Nygard was born in an isolated farm in the rural district of Modalen, Norway, being the second youngest of altogether ten siblings.
His childhood, however, was not easy, losing his mother at the age of ten, and having to work at his father's farm after finishing elementary school.
So was also British authors like William Shakespeare and John Keats, not to mention Robert Burns, of whom Nygard translated several poems.
But it is also a vibrant poetry, using powerful images and connecting the forces of life, death and nature in a vital, ambitious way.
But while many authors of his time wrote in a more realistic and concrete fashion, Nygard held on to an almost cosmological style.
Although rarely read by most, Nygard is considered an important author in the change from late romantic to modernistic Norwegian literature, and a major poetic talent.
Norwegian author Claes Gill is known to have stated about Nygard, that he, "[...] if writing in a World language, would have been among the greatest poets in international literature.