Bólu-Hjálmar

Jóhannes Helgason (University of Iceland)

Ed. by Ármann Jakobsson, University of Iceland
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.3.4: Icelandic Writing and Culture.
Vol. editors: Ármann Jakobsson (University of Iceland), Kjerstin Moody (Gustavus Adolphus College), Sven Hakon Rossel (Universitat Wien), Herbert Rowland (Purdue University), Jakob Stougaard-Nielsen (University College London)

Dates

Born 29 Sep 1796
Died 25 Jul 1875

Places

Active in Iceland

Activities

Primary

Poet

Resources

Jónsson's Works

Save to Bookshelf

Icelandic folk poet Hjálmar Jónsson, usually referred to as Bólu-Hjálmar, was born late in the eighteenth century, a time that was hard for the inhabitants of Iceland. A large volcanic eruption caused a famine and a lot of young people roamed the country looking for work and food. Hjálmar’s parents were displaced and went from farm to farm. In September 1796, Marsibil, Hjálmar’s mother, came to a farm called Halland in Eyjafjörður located in the north of Iceland. That night she gave birth to Hjálmar but had to give him away due to her inability to provide for him. Hjálmar ended up on another farm in Eyjafjörður where a widow, Sigríður Jónsdóttir, decided to foster the child. Sigríður named Hjálmar and raised him until he was six years old. Then Hjálmar moved to his…

Please log in to consult the article in its entirety. If you are a member (student of staff) of a subscribing institution (see List), you should be able to access the LE on campus directly (without the need to log in), and off-campus either via the institutional log in we offer, or via your institution's remote access facilities, or by creating a personal user account with your institutional email address. If you are not a member of a subscribing institution, you will need to purchase a personal subscription. For more information on how to subscribe as an individual user, please see under Individual Subcriptions.

1135 words

Citation: Helgason, Jóhannes. "Bólu-Hjálmar". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 20 June 2023 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=15030, accessed 04 May 2024.]

Save this article

If you need to create a new bookshelf to save this article in, please make sure that you are logged in, then go to your 'Account' here