Both were the great-grandchildren of the Faroese poet pioneer Jens Christian Djurhuus (1773-1853).

Janus Djurhuus received his linguistic baptism , as he used to call it, in secondary school when he heard the poem Nú er tann stundin komin til handa ("Now the hour has come to act") by Jóannes Patursson , as a classmate ( the later well-known country dean, poet and Bible translator Jákup Dahl ) lectured. This poem was the battle hymn of the Christmas meeting in 1888 .

As a student of Classical Philology , Janus Djurhuus became familiar with ancient Greek and Latin literature, which permeated his own poetry. Linguistically, however, it is firmly rooted in Norse literature and traditional ballad poetry .

"Heimferð Nólsoyar Pálls " - Djurhuus' poetic homage to the national hero of the Faroe Islands. Postage stamp from 2004

Janus Djurhuus was a romantic poet. Through him we hear the echo of some of the greatest European poets, whose works he has translated congenially into Faroese .

Many of his poems are shaped by heroic power and enormous natural narratives. In other poems he is worried and disappointed about his compatriots and his homeland, which he scourges but never seems to have finished with.

Janus' debut was in 1901, and in 1914 he published his first collection of poems, Yrkingar , the first of its kind in the Faroe Islands. Four more such collections were to follow. One of his most outstanding works was the translation of Homer's Iliad into Faroese.

The historian John F. West reports in his standard work Faroe. The Emergence of a Nation from the following anecdote:

It is said that one day when a Greek steamer arrived in Tórshavn, Janus went on board and sent the cabin boy for the captain. When he came on deck, Janus began his lecture on The Odyssey - by heart and in ancient Greek. The captain, himself classically educated, paused for a moment ... and agreed.

The poetry and translation activities of Janus Djurhuus have had a lasting impact on Faroese literature . It is a major classic, and much of what has been written in Faroese since then can be traced back to its model.

The Faroe Islands postal administration honored Janus Djurhuus on September 20, 2004 with a block of stamps on ten of his national romantic poems. This block won the public vote for the most beautiful Faroese stamp issue of 2004.

literature

• MAJacobsen: Modern poetry on the Faroe Islands. An overview , in: Ostsee-Rundschau, 2nd year 1925, pp. 137-139 (including about JHO Djurhuus)
• Hanus Kamban: JHO Djurhuus: en litteraer biografi , Universitetsforlag, Odense 2001 (Odense University studies in Scandinavian language and literature; 46. 2 volumes, I. 1881–1922, II. 1922–1948. Translated from the Faroese by Kirsten Brix)
• Paul Alfred Kleinert (Ed.) Frá Áarstovubrøðrunum til Tórodd - føroysk yrking í hundrað ár / From Djurhuus to Poulsen - Faroese poetry from 100 years , (Leipzig 2007)

Web links

• About Janus Djurhuus (English)
• Faroeartstamps.fo - Janus Djurhuus (basis for this article)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Janus Djurhuus . Postverk Føroya. Retrieved May 17, 2019.