{"id":11349,"date":"2022-03-12T18:42:47","date_gmt":"2022-03-12T23:42:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/?p=11349"},"modified":"2026-01-27T23:31:35","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T04:31:35","slug":"saturday-march-12-2022-the-unquiet-spirit-that-dreamed-best","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/?p=11349","title":{"rendered":"Saturday, March 12, 2022 \u2014 The Unquiet Spirit That Dreamed Best"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve always believed in the dig\u00adni\u00adty of \u201cqui\u00adet patri\u00ado\u00adtism\u201d. The more some\u00adone waves a flag or shouts slo\u00adgans, the more sus\u00adpi\u00adcious I tend to be that their \u201cpatri\u00ado\u00adtism\u201d is half-baked or fraudu\u00adlant. I do not, for exam\u00adple, think that any Trump sup\u00adport\u00ader can claim to be a patri\u00adot\u00adic Amer\u00adi\u00adcan, no mat\u00adter how much red-white-and-blue they paint on them\u00adselves. They are trai\u00adtors to their coun\u00adtry, plain and sim\u00adple. Sim\u00adi\u00adlar\u00adly, the spec\u00adta\u00adcle of the fake \u201ctruck\u00aders\u201d in the ludi\u00adcrous Karen Kar\u00ada\u00advan that ter\u00adror\u00adized Ottawa wrap\u00adping them\u00adselves in Cana\u00addi\u00adan flags (along with their Nazi Swastikas and Con\u00adfed\u00ader\u00adate Bat\u00adtle Flags) were the exact oppo\u00adsite of patri\u00adots. But now and then an inci\u00addent \u2015 such as 14-year old Kiya Bruno singing \u201cO Cana\u00adda\u201d in the Cree First Nations lan\u00adguage at Blue Jays and Oil\u00aders games \u2015 strikes me as a gen\u00aduine and apt expres\u00adsion of love of one\u2019s coun\u00adtry. Some\u00adtimes a poem, a paint\u00ading, a sym\u00adpho\u00adny or a song will cap\u00adture the feel\u00ading. It\u2019s hard to lis\u00adten to Neil Young\u2019s \u201cHelp\u00adless\u201d or to look at a Tom Thomp\u00adson can\u00advas with\u00adout being touched by it. After all, I do feel that I am part of my coun\u00adtry, that I owe it some\u00adthing, and that it\u2019s part of my bones. And I\u2019m well aware that one does not have to be born in Cana\u00adda, or to aban\u00addon or belit\u00adtle one\u2019s roots else\u00adwhere to feel this way.<\/span><\/p>\n

So I was delight\u00aded to find an exam\u00adple of \u201cqui\u00adet patri\u00ado\u00adtism\u201d in a col\u00adlec\u00adtion of the poems of Stephan G. Stephans\u00adson. He did not write in Eng\u00adlish. He wrote poet\u00adry and prose in his native Ice\u00adlandic, but was for the bet\u00adter part of his life a Cana\u00addi\u00adan. He was born on a farm in the dis\u00adtrict of Sey\u00adluyhrep\u00adpur, Ska\u00adgafj\u00f6r\u00f0ur, Ice\u00adland, in 1853. He moved with his fam\u00adi\u00adly to Wis\u00adcon\u00adsin in 1873, and after a stint as a lum\u00adber\u00adjack he moved to Alber\u00adta in 1888, where he owned a small home\u00adstead near present-day Mark\u00aderville, Alber\u00adta until his death in 1927. This was a tiny Ice\u00adlandic com\u00admu\u00adni\u00adty about 1,250 kms west of the prin\u00adci\u00adpal Ice\u00adlandic set\u00adtle\u00adment at Gim\u00adli in Man\u00adi\u00adto\u00adba. Now there are two things to remem\u00adber about this loca\u00adtion. The first is that it is one of the most beau\u00adti\u00adful places in the world. His lit\u00adtle farm was on the Cana\u00addi\u00adan Prairies just on the cusp of the foothills of the Rock\u00adies, and not far from this lit\u00adtle bit of landscape:<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/a>These moun\u00adtains appear con\u00adstant\u00adly in his poems. The sec\u00adond is that this was no place for the faint of heart, or for seek\u00aders of lux\u00adu\u00adry. Pio\u00adneer\u00ading in the Cana\u00addi\u00adan West in the 1890s was hard\u00ader work than any Cana\u00addi\u00adan is like\u00adly to expe\u00adri\u00adence today, a world where every triv\u00adial jour\u00adney was on horse\u00adback, where the tem\u00adper\u00ada\u00adture can plum\u00admet to \u201150C<\/span>, and soar to +40C<\/span>, where tor\u00adna\u00addoes, hail\u00adstorms, ter\u00adri\u00adfy\u00ading bliz\u00adzards, and tor\u00adren\u00adtial thun\u00adder\u00adstorms abound, and where a drought or a rise in freight rates at the rail\u00adhead could quick\u00adly bank\u00adrupt a farm or ranch. Elec\u00adtric\u00adi\u00adty did not arrive until long after Stephan died. The lit\u00adtle Ice\u00adlandic set\u00adtle\u00adment still exists, in the form of a \u201cham\u00adlet or des\u00adig\u00adnat\u00aded place\u201d with a pop\u00adu\u00adla\u00adtion of 38. The dairy he helped found is still there. The Luther\u00adan church, paint\u00aded a bril\u00adliant white like most wood\u00aden prairie church\u00ades, is still kept up. And, the house he built by hand is still there, real\u00adly very charm\u00ading in design, for\u00adtu\u00adnate\u00adly now cared for as an Alber\u00adta Provin\u00adcial His\u00adtor\u00adi\u00adcal Site.<\/span><\/p>\n

