Quick Facts
Biography
Tómas Guðmundsson (6 January 1901 – 14 November 1983) was an Icelandic author. He was known as Reykjavík's poet (Reykjavíkurskáldið, skáld Reykjavíkur).
Tómas's parents were Steinunn Þorsteinsdóttir and Guðmundur Ögmundsson, living at Efri-Brú in Grímsnes. He soon got in touch with literature and poetry. He read Icelandic sagas, Jónas Hallgrímsson's poems and more. He also started to write his own poetry at a young age.
He moved to Reykjavík and studied at Menntaskólinn í Reykjavík, there he got in touch with many authors, including Halldór Laxness (they formed a close friendship during the M.R. years), Guðmundur G. Hagalín and Davíð Stefánsson. Tómas graduated from M.R. in 1921.
He then studied law at Háskóli Íslands and graduated in 1926. During that time he got in touch with even more authors, including Jón Thoroddsen junior.
After his graduation he opened an office to practice law and in 1928 he started working at Hagstofa Íslands. He closed his office in 1929 and quit at the bureau in 1943.
From 1943 he was mostly working at poetry and authorship. He was one the editors of Helgafell and Nýja Helgafell, he also translated stories, plays and poems.
Tomas died 1983 in Reykjavík, aged 82.
Works
Tómas's poems were mostly traditional and his style did not change much during his career. The poems are mostly about Reykjavík and his place of youth.
The first three books he published, Við sundin blá, Fagra veröld and Stjörnur vorsins belong to neoromanticism and so do his last two books, Fljótið helga and Heim til þín, Ísland, but its signs are not as strong.
Publications
- 1925: Við sundin blá, poems
- 1933: Fagra veröld, poems
- 1940: Stjörnur vorsins, poems
- 1950: Fljótið helga, poems
- 1977: Heim til þín, Ísland, poems