Olav Aukrust was a Norwegian poet, who wrote poems with a renewed national romantic style. He popularized the use of Nynorsk as a literary language and is most commonly associated with his poem Himmelvarden.
Background
Olav Aukrust was born in the mountain valley of Lom, Gudbrandsdal, Norway, on January 1, 1883. He was raised in the traditional region of Gudbrandsdal. His parents Olav Olavsson Aukrust (1851–1931) and Mari Pålsdatter Andvord (1864–1936) were farmers on the Nordgard Aukrust farm in the valley of Bøverdalen. His brother Lars Olsen Aukrust (1886–1965) was a teacher and local official. His nephews Odd Aukrust (1915 –2008) was an economist and Kjell Aukrust (1920–2002) was an author, poet, and artist.
Education
When Aukrust was seventeen years old, he fell ill, first with rheumatic fever and then with tuberculosis of the joints. Realizing that he was not going to be able to pursue farming for his livelihood, he dreamed about becoming a musician but had to give that up when he had a finger amputated. In a letter to his parents, Aukrust told them of a revelation he had had on the Aukrust land when he was sixteen or seventeen years old. The earth itself asked him to tell its story and speak about its millennium-long history and about the people who lived on it. August decided to become a writer, but in order to make a living, he first turned to teaching.
Aukrust was a student of the folk college at Romundgard in Sel operated by priest and educator Christopher Bruun (1839–1920).
Career
Aukrust worked first as a teacher in an elementary school and then in the Folk high school Vonheim in Gausdal. Later, from 1914 to 1917, he worked as a principal of a Folk high school in Dovre. Folk high school was a place where nationalism, religion, and the old Norse culture were at the center of attention. Aukrust was newly graduated as a teacher when he began publishing articles debating the virtues of Nynorsk versus Bokmal with Bjomstjeme Bjodrnson - an important figure in the Norwegian cultural debate. Aukrust argued that Nynorsk was an important cultural heritage that Norwegians must come to appreciate. In 1917 Aukrust left his job as a principal in Dovre to devote all his time to writing poetry.
Aukrust’s literary debut, a cycle of poems published under the title Himmelvarden, caused great excitement when it came out in 1916. It resonated particularly well with Norwegian youth. It combined Christianity with national romanticism, and it described the battle between light and dark forces in a visionary style. “Vintematt,” one of the first poems in Himmelvarden, that tells of a skier moving through the landscape and becoming a trace in the snow, exemplifies an often used literary technique in Aukrust’s writings: the seamless transition between man and nature, mind and landscape. Similarly, in the title poem of the collection Solrenning, the sun’s beams are likened to threads in a handwoven piece of cloth.
Aukrust was able to change his narrative position in very persuasive ways. While Solrenning concentrates on the Christian relationship between mankind and God, Hamar i Hellom - written at about the same time - presents sinful living and heathenism as a given, without apology. Critics agreed that Hamar i Hellom contains some of the best, most raw, and authentic descriptions of rural life in Norwegian literature.
Achievements
The Norwegian poet Olav Aukrust wrote five collections of poems. Despite this relatively small total production, his work has received quite a lot of attention, and he is considered one of Norway’s most complex and original twentieth-century poets. Aukrust mastered standard Norwegian, but he felt strongly that preserving and using the original dialect was important for the cultural survival of the Norwegian people. His use of rural dialect contributed to the growth of Nynorsk as a literary language.
By modem standards, Aukrust’s work is often considered “antique” and old in its handling of religious and nationalist themes; however, his writings are still interesting from a historical and cultural perspective.
Aukrust’s two greatest literary inspirations were the Bible, which his grandmother used to teach him to read, and the Eddas, collections of Old Norse poems that introduced him to Nordic mythology and skaldic poetry. He was first introduced to the Eddas when he started working as a teacher.
Aukrust embraced the ideals of the Folk high school: to give the Norwegian people and in particular Norwegian youth awareness of their roots, their race, and their destiny. He also believed that he himself had a special role to play as a poet, a prophet from God with a God-given message.
Besides the Bible, Aukrust considered nature the greatest source of inspiration to him. Among other contemporary cultural and literary sources of inspiration for Aukrust were August Strindberg and Rudolf Steiner.
Membership
Olav Aukrust joined the Anthroposophical Society in December 1921.
Connections
In Vonheim while working as a Principal of Folk High School, Olav met his future wife, Gudrun Blekastad, the daughter of Ivar Blekastad - one of the leading forces behind the Folk high school.
