Halfdan Wedel Rasmussen (29 January 1915 in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

– 2 March 2002) was a Danish poet. He was known for his literary nonsense verse for children and his serious adult writings about social issues and human rights. He was awarded with the Ministry of Culture's children book prize (Kulturministeriets Børnebogspris) in 1965.

Career

Rasmussen was a

resistance Resistance may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Comics * Either of two similarly named but otherwise unrelated comic book series, both published by Wildstorm: ** ''Resistance'' (comics), based on the video game of the same title ** ''T ...

fighter during the

German occupation German-occupied Europe refers to the sovereign countries of Europe which were wholly or partly occupied and civil-occupied (including puppet governments) by the military forces and the government of Nazi Germany at various times between 193 ...

. He became very well known and respected as a poet, nearly becoming a national poet of Denmark. One of his poems, ''

Ikke Bødlen ''Ikke Bødlen'' () is a poem by Halfdan Rasmussen, featured as one of the best poems on Human Rights on a 1979 book published by Amnesty International Denmark. ''Ikke Bødlen'' would be later translated into the first verse of Roger Waters ...

'', was featured as one of the best poems on Human Rights on a 1979 book published by Amnesty International Denmark, and would be later translated into the first verse of

Roger Waters George Roger Waters (born 6 September 1943) is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. In 1965, he co-founded the progressive rock band Pink Floyd. Waters initially served as the bassist, but following the departure of singer-so ...

' song '' Each Small Candle''.

Politics

Rasmussen joined the

anarcho-syndicalist Anarcho-syndicalism is a political philosophy and anarchist school of thought that views revolutionary industrial unionism or syndicalism as a method for workers in capitalist society to gain control of an economy and thus control influence i ...

movement at an early age, and from his 20s and on-wards he contributed to the syndicalist weekly Arbejdet ("Work"). In the early 60s, he helped edit and publish the memoirs of revolutionary syndicalist Christian Christensen. Later on Rasmussen was also active in the Danish anti-nuclear movement, the campaigns against EU membership, and in Amnesty International.

Bibliography

* ''Vorherres Rosa'', short story in ''Det første møde'' * ''Soldat eller menneske'' (1941) * ''Kejser Næsegrus og Kæmpesmeden: eventyr'' (1943) * ''Det lukkede ansigt'' (1943) * ''Solen, maanen og stjernerne: eventyr'' (1943) * ''Digte under besættelsen'' (1945 ) * ''Længsel'', poems in ''Der brænder en ild'' (1945) * ''Min barndom var en by'' (1945) * ''Korte skygger'' (1946) * ''De afsindige'' (1948) * ''Fem små troldebørn'', (together with

Ib Spang Olsen Ib Spang Olsen (11 June 1921 – 15 January 2012) was a Danish writer and illustrator best known to generations of Danes for cartoons and illustrations, many of which appeared in children's publications. Those include a series of nursery rhyme b ...

, 1948) * ''Gaden'' (1948) * ''På knæ for livet'' (1948) * ''Den som har set september'' (1949) * ''Norske nutidsdigte: En antologi af ung lyrik'' (1949) * ''Tullerulle tappenstreg spiste gummibolde'' (1949) * ''Aftenland'' (1950) * ''Lange Peter Madsen'' (1950) * ''Forventning'' (1951) * ''Den lille frække Frederik og andre børnerim'' (1951) * ''Tosserier: 1. samling'' (1951) * ''Tosserier: 2. samling'' (1952) * ''Digte i udvalg'' (1953) * ''Tosserier: 3. samling'' (1953) * ''Skoven'' (together with

Ernst Clausen Ernst is both a surname and a given name, the German, Dutch, and Scandinavian form of Ernest. Notable people with the name include: Surname * Adolf Ernst (1832–1899) German botanist known by the author abbreviation "Ernst" * Anton Ernst (1975- ...

, 1954) * ''Tosserier: 4. samling'' (1954) * ''Hemmeligt forår'' (1955) * ''Kasper Himmelspjæt'' (1955) * ''Tosserier: 5. samling'' (1955) * ''I mørket: et digt'' (1956) * ''Tosserier: 6. samling'' (1956) * ''Himpegimpe og andre børnerim'' (1957) * ''Torso: Digte og tegninger fra Grækenland'' (Torso: Poems and drawings from Greece) (1957) * ''Tosserier: 7. samling'' (1957) * ''Lyriske installationer'' (1958) * ''Noget om sundbusser: Et tosseri'' (1959) * ''Pumpegris og andre børnerim'' (1959) * ''Digte'' (Poems) (1960) * ''Tosserier i udvalg'' (1960) * ''Lokumsdigte'' (1961) * ''Stilheden: Skitser fra Grønland'' (1962) * ''Med solen i ryggen'' (together with

Ivan Malinovski Ivan () is a Slavic male given name, connected with the variant of the Greek name (English: John) from Hebrew meaning 'God is gracious'. It is associated worldwide with Slavic countries. The earliest person known to bear the name was Bulga ...

