Bólu-Hjálmar

Hjálmar Jónsson (29 September 1796 – 25 July 1875), better known as Bólu-Hjálmar (after his homestead in Bóla), was a 19th-century Icelandic farmer and poet, known for his sharp style and biting wit and for his mastery of the short Icelandic poetic narrative style known as Rímur.

His parents, Marsibil Semingsdóttir and Jón Benediktsson, were poor and unmarried, and he spent the first eight years of his life at the farm of Dálksstaðir, where he was raised by the widow Sigríður Jónsdóttir.

Hjálmar married Guðný Ólafsdóttir, and the pair began farming at Bakki in Öxnadalur.

The family had difficulty making ends meet, and Hjálmar was constantly engaged in disputes with his neighbours, who accused him of stealing sheep.

Their farmstead at Bóla is now deserted but a memorial to Bólu-Hjálmar has been erected there in a small grove.