Hans Hyldbakk (1898 - 2001)

Translator's Note: This is a machine-assisted translation completed on May 20, 2025. While care has been taken to maintain accuracy, this translation has not yet undergone human review or validation. Please note that specialized terms, historical references, and nuanced content may benefit from expert review.

Hans Hyldbakk was a Norwegian poet and writer, born and raised in Surnadal in the Nordmøre region. He often wrote poetry in the Nordmøre dialect and gained wider recognition when Henning Sommerro set his poem "Vårsøg" to music in 1977, recorded by the folk group Vårsøg. Hyldbakk wrote the poem in 1945, and the title may well have served as a metaphor for the liberation.

Hyldbakk was a versatile writer, known among other things for his “Letters from Kleiva” in the newspaper Driva, and for his work as a local historian. He authored local history books (bygdebøker) for five municipalities, totaling 11,000 pages across around 20 volumes. Hyldbakk himself did not wish to be called a poet, but rather a rhymester, writer, and cultural agent.

About the beloved friend Knut

In September 1922, Hyldbakk published the novel Ane Sjurshaugen as a serialized story in the newspaper Arbeiderpolitikken, written in Riksmål at the time, though he soon switched to Nynorsk, as seen in the novel Brotne band. This novel was serialized for over a year in the newspaper Heimveg, concluding in April 1928, and was republished as a book in 2011 by Blomsterhaug Forlag. Brotne band deals with the transition from an agrarian to an industrial society, centering on the shepherd and farmhand Sverre Vatneplassen. He writes passionate poems about brotherhood and socialism and serves as a reflection of the author himself. Sverre is 30 years old and still a “green bachelor,” but on a nearby farm, he has a “dearest friend” named Knut.

“They shared many secrets,” Hyldbakk writes, adding:
“He was so fair and handsome to look at, that Knut. He was like a dwelling place for pure and joyful thoughts…”
Sverre would grow hot when he thought of Knut. His eyes glowed, and his mouth trembled.

It’s clear that there are deep feelings between the two friends—at least on Sverre’s part—but such things couldn’t be written more directly in the 1920s. Sverre writes a long letter to Knut about their friendship, but receives no reply and begins drinking out of heartbreak. One evening, he shows up drunk at a temperance dance and is thrown out by Knut. The shame is overwhelming, and Sverre realizes: “Now the bonds were broken, yes, broken for all time.”

When Knut gets married, Sverre is asked to write a song or a poem, but isn’t invited to the wedding until the very same day, in a remorseful letter from Knut. But Sverre chooses not to go. The reason isn’t that he feels betrayed by Knut: “No, it’s because I have betrayed myself.”
The ending is somewhat ambiguous, but it’s likely that Sverre attends the celebration after all.

In 1930, Hyldbakk wrote a new novel, Gunnar Hjelen, which he submitted to Aschehoug, but it was rejected and the manuscript was burned. This deeply affected Hyldbakk, and he never attempted to write a novel again.

Love in the form of poetry

Hans Hyldbakk’s first poetry collection, Harpespel, was published in 1929 by Noregs Boklag. It contains many hymns of praise and poems about friendship and unrequited love. The poetic speaker longs for closeness and love, but feels betrayed and alone—as in this scene from a youth party in the poem “Outside” (“Utanfor”).

But I walked alone in dreams
in my own land of joy,
listening for pure tones,
longing for what the others found.

[...]

No one comes and no one lingers
by a lonely, sinful man.
The same doubt and the same thoughts
were all he ever gained.

Orig.:

Men eg gjekk i draum åleine

i mitt eige lukkeland,

lydde etter tonar reine,

sakna det dei andre fann.

[...]

Ingen kjem og ingen vankar

hjå ein einsam syndar-mann.

Same tvil og same tankar

var det einaste han vann.

In the poem “A Friend”, he finds comfort in nature, which he longs to share with a friend:
“I love all that is fair in the world / and am like a child in faith. / But never on my journey / did I find a treasure dearer than you.”

It can feel lonely in the evening when he sits waiting in vain for his friend, as in the poem “Waiting”.

I wait today, and I waited yesterday.
I’ll wait even if I must wait a year,
and someday he surely must come.

Orig.:

Eg ventar i dag, og eg venta i går.
Eg ventar um so eg skal venta eit år,

og eingong so må han vel koma.

