Jeppe Aakjær was a Danish

Denmark

Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

 poet

Poetry

Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...

 and novel

Novel

A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....

ist, described in Chambers Biographical Dictionary as "a leader of the 'Jutland Movement' in Danish literature". A regionalist, much of his writings were about his native Jutland

Jutland

Jutland , historically also called Cimbria, is the name of the peninsula that juts out in Northern Europe toward the rest of Scandinavia, forming the mainland part of Denmark. It has the North Sea to its west, Kattegat and Skagerrak to its north, the Baltic Sea to its east, and the Danish–German...

. He was known for writings that reflected his concern for the impoverished

Poverty

Poverty is the lack of a certain amount of material possessions or money. Absolute poverty or destitution is inability to afford basic human needs, which commonly includes clean and fresh water, nutrition, health care, education, clothing and shelter. About 1.7 billion people are estimated to live...

 and for describing rural existence. At the age of 20, he was sent to jail for speaking freely about his concerns, which the local government officials did not care for. Being an outspoken socialist Aakjær joined the Social Democratic Party

Social Democrats (Denmark)

The Social Democrats , is a Danish political party committed to the political ideology of social democracy. It is the major coalition partner in Denmark's government since the 2011 parliamentary election, and party leader Helle Thorning-Schmidt is the current Prime Minister of Denmark...

. He moved to Copenhagen

Copenhagen

Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...

 and worked as a proofreader and journalist

Journalist

A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...

. From 1907 until his death he lived on his own farm, Jenle (Jutlandish dialect for "Lonely"), writing both poetry and prose and enjoying a growing popularity.

Aakjær's notable novels, including Bondens Søn ("The Peasant's Son") (1899) and Vredens børn, et tyendes saga ("Children of Wrath: A Hired Man's Saga") (1904), reveal his staunch social commitment. The latter is a rural Danish answer to Upton Sinclair

Upton Sinclair

Upton Beall Sinclair Jr. , was an American author who wrote close to one hundred books in many genres. He achieved popularity in the first half of the twentieth century, acquiring particular fame for his classic muckraking novel, The Jungle . It exposed conditions in the U.S...

's The Jungle

The Jungle

The Jungle is a 1906 novel written by journalist Upton Sinclair. Sinclair wrote the novel with the intention of portraying the life of the immigrant in the United States, but readers were more concerned with the large portion of the book pertaining to the corruption of the American meatpacking...

and in many ways caused the same effect but on a lesser scale. He also wrote Jens Langkniv (1915), about a Danish highwayman becoming a guerrilla fighter against the Germans in the 17th century. Many tales and short stories tell about the humble, bad life of farm boys and grooms and are written with a visceral anger and a fighting spirit.

Today, it is his poetry for which he is chiefly known. His poems, including the famous Fri felt ("Free Fields"; 1905), the Rugens sange ("Songs of the Rye"; 1906) and Heimdal

Heimdal

Heimdal is the southernmost borough in Trondheim, Norway named after the god Heimdall in Norse mythology. The area has been continuously inhabited since at least the Iron Age, and is rich in archaeological sites....

's Wanderings (1924), reveal his appreciation for the harvest. Because of their lyrical quality, many of these poems were used as settings for songs by various 20th Century Scandinavian composers, such as Carl Nielsen

Carl Nielsen

Carl August Nielsen , , widely recognised as Denmark's greatest composer, was also a conductor and a violinist. Brought up by poor but musically talented parents on the island of Funen, he demonstrated his musical abilities at an early age...

. In these songs he sings of the moors of his region, the areas of his childhood and the poor life in the country, often switching between harsh realism, a fresh love of nature and sentimental nostalgia

Nostalgia

The term nostalgia describes a yearning for the past, often in idealized form.The word is a learned formation of a Greek compound, consisting of , meaning "returning home", a Homeric word, and , meaning "pain, ache"...

. Some of his poems are written in dialect. Among his best known are the beloved Jeg er Havren ("I am the Oats"); Jens Vejmand, a tribute to the worn-out roadmender; Jutland (English translation by J. A. Peehl); and Historiens Sang ("The Song of History"). As a poet, he shows himself an agitator, writing battle songs for the working class.

