Poul F. Joensen

Poul Frederik Joensen (best known as Poul F.) (18 November 1898 in Sumba – 27 June 1970 in Froðba) was a Faroese poet and writer.

He is best known for his poems, both the satirical ones and his love poems. He worked as a school teacher for some years, but most of his life he worked as a sheep farmer and a laborer.

Poul F.'s work include translated poems by Heinrich Heine and Robert Burns. His first collection of poems Gaman og álvara (Novelty and severity) was published in 1924; it was the second collection of poetry by one Faroese poet published in the Faroe Islands. It was published by Felagið Varðin with Richard Long. The first collection of poems in Faroese language was published in 1914, these poems were written by Janus Djurhuus, the title was Yrkingar which means Poems. He was awarded with the Faroese Literature Prize in 1963.

The village Sumba, which is the southernmost village in the Faroe Islands. The neighbourhood Hørg is up on the hillside. The mountain in the background is Beinisvørð, 470 meter high, often mentioned in Poul F. Joensen's poems. Beinisvørð has a green slope up to the top on this side and goes vertically down to the sea on the other side.

View from Beinisvørð.

Poul (Pól) F. Joensen was the son of Daniel Jacob Joensen from Hørg, Sumba and Anna Sofia, born Langaard, both came from the village Sumba. Later he married Julia Mortensen from Froðba.

When Poul F. was 14-year-old he tried to by a seaman as did many of his friends. He was a fisherman for one year. He wished to continue with life at sea and had plans to go fishing with the fishing vessel Robert Miller, but his parents wouln'd permit him to do so. In stead they sent him to Tórshavn, to study to become a teacher in public schools. Later it turned out that if he had gone fishing with Robert Miller on that trip, it would have been the last thing that he had done, and no one would have known about his poetry ever. Robert Miller never returned from that trip in March 1914, all men onboard lost their lives. Poul F. Joensen graduated as a school teacher in 1917. He was teaching from 1919–27 in Froðba and again 1947–49 in Lopra, both villages are on Suðuroy. After teaching for eight years he decided to give up teaching and live as a writer and a sheep farmer and by working various jobs.

Memorial stone in Froðba in memory of Poul F. Joensen

• 1963 – Faroese Literature Prize (M.A. Jacobsens Heiðursløn).

On 17 June 2007 a memorial stone was raised in Froðba by Lions Club Suðuroy, near his home. The stone was taken from a hillside in Sumba, the village where he was born and grew up. A metal plate with a portrait of Poul F. Joensen has been placed on the stone, it was made by Nordisk Metalkunst of Kalsing in Denmark. Árni Ziska has made the text and put the plate into place. Trúgvi Gudmundarson has made the stone fundament around the memorial stone.

• Árni Dahl, Bókmentasøga 2, from page 104; Fannir, 1981