The poem “The Narrow Path” is a metaphor for being a Christian and doing everything right—without standing out in any way, for otherwise you risk being scorned:
“Hollow and empty must the sound ring / in the great city of Sodom / from your harp of life.” ("Hol og tom må klangen ljoma / i den store stad Sodoma / frå ditt livsens harpespel"). 

But for one whole summer, he gets to experience happiness and joy, as described in the poem “Love and Loyalty.”

You lay by his chest
and felt his arm
around your waist on a summer night.
And the joy was great
in loving words
that bound heart to heart.

But autumn concealed that summer
in nights of winter cold.

Orig.:

Du låg ved hans barm

og kjende hans arm

kring livet ei sumarnatt.

Og gleda var stor

i kjærlege ord

som til hjarta batt.

Men hausten den sumar dulde

i næter med vinterkulde.

Desirous young men

The following year, Hyldbakk published Paa vandringsveg (On the Wandering Path, Noregs Boklag, 1930), a collection filled with poems about sunshine and spring, overflowing vitality, and dreams of love.
And in the poem “A Land of Eden”, the moment arrives:
“Here young men bathe / and naked, desirous farmhands,”
and “then they love one another and then / they kiss on the mouth.”

Orig.: "Her laugar unge menn / og nakne kaate drengjer", og "daa elskar dei kvarandre og daa / kyssar dei paa munnen"

In the long poem “Kleivewandering”, it is the moonlight that helps the speaker honestly confess all the things he holds dear, and they whisper to him with “such love-filled voices [...] of a paradise with glory and bliss.”
There, he is free to sin:

And then awoke within my breast
love’s thread and bodily desire,
all the longings that are condemned in the flesh.

And then it shimmered on the hill,
and then it trickled and drew me in,
as I walked my path to the first meeting of love.

And I prayed with all my heart:
“Dear gentle Mother Earth,
grant me many more days to live.

Let me sin sweetly and small
in your bright moonlit night
many times still, before you hide me in eternity!”

Orig.:

Og daa vakna i mitt bryst

kjærleiks traa og lekams lyst,

alle lengslor som fordømde er i kjøtet.

Og daa hildra det i haug,

og daa sildra det og saug,

som eg gjekk min veg til fyrste kjærleiksmøtet.

 

Og eg bad med hjartans ord:

‘Kjære milde moder jord

gjev meg endaa mange dagar til aa leva.

Lat meg synda sælt og smaatt

i di ljose maanenott

ofte enno fyrr du gøymer meg i æva!’

 

Lonely and homosexual

Hans Hyldbakk was active as a writer throughout his life, right up until he passed away at the age of 103. In his later poems, he can at times resemble Tor Jonsson, though without quite reaching the same level of quality, as seen in the poem ‘On Enjoying and Contributing’ (Aspen Trembles in Øyalia, 1975):"

Everything that is to grow on Earth
Must first be sown by man.
If all you ever sowed were words,
True happiness was never won.

Orig.:

Alt som skal gro på jorda,

Det må ein mann ha sådd.

Sådde du berre orda,

Lykka vart aldri nådd.

As a young man, Henning Sommerro became interested in and visited the small red crofter’s cottage of Hans Hyldbakk, a local eccentric “whom people thought was strange,” Sommerro said in an interview in 2012. He added: “Hyldbakk is lonely, homosexual, and a failed novelist.” Hyldbakk also dabbled in poetry and earned money by writing local history books. (Karlsvik 2012)

Love for his home village was important to Hyldbakk, as was love for people, said the centenarian in an interview: “My gospel is the idea of liberalism: freedom for human beings.” The hundred-year-old had little regard for Norwegian prayer-house moralism and judgmental Christianity: “The Greeks, on the other hand, they celebrated the body – in art and athletics.” All the various sects quickly degenerate into fundamentalism: “In the state church, you can be a part of it without being saved. And that’s good – for guys like me.” Death is the greatest democrat in the world, Hyldbakk believed, and he lived by the following principle and worldview: “Truth. You shall live in truth and not pretend to be someone you’re not. But it’s okay to tell a little white lie when needed.” (Sæter 1998)

Honorary Awards and Testament

Hans Hyldbakk would become the longest-living member of the Norwegian Authors’ Union, and he