Stephan G. Stephansson
Stephan G. Stephansson was born in Iceland in 1853 and died at Markerville,
Alberta in 1927. He emigrated with his parents in 1873 to northern
Wisconsin. In 1880 he moved to Dakota and from there to a homestead near
what was to become the village of Markerville in 1889. His life in Alberta
thus spans a crucial period in the history of the province, from the pioneer
years that were linked with the development of the railway to the modest
recovery in the late 1920s from the severe recession that followed the Great War
of 1914-18. His career also reflects the history of the Icelandic
settlement in the Canadian West. At the same time, Stephansson achieved
great distinction as a poet, recognized not only by the Icelandic community in
North America but also in his native Iceland.
Stephan G. Stephansson has been called the greatest poet of the western
world. He was certainly a most prolific poet and most of his verse was of
a very high standard. During the seventy-three years of his life, he
published more than two thousand pages, more than the Canadian poets Bliss
Carman, Charles Roberts and Wilson Macdonald combined. In sheer bulk of
output, no other Canadian poet is comparable. That he was able to produce
so much of such a high quality is all the more remarkable considering the
conditions under which he wrote. Stephansson was a farmer: he had been
born on a farm in Iceland and he died as a farmer in west central Alberta.
Working from dawn to dusk clearing land, grubbing roots, ploughing, seeding,
stooking, and threshing would have discouraged a lesser man, but Stephan
Stephansson could not ignore the creative urge of his genius.
When he made his first attempts to compose verse even he could not
remember. Certainly he experimented with rhymes and verses from his early
youth. He continued to perfect his knowledge of the Icelandic language and
the various poetic metres while he lived in Wisconsin and the Dakota Territory;
but it was in Alberta, living in the Medicine river valley, that he achieved
maturity both as a philosopher and skald. His mind was forever working on
a new idea or an unfinished poem. Even though the "lousy barn
work" claimed most of the daylight house he often composed poems
while haying, milking the cows or taking slop to the pigs. It was not
unusual for him to return hurriedly to the house to jot down a few lines before
they escaped. Rainy days and Sundays he spent at his desk. But even
this did not satisfy the urge to create. Despite his physical weariness at
the end of the day, so faithful was he to his inner voice that the muse of
poetry drove him from his bed to his desk to pour out his thoughts and feelings:
The long autumn night was approaching the day, And I in my wakefulness quietly lay. I stared in the shadows, my mind in a whirl
Attempting the future to measure. What would my seventh new decade unfurl, All Sundays of joy and pleasure?
I heard at my doorstep a footstep alight As soft as the rustling leaves in the night And I knew in an instant that visitor's call,
Though darkness might seem to confound me; No matter what clattering noise might befall I knew her light footsteps around me.
But fancy has always been part of her style. She opened my door which was unlocked the while. I rose from my pillow with gladness and pride, Her visit was such a rare pleasure.
I figured my strings as she came to my side With her harp and her crowning treasure.
Stephan G. Stephansson was the most remarkable of the Icelandic
farmer-poets. A the time of his birth, Iceland was one of the backwaters
of western Europe, the Icelandic culture and language stagnant.
Stephansson, using his comprehensive knowledge of the language in his poems, has
been credited with the revitalization of his mother tongue. Essentially a
man of the nineteenth century he believed in the power of words. A true
romantic, he was sure that ideas and ideals, given the wings of verse, could
overcome the problems of the human race. He passed away in 1927. It was
not until the centenary of his birth in 1953 that the Canadian government
erected a cairn in his honour in the park at Markerville, and that same years
Stephansson's youngest child, Rosa, travelled to Iceland to unveil a memorial
overlooking the valley of her father's birth. Stephansson's poems are
studied in the Icelandic school system for their linguistic as well as for their
poetic merit. In 1976 the government of Alberta paid homage to her pioneer son
by declaring his home a Provincial Historic Resource.
Reprinted from Stephan
G. Stephansson: The Poet of the Rocky Mountains by Jane W. McCracken with
permission from Alberta Community Development, Historical Resources Division.
The CKUA Heritage Trails:
To listen to the Heritage Trails , you need the RealPlayer,
available free from RealNetworks:
- Stephansson House: Part One - Stephan Guthmundarson Stephansson was
a famous Icelandic poet before he came to Markerville, Alberta. Hear about
Stephansson and his little farmhouse near Red Deer.
Read | Listen
- Stephansson House: Part Two - The Stephansson farmhouse, at
Markerville, Alberta, grew with the Stephansson family, room by room.
Stephansson House is now a historic site.
Read | Listen
- Stephansson House: Part Three - Listen to the history of
Stephansson House's unique architectural details, from its brilliant colours
to its eight lightning rods!
Read | Listen
- Stephansson House: Part Four - Stephan G. Stephansson has been
called the Shakespeare of Iceland. Hear some of Stephansson's poems, and
learn about the man himself.
Read | Listen
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