Stephan had com\u00adplex and mixed feel\u00adings about Cana\u00adda, as he did about Ice\u00adland. I know the region he was born in, and it too is a land of nat\u00adur\u00adal beau\u00adty with a harsh cli\u00admate. Those won\u00adder\u00adful Ice\u00adlandic ponies, no doubt descend\u00aded from the one he loved as a child, roam about on grass\u00adlands strik\u00ading\u00adly sim\u00adi\u00adlar to those of Alber\u00adta. But Ice\u00adland was soul-crush\u00ading\u00adly poor when he was born there, espe\u00adcial\u00adly in a remote cor\u00adner of the island like Ska\u00adgafj\u00f6r\u00f0ur. The coun\u00adtry is wealthy now, but the prim\u00adi\u00adtive lit\u00adtle sod-huts, bare\u00adly dif\u00adfer\u00adent from those of the Viking Sagas, remain scat\u00adtered across the bar\u00adren land\u00adscape to charm the tourists. Many Ice\u00adlanders chose to risk all to start a new life in Cana\u00adda, con\u00adfi\u00addent that their tough upbring\u00ading would fit them to take on any chal\u00adlenge it could throw at them. In the end, it seems the hard but free life in Alber\u00adta suit\u00aded Stephan, and he found some peace and sat\u00adis\u00adfac\u00adtion in the great blue skies and wind-blown grass that shim\u00admered on the foothills of the Rock\u00adies. This he cel\u00ade\u00adbrat\u00aded in the poem \u201cKana\u00adda\u201d:<\/span><\/p>\n

Menn tr\u00fa\u00f0u \u00fev\u00ed for\u00f0umm, um staum\u00adbar\u00f0a str\u00f6nd<\/span>
\n\u00fe\u00f3 stor\u00admurinn heima vi\u00f0 bryti,<\/span>
\na\u00f0 fjarst \u00fati \u00ed vestrinu l\u00e6gju \u00fe\u00f3 l\u00f6nd,<\/span>
\n\u00fear logn e\u00f0a s\u00f3l\u00adskin ei \u00feryti,<\/span>
\n\u00fev\u00ed \u00fear hef\u00f0i \u00e1rg\u00e6zkan fri\u00f0\u00adland s\u00e9r fest<\/span>
\nog frel\u00adsi\u00f0 og man\u00adn\u00fa\u00f0in \u2015 allt sem er bezt.<\/span><\/p>\n

It was for\u00admer\u00adly believed, on a sea-bat\u00adtered shore<\/em><\/span>
\nthough the storm at home blasted,<\/em><\/span>
\nthat in the dis\u00adtant west there still lay lands,<\/em><\/span>
\nwhere calm and sun nev\u00ader ended,<\/em><\/span>
\nfor there the good sea\u00adson had found its retreat<\/em><\/span>
\nand free\u00addom and com\u00adpas\u00adsion \u2015 all that is best.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00deeim l\u00e9t ekki sigling, en hug\u00adsu\u00f0u h\u00e1tt;<\/span>
\nvi\u00f0 hafi\u00f0 \u00feeir drey\u00adman\u00addi st\u00f3\u00f0u,<\/span>
\ner s\u00f3l hn\u00e9 a\u00f0 vi\u00f0i \u00ed vestriny l\u00e1gt<\/span>
\n\u00ed vorkveldsins bl\u00e1k\u00f6jjyrn\u00f3\u00f0u,<\/span>
\n\u00fe\u00e1 von manns og lan\u00adganir l\u00ed\u00f0a me\u00f0 bl\u00e6<\/span>
\n\u00fat lognsl\u00e9t\u00adtan, s\u00f3l\u00adgyll\u00adtan, v\u00ed\u00f0\u00adfa\u00f0\u00adman s\u00e6.<\/span><\/p>\n