, Erik Stinus and others 1963) * ''Børnerim'' (collection of ''Tullerulle Tappenstreg'', ''Kasper Himmelspjæt'', ''Himpegimpe'' and ''Pumpegris'', 1964) * ''Hilsen til Halfdan'' (1965) * ''Julekalender for voksne'' (1965) * ''Gi’ den en tand til!'' (short story in ''Buket for bilister: bundet af Erik Seidenfaden'', 1965) * ''Halfdans ABC'' (1967) * ''Jacob i Tivoli'' (1967) * ''Julemandens rejse'' (music by

Sven Gyldmark Sven Rudolf Sidenius Gyldmark (21 April 1904 – 5 October 1981) was a Denmark, Danish film score composer. He was the brother of Hugo Gyldmark and Leonard who were also composers. Filmography * ' (1975) * ''Nøddebo Præstegård (1974 film) ...

, 1967) * ''Mørke over Akropolis'' (together with Ivan Malinovski and Erik Stinus, 1967) * ''Den sommer'' and ''Hjemad'' (short stories in ''Reflekslys: læsestykker af kendte danske forfattere'', 1967) * ''Hokus Pokus og andre børnerim'' (together with Ib Spang Olsen, 1969) * ''Stigen'' (together with Kaj Matthiessen, 1969) * ''Mis Ege på eventyr'' (1970) * ''8 digte om snaps'' (1970) * ''Noget om: tosserier af Halfdan Rasmussen med musik af Mogens Jermiin Nissen'' (1972) * ''Noget om Nanette'' (together with

, 1972) * ''Halfdanes nonsense and nursery rhymes'' (1973) * ''Visse vasse viser'' (melody by Hans Dalgaard, 1973) * ''Corsareu: piratudgave'' (1975) * ''Og det var det'' (together with Kaj Matthiessen, 1977) * ''Klatteradat'' (together with Kaj Matthiessen, 1978) * ''Så du røgen?'' (together with Kaj Matthiessen, 1978) * ''Julekalender for børn'' (1984) * ''365 godnatsange – rim og remser'' (together with Benny Andersen and others, 1984) * ''Fremtiden er forbi'' (together with Kaj Matthiessen, 1985) * ''Tante Andante'' (1985) * ''Efter Bikini?'', (short story in ''Lær om lyrik'', 1985) * ''Jeg fandt en sang på vejen: 23 digte'', 1986) * ''Onkel Karfunkel'' (together with

, 1988) * ''Noget om helte'' (short story in ''Dansk i sjette: grundbog'', 1989) * ''Regnens harpe: digte og grafik fra Irland'' (together with Ib Spang Olsen, 1990) * ''Halfdan i bakspejlet'' (1991) * ''Bare en regnvejrsaften'' (short stories in ''Dansk med overblik: litteratur for folkeskolens ældste klasser'', 1993) * ''Halfdan rundt: til Halfdan Rasmussen på 80 årsdagen den 29. januar 1995'' (1995) * ''Hr. Olsen'' og ''Peter Lohengrin'' (poems in ''Et digt om dagen'', 1995) * ''Mariehønen Evigglad: rim for børn og barnlige sjæle'' (1996) * ''Halvvejs til Halfdan'' (CD-book with 30 participating actors, writers etc. in 4 generations, published by P.C. Teilmann and Hans Sydow) (2002) * ''Faxerier fra Halfdan Rasmussen til Johannes Møllehave'' (2002) * ''24 tosserier + 24. december'' (2002) * ''Halfdans digte'' (2004) * ''Rapanden Rasmus'' from Rinkenæs Sogn.

Honour

* 1958 –

De Gyldne Laurbær De Gyldne Laurbær (English: The Golden Laurel) (earlier: Boghandlernes Gyldne Laurbær) is a Danish literature award, which was established in 1949. The award is handed by ''The Committee De Gyldne Laurbær'', formerly ''Boghandlerklubben'' (The ...

for ''Torso'' * 1965 – Ministry of Culture's children book prize (''Kulturministeriets Børnebogspris'') * 1978 – Herman Bangs Mindelegat * 1988 – Grand Prize of the Danish Academy (''Det Danske Akademis Store Pris'')

References

External links