Everyday Experience and Pastoral Care in Icelandic Spiritual Poems in the Seventeenth Century

Abstract

A large number of religious poems from the seventeenth century, most of which were composed by ministers of the church or individuals who had studied in the country’s Latin schools, are preserved in Icelandic manuscripts. It can be assumed that the poems and hymns reveal the religious convictions of the poets or at least the official spiritual beliefs of the community. In many cases, a social purpose can also be identified within the poetry, i.e., the poems were not only written for religious purposes, but also to honor certain people, console, moralize and instruct. In this article, it is claimed that in addition to this, one can find information about the personal situations of the poets and the people they focus on in their poems. Furthermore, it is argued that many pastor-poets used their gift of poetry to perform pastoral care for their parishioners and others with whom they were in contact with. Thus, in some cases, the spiritual care of pastor-poets was expressed in verse, through which modern readers can get an insight into people’s everyday life and mentality in the seventeenth century. Examples are taken from poems/hymns composed by two pastor-poets, Ólafur Jónsson at Sandar in Dýrafjörður and Guðmundur Erlendsson at Fell in Sléttuhlíð, to demonstrate this aspect of seventeenth-century poetry.