Here is a well known stanza from one of his works (VI 1):
Lífs um angurs víđan vang
víst ég ganginn herđi,
eikin spanga, í ţitt fang
oft mig langa gerđi.
Across life's broad plain of grief
I surely quickened my pace;
oh lady, in your embrace
often I did long to be.
This is not only a perfect imitation of the style of the rímur, with the sometimes inherent repetitiveness of syntax and the circumlocutions known as kenningar (the word for "lady" in the original is a traditional kenning component literally denoting an oak tree, though the skaldic device of the heiti happens to be absent here), but it has just that little bit of its author's own invention to make it art in its own right too.
Another stanza actually makes the whole point clear (I 4):
Ţó ég meini ţetta og hitt,
ţér ég reyna vil ađ segja:
ţú ert eina yndiđ mitt
unz ég seinast fer ađ deyja.
Although I mean this and that,
I want to try to tell you:
you alone are my darling
until at last I die.
Here there are no poetical circumlocutions, just ice-cold irony.
Steinn Steinarr's best known work is
The Time and the Water, of which the following is the first part.
Tíminn er eins og vatniđ,
og vatniđ er kalt og djúpt
eins og vitund mín sjálfs.
Og tíminn er eins og mynd,
sem er máluđ af vatninu
og mér til hálfs.
Og tíminn og vatniđ
renna veglaust til ţurrđar
inn í vitund mín sjálfs.
(Quoted from ljod.is)
Time is like the water,
and the water is cold and deep
like my own consciousness.
And time is like a picture,
which is painted of water,
half of it by me.
And time and the water
flow trackless to extinction
into my own consciousness.
(Translation by [[Marshall Brement]])
The second stanza here may be regarded as an object lesson in the difficulty of translation, and perhaps of translating the work of Steinn Steinarr in particular. Its second line may refer to a picture painted "of" the water, or, just as readily, to a picture painted "by" the water, i.e. to a picture the water paints, since "of" and "by" are both among the possible translations of the preposition
af. This is all the more important since the first two words of the third line of the stanza simply mean "and me" and do not themselves indicate whether the picture is painted of the narrator or by him. Also, whereas the translator here has interpreted
til hálfs in the third line of the stanza as indicating that the narrator has painted half the picture, it is commonly used as an idiom to mean "imperfectly" or "inadequately". Thus the third line here may, for example, mean "and me, imperfectly". This would be consistent with an interpretation according to which both the water and the narrator were inadequate painters. Furthermore, the word
máluđ in the second line, translated here as "painted", can also mean "worded" or "put into words": this use of the word was archaic by the time this poem was written, but so was a good deal of the skaldic diction Steinn used elsewhere in his poetry.
Steinn satirized anything and everything, and spared nobody, as can be seen from his poem "Ein sorgleg vísa um Sósíalistaflokkinn og mig" ("One Tragic Poem about the Socialist Party and Me"). Another very well-known poem is "Passíusálmur No. 51" ("Passion Psalm No. 51"). The title is a reference to the greatest work of legendary Icelandic poet Hallgrímur Pétursson (d. 1674),
Passíusálmar (
Passion Psalms), 50 in all. Steinn added the 51st:
Á Valhúsahćđinni
er veriđ ađ krossfesta mann.
Og fólkiđ kaupir sér far
međ strćtisvagninum
til ţess ađ horfa á hann.
Ţađ er sólskin og hiti,
og sjórinn er sléttur og blár.
Ţetta er laglegur mađur
međ mikiđ enni
og mógult hár.
Og stúlka međ sćgrćn augu
segir viđ mig:
Skyldi manninum ekki leiđast
ađ láta krossfesta sig?
There's a man being crucified
on [[Valhúsahćđin]] hill.
And people buy themselves a ride
on the bus
to watch him.
There's sunshine and warmth,
and the sea is calm and blue.
This is a fine looking man
with a high forehead
and golden brown hair.
And a girl with sea-green eyes
says to me:
Won't the man get bored
of being crucified?
Here the crucifixion is shown in an Icelandic setting, probably as the little girl imagines it. The metre is new, but not without such traditional devices as rhyme and alliteration, making this a poem to be appreciated especially when read aloud.
But Steinn Steinarr not only satirized his contemporaries. He was also a master of self-parody. His great book of poetry,
Journey without Destination (
Ferđ án fyrirheits), ends with this haunting self-portrait.
UNDIRSKRIFT
Lesendum ţessarar bókar ef einhverjir eru
Hef ég ekkert fleira ađ segja í raun og veru
Sjá hér er ég sjálfur og ţetta er allur minn auđur
Hiđ eina sem ég hef ađ bjóđa lifandi og dauđur.
Ég veit ađ ţiđ teljiđ mig aldrei í ykkar hópi
Og ćtliđ mig skringilegt sambland af fanti og glópi
Ég er langt ađ koninn úr heimkynnum niđdimmrar nćtur
Og niđur í myrkursins djúp liggja enn mínar rćtur.
Ég ber ţess ađ sjálfsögđu ćvilangt óbrigđult merki
Ţví örlög hvers manns gefa lit sinn og hljóm sinn hans verki
Ţađ var lítiđ um dýrđir og nćsta naumt fyrir andann
Mitt nafn er Steinn Steinarr, skáld. Ég kveđst á viđ fjandann.
SIGNATURE
To the readers of this book if any exist
Nothing else I can tell, nothing else I can list.
This is all that I am, the harvest of my strife.
The only thing I offer, dead or alive.
I know you will never count me as one of your class
And conclude instead I am either a thug or an ass.
I have come afar from a dim and dreary place
And into the depths of darkness my roots are traced.
I will no doubt be doomed for the rest of my life
'Cause our destiny marks and colors the works we contrive.
The times were sparse for the spirit on every level.
Steinn Steinarr the poet’s my name. I rap with the [[devil]].
(Translation by [[Jon Othar]])
