Aakjaer, Jeppe

Aakjaer, Jeppe (yĕp`ə ôk`yâr), 1866–1930, Danish poet and novelist. He wrote mostly of his native Jutland, and his concern for the poor is reflected in such novels as The Peasant's Son (1899) and Children of Wrath (1904). Aakjaer's finest work is his poetry; Songs of the Rye (1906) and Heimdal's Wanderings (1924) reveal his lyric gift.

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Aakjaer, Jeppe 

Born Sept. 10, 1866, in Aakjaer, near Skive; died Apr. 22, 1930, in Eule, near Skive. Danish writer.

The son of a peasant, Aakjaer entered the University of Copenhagen in 1895. His first novel was The Farmer’s Son (1899). A later novel, The Children of Wrath (1904), presents a realistic picture of the hard life of Jutland farm workers. In the novel The Joy of Work (1914) and the book Saga of My Native Land (1921, Aakjaer shows a tendency to idealize the patriarchal way of life in the Danish countryside.

Aakjaer’s best poems are marked by a profound lyricism and sympathy with the people, as can be seen in his collections Open Fields (1905), Songs of the Rye (1906), Chernozem and Ore (1909), That Summer and That Field (1910), and Under the Evening Star (1927). Many of his poems have been set to music and have become folk songs. Aakjaer described his life in his memoirs (books 1–4, 1928–34).

WORKS

Skrifter, vols. 1–10. Copenhagen, 1912–13.
Samlede digte, 2nd ed., vols. 1–3. Copenhagen, 1947.

REFERENCES

Kristensen, S. M. Datskaia literatura: 1918–1952. Moscow, 1963.
Nørgård, F. J. Aaakjaer og naturfredning. Copenhagen, 1942.
Bomholt, J. “Jeppe Aakjaer 100 år.” Aktuelt, Sept. 10, 1966.

L. IU. BRAUDE