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Sacred Poetry from Around the World

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Secular or Eclectic

Christian : Catholic

20th Century

Norway
(North America)

Rolf Jacobsen

Timeline (1907 - 1994)

Poems by Rolf Jacobsen
Books - Links

Rolf Jacobsen, Rolf Jacobsen poetry, Secular or Eclectic, Secular or Eclectic poetry, poetry, poetry, Christian poetry

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Rolf Jacobsen's poetry often explored modern subjects: urban life, cars, the industrial machine. But Jacobsen's view of the technological 20th century was nuanced and expressed a melancholy awareness of how nature, quiet, and the interior life were overlooked in this new enthusiastic haste.

Jacobsen was born in Oslo (then called Kristiania). His father was a dentist and his mother a nurse. He was raised for part of his childhood by his uncle, a railway engineer. Jacobsen studied several years at the University of Oslo without graduating.

He married in 1940 and had two sons. He appeared to be happily married, and wrote several poem about his married life.

World War II was turbulent for Jacobsen. Like many in Nazi-occupied Norway, he became a member of the Norwegian Nationalist Socialist Party in order to get by. When the Germans were defeated, he spent nearly four years in prison for his affiliation with the occupiers.

Afterward, he settled in Hamar, north of Oslo, and became a bookseller and journalist. During this period he converted to Catholicism. Only after several years did he return to poetry, writing with renewed compassion, continuing to meditate on the shifting pace and focus of life in the modern era, becoming a greatly loved and respected poet later in life.

Poems by Rolf Jacobsen

	Guardian Angel
	Moon and Apple
	The Silence Afterwards
	When They Sleep

Recommended Books

	Night Music: Selected Poems, by Rolf Jacobsen / Translated by Robert Hedin Amazon.com
	Night Open: Selected Poems, by Rolf Jacobsen / Translated by Olav Grinde Amazon.com
	North in the World: Selected Poems of Rolf Jacobsen, A Bilingual Edition, by Rolf Jacobsen / Translated by Roger Greenwald Amazon.com
	The Roads Have Come to an End Now: Selected and Last Poems of Rolf Jacobsen, by Rolf Jacobsen / Translated by Robert Bly Amazon.com
	The Winged Energy of Delight, Translated by Robert Bly Amazon.com

Related Links:

	Rolf Jacobsen http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/jaco.htm A good online biography of Jacobsen.

Please support the Poetry Chaikhana, as well as the authors and publishers of sacred poetry, by purchasing some of the recommended books through the links on this site. Thank you!

Poetry Chaikhana Sacred Poetry from Around the World

Rolf Jacobsen

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Poetry Chaikhana
Sacred Poetry from Around the World

Support
the Poetry Chaikhana