Icelandic Poetry

Icelandic Poetry, translation by Bernard Scudder.

Bernard Scudder, (1954-2007) was a poet and a very gifted translator of Icelandic literature into English.  Born in Canterbury, he moved to Iceland to study the Icelandic language in 1977, and lived and worked in Reykjavik for the remainder of his life. 

Here we have a selection of Scudder's best work, the oldest is Eddic poetry (Völuspá) from 870. The latest is "The trap snaps shut" by Sveinn Snorri Sveinsson from 2007.  In the book you find translatet poetry after 68 poets.

This book is a must for lovers of Icelandic culture.

About 400 pages.
English.
2012

Young Girl / Yngismey
by Davíð Stefánsson
translated by Bernard Scudder

When a mother blesses her little brood
and the flowers sow the earth with their seed
within me a wild yearning rears its head...
The whole world starts to call.
I dare not make the last confession.
But the night understands us all.
All that is tired but yearns with passion
is wrapped in the blue mountains' silent shawl.