Aakjær is one of the most beloved Danish poets of the 20th Century. As a Jutlandish regionalist and dialect writer he is the heir of Blicher

Steen Steensen Blicher

Steen Steensen Blicher was an author and poet born in Vium near Viborg, Denmark.- Biography :Blicher was the son of a literarily inclined Jutlandic parson whose family was distantly related to Martin Luther....

. But he is also inspired by Robert Burns

Robert Burns

Robert Burns was a Scottish poet and a lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland, and is celebrated worldwide...

, whose Auld lang syne

Auld Lang Syne

"Auld Lang Syne" is a Scots poem written by Robert Burns in 1788 and set to the tune of a traditional folk song . It is well known in many countries, especially in the English-speaking world; its traditional use being to celebrate the start of the New Year at the stroke of midnight...

he translated into Jutlandish dialect. Together with Johannes Vilhelm Jensen

Johannes Vilhelm Jensen

*Not to be confused with German author Wilhelm Jensen .Johannes Vilhelm Jensen, in Denmark always called Johannes V. Jensen, was a Danish author, often considered the first great Danish writer of the 20th century. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1944...

 and Martin Andersen Nexø

Martin Andersen Nexø

Martin Andersen Nexø was a Danish writer. He was the first significant Danish author to depict the working class in his writings, and the first great Danish socialist, later communist, writer.-Biography:...

 he is one of the outstanding "new realists" from the 1910s though never that famous outside Denmark. In many ways he is a literary figure of transition between old rural culture and modern socialist agitation. As a castigator of society, he was popular, even among his opponents.

His first wife was the author Marie Bregendahl, known for her regionalist works.

Aakjær works in English

• Jeppe Aakjaer: Four Poems of Jeppe Aakjaer. Clear View, Jutland. Jutland’s Heath. The Land of Heather. Translated by J. A. Peehl. (1917)

Aakjær's lyrics appear in these books

• Four Poems of Jeppe Aakjaer (1917). J. A. Peehl, United States.
• A book of Danish verse (1922). Robert Silliman Hillyer, United States.
• The Jutland Wind (1944). R. P. Keigwin, England.
• A second book of Danish verse (1947). Charles Wharton Stork, United States.
• In Denmark I Was Born (1948). R. P. Keigwin, Denmark.
• Songs from Denmark (1988). S. D. Rodholm, Denmark.

Poems in English

Auld Lang Syne (Burns),
Clear View,
Evening,
Farmer's Song,
George Brandes,
Girls in the Meadow,
Golden Sun,
Jutland,
Jutland's Heath,
Mother's Spinning Wheel,
Northeast (Snowflakes come wildly tumbling),
Ole sang as he watched his sheep,
Pae' Sivensak,
Prelude,
Sweet on Anders Anna was,
The Land of Heather,
The Oats,
The Sower,
The Stone Breaker,
To Bundgaard, Sculptor.

The Oats

Here I stand with tinkling bells galore,

Twenty on each straw, I think, or more.

But the farmer, bless his honest soul,

Calls me oats and speaks of twenty fold.

I was sown while happy birds in spring

Made with joyful song the welkin ring.

Bumble bees in wild and tumbling race,

In the mellow sunshine droned the bass.

Growing up in sunny morning dew

That sweet Symphony within me grew.

He who listens humbly while I ring,

Hears the echo of the songs of spring.

Cold, unfeeling hearts can never see

Anything but cattle-feed in me.

I am more than food for hungry jaws,

I am song of birds on golden straws.

I am friends with everything that grows,

Friends with every gentle wind that blows,

Friends with waving trees and summer skies,

Friends with daisies and with butterflies.

When the sun goes down, its parting smile

Lingers on my golden head a while,

And when evening bells ring out, I too

Tinkle, standing tip-toe in the dew.

I am ringing children to their beds,

Ringing up the mist that slowly spreads,

Ringing peace, as busy day departs,

Into humble homes and pious hearts.

Jeppe Aakjær

English lyrics by S.D. Rodholm

External links