Bólu-Hjálmar

Who was Bólu-Hjálmar?

Hjálmar Jónsson, better known as Bólu-Hjálmar, was a 19th-century Icelandic farmer and poet, known for his sharp style and biting wit and for his mastery of the short Icelandic poetic narrative style known as Rímur.

Hjálmar was born in Hallandi in Eyjafjörður. Born out of wedlock to a servant girl and a farmhand, Jónsson had little formal education, but he soon became an avid reader of the Sagas and Eddas. He first became a farmer in Bakkinn in Öxnadalur, but subsequently moved to Skagafjörður where he dwelled in Bóla, from whence his nickname Bólu-Hjálmar was derived. Hjálmar was a poor farmer, and had difficulty making ends meet. He was constantly engaged in disputes with his neighbours, who accused him of stealing sheep. His farmstead at Bóla is now deserted but a memorial to Bólu-Hjálmar has been erected there in a small grove.

In his own way, Hjálmar was an artistic and creative soul. His style of poetry is marked by economy and clever use of metaphors. Many of his poems are tinged with bitterness, which may partly be attributed to his constant rows and disputes, and partly to what seems to have been a general dislike of humanity.