Petter Dass

Petter Dass ( * about 1646 in Helgeland; † August 17, 1707 in Alstahaug ) was a Norwegian poet and hymn writer.

Life

That was the son of Peter Dundas, one emigrated to North Norway Scottish merchant, and Maren Falchs, daughter of the bailiff of Helgeland Peter Jakobsson Falck, grew up in Nærøy on in Nord-Trøndelag and went to school in Bergen. After studying theology in Copenhagen, he worked as a private tutor from 1665 to 1667. In 1669 he became the chaplain of Nesna, 1689 he became pastor in Alstahaug. In addition to his pastoral work, he was also active in the coastal trade. Especially in his time as a chaplain he suffered, as the entire northern Norwegian population, great economic hardship.

At the age of 60 years Petter Dass died in August 1707 Alstahaug.

Creation

Petter Dass is one of the most important poets of Norway in the 17th century. In the style of Martin Luther's small catechism that wrote hymns and sang in popular ways the lives of his Norwegian homeland. His poems were often also means that the purpose of his pastoral ministry.

Related to the baroque poetry is the Northland Trompet ( The Trumpet of the north country ), a detailed and interesting cultural and historical description of the hard and simple life of the Norwegian farmers and fishermen.

Works

• Aandelig Tidsfordriv eller Bibelske Viisebog, 1711
• Catechism Sange, 1714
• Northland Trompet, 1739
• The Nordske Dale Viise, 1670

Expenditure

• Samlede staking, 3 volumes, ed. by Kjell Heggelund, Oslo: Sansoni, 1997

Translations

• The Trumpet of the north country and other poems. From the Norwegian by Ludwig Passarge, Gotha 1897