They set no sail, but thought high,<\/em><\/span>
\nby the ocean they dream\u00ading stood,<\/em><\/span>
\nas the sun slid into the low\u00adest west<\/em><\/span>
\nin the evening\u2019s blue-mist\u00aded spring dusk,<\/em><\/span>
\nthen hope and desire glide out with the breeze<\/em><\/span>
\non the still-bank, sun-gilt, wide-armed sea.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00de\u00f3 enn fl\u00e6\u00f0i h\u00f6f, \u00feau sem a\u00f0skil\u00addu l\u00f6nd, <\/span>
\ner au\u00f0\u00adfarin lei\u00f0 yfir s\u00e6inn.<\/span>
\nOg Mark\u00adland vort, Kana\u00adda, hug sinn og h\u00f6nd<\/span>
\n\u00fe\u00e9r heimurinn r\u00e9t\u00adti yfir \u00e6ginn.<\/span>
\nEn Hel\u00adlenum a\u00f0eins \u00ed \u00f3\u00f0 gaz\u00adtu birzt \u2015<\/span>
\nen \u00edslen\u00adzkum s\u00e6ko\u00adnung bau\u00f0s\u00adtu \u00feig fyrst.<\/span><\/p>\n

Though oceans still food, that sep\u00ada\u00adrate lands,<\/em><\/span>
\nthe pas\u00adsage across is effortless.<\/em><\/span>
\nAnd our Mark\u00adland, Cana\u00adda, its genius and care<\/em><\/span>
\nthe world held out to you over the sea,<\/em><\/span>
\nTo the Greeks you could only appear in a poem \u2015<\/em><\/span>
\nbut to an Ice\u00adlandic sea king you gave your\u00adself first.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Og enn ren\u00adnir von man\u00adna augunum \u00fereytt<\/span>
\na\u00f0 aus\u00adtan, um \u00feig til a\u00f0 dreyma \u2015<\/span>
\n\u00fe\u00fa g\u00f3\u00f0 reyn\u00addist \u00f6llum, sem unna \u00fe\u00e9r heitt,<\/span>
\nsem eiga h\u00e9r munu\u00f0 og heima.<\/span>
\nOg allt \u00e1 \u00fe\u00e9r r\u00e6tist og r\u00f3t geti fest,<\/span>
\nsem reiku\u00adla mannsan\u00addann dreymt hefur bezt!<\/span><\/p>\n

Still human hope turns its tired eyes<\/em><\/span>
\nfrom the east, to dream about you \u2015<\/em><\/span>
\nyou proved good to all, who loved you fervently,<\/em><\/span>
\nwho pos\u00adsess here rap\u00adture and home.<\/em><\/span>
\nAnd all with you is ful\u00adfilled and able to root,<\/em><\/span>
\nwhich the unqui\u00adet spir\u00adit has dreamed best.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Krist\u00adjana Gun\u00adnars has trans\u00adlat\u00aded a selec\u00adtion of Stephan\u2019s poems that read very well in Eng\u00adlish. I can sound out the Ice\u00adlandic from often hear\u00ading the lan\u00adguage spo\u00adken, but of course, I have no idea what this poem sounds like to mod\u00adern a Ice\u00adlander. Does it\u2019s style seem quaint or old-fash\u00adioned? Does it betray in its style Stephan\u2019s dis\u00adtance from the Ice\u00adlandic writ\u00aders of his time? I would be delight\u00aded if some\u00adone famil\u00adiar with Ice\u00adlandic poet\u00adry would give me their opinion.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve always believed in the dig\u00adni\u00adty of \u201cqui\u00adet patri\u00ado\u00adtism\u201d. The more some\u00adone waves a flag or shouts slo\u00adgans, the more sus\u00adpi\u00adcious I tend to be that their \u201cpatri\u00ado\u00adtism\u201d is half-baked or fraudu\u00adlant. I do not, for exam\u00adple, think that any \u2026<\/p>\n

Read more \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[946,1535],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11349","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-b-reading","category-be-reading-2022"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11349","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11349"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11349\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11357,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11349\/revisions\/11357"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11349"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}