Sigfús Daðason (1928–1996) was one of the more notable 20th-century

Icelandic poets Icelandic refers to anything of, from, or related to Iceland and may refer to: *Icelandic people *Icelandic language *Icelandic alphabet *Icelandic cuisine See also * Icelander (disambiguation) * Icelandic Airlines, a predecessor of Icelandair * ...

. It has been claimed that Daðason "changed the poetic landscape in

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its ...

". He was one of the pioneers of the

Modern movement Modernism is both a philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new forms of art, philosophy, a ...

.Ljóðhús - elements of poetry Sigfús Daðason by Thorsteinn Thorsteinsson (2008) Daðason published his first book of poetry in 1957, and followed this a year later with an influential

essay An essay is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a letter, a paper, an article, a pamphlet, and a short story. Essays have been sub-classified as formal ...

, 'Defence of Poetry', on new trends in

poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek '' poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings ...

. He spent eight years in France studying the

Latin language Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of ...

culture Culture () is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, and habits of the individuals in these grou ...

, and French and

German literature German literature () comprises those literary texts written in the German language. This includes literature written in Germany, Austria, the German parts of Switzerland and Belgium, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, South Tyrol in Italy and to a l ...

at the

Sorbonne Sorbonne may refer to: * Sorbonne (building), historic building in Paris, which housed the University of Paris and is now shared among multiple universities. *the University of Paris (c. 1150 – 1970) *one of its components or linked institution, ...

. On his return to Iceland, Daðason edited a cultural review and worked as a

publisher Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...

. He wrote many essays on literature and culture as well as his books of poetry. Daðason has been categorised as one of the '

Atom Poets The Atom Poets were a group of Icelandic modernist poets working in the wake of modernist poets like Steinn Steinarr and Jón úr Vör, the most prominent of whom were Einar Bragi, Hannes Sigfússon, Jón Óskar, Sigfús Daðason, Dagur Sigurða ...

Work

* ''Ljóð '' (1951) * ''Hendur og orð'' (1959) * ''Fáein ljóð'' (1977) * ''Útlínur bak við minnið'' (1987) * ''Maðurinn og skáldið'' (1987) * ''Province í endursýn'' (1992) * ''Og hugleiða steina'' (1955) * ''Ljóð'' 1947 - 1996 (2008)

References

Icelandic poets Icelandic writers Dadason, Sigfus Dadason, Sigfus Dadason, Sigfus 20th-century Icelandic poets Icelandic expatriates in France {{Iceland-writer-stub