Songs for the End of the World: The Poetry of Guðmundur Erlendsson of Fell in Sléttuhlíð

Abstract

Guðmundur Erlendsson of Fell in Sléttuhlíð (c. 1595–1670) was one of the leading poets of seventeenth-century Iceland. No man is an island, however, nor are islands populated exclusively by men. The thesis examines how Guðmundur Erlendsson’s poetry and scribal practices are deeply integrated into the social life of his family, community and literary circles. He uses poetry as a medium through which to disseminate information on contemporary events outside Iceland and to respond to personal, community and international crisis events: from epidemics, natural disasters and wars to his own exile to the remote island of Grímsey for feuding with another poet. For Guðmundur Erlendsson, the end of the world is a crisis of morality in which literature is a source of consolation, hope and redemption. The thesis ends with a codicological study of major manuscripts of Guðmundur Erlendsson’s poetry and their close connection to early modern women’s literacy in Iceland.