THORARENSEN, JAKOB

born May 18, 1886, Hnavatnsssla, Ice. died 1972, Iceland Icelandic poet whose interest was in the daily heroism of the worker. Born in the barren country of the north, a kinsman of the Romantic nationalist poet Bjarni Thrarensen, Jakob worked on the farm and in fishing boats. When he was 19, he went to Reykjavk to be a carpenter and worked at the trade for many years before he could take up full-time writing. He had only a simple elementary education, but he read widely and built up a library of books in Icelandic and the Scandinavian languages. His first collection of verse, Snaeljs (1914; Glare of the Snow), interpreted the strength and self-sufficiency of the farmers and fishermen of Iceland. His short stories, published from 1929 to 1939, were in the same vein as his poetry and limned sharply drawn characters against a simple background.