Tomten (poem)

Tomten
by Viktor Rydberg
Title illustration by Jenny Nyström 1881
CountrySweden
LanguageSwedish
Publication date1881 (1881)

"Tomten", also known as "Midvinternattens köld är hård", is a poem written by Viktor Rydberg, and originally published in Ny Illustrerad Tidning in 1881. While outwardly being an idyllic Christmas poem, the poem asks about the meaning of life.

A short film, Tomten, was recorded in 1941 by Gösta Roosling, where Hilda Borgström reads the entire poem.[1]

Lotta Engberg's 2009 Christmas album Jul hos mig closes with a final, hidden, bonus track with Sven Wollter reading the poem.[2]

The poem has also been recorded as an audio book, with Torgny Lindgren reading it.[3][4]

In English[edit]

Rydberg's poem has been translated into English by Charles Wharton Stork,[5] Anna Krook,[6] Elias Gordon[7] and Judith Moffett.[8] In 1960 Astrid Lindgren published a prose version of the story with illustrations by Harald Wiberg.[9][10] Both films based on her Tomten stories were made: Tomte Tummetott and the Fox in 2007,[11] and The Tomten and the Fox in 2019.[12]

Set to music[edit]

  • Julens önskesångbok, 1997, under the lines "Traditionella julsånger", with music by Lyyli Wartiovaara-Kallioniemi.

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Hilda Borgström reads Tomten youtube.com Retrieved: December 29, 2013.
  2. ^ "Jul hos mig" (in Swedish). Svensk mediedatabas. 2009. Retrieved 12 December 2013.
  3. ^ Viktor Rydberg, Torgny Lindgren (2003). Tomten. Pan hörböcker.
  4. ^ Torgny Lindgren reads Tomten youtube.com Retrieved: December 29, 2013.
  5. ^ Anthology of Swedish lyrics by Charles Wharton Stork (New York: The American-Scandinavian Foundation, 1917).
  6. ^ Songs of the North by Anna Krook (Helsingfors, Söderström & Co., 1926).
  7. ^ Bards of the North by Elias Gordon (New York: American Cultural Federation Press, 1936).
  8. ^ The North! to the North! by Judith Moffett (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 2001).
  9. ^ The Tomten by Astrid Lindgren (New York: Coward-McCann, 1960).
  10. ^ Astrid Lindgren adaptation youtube.com Retrieved: December 31, 2013.
  11. ^ "Tomte Tummetott és a róka / Tomte Tummetott and the Fox".
  12. ^ "Reven og nissen".

External links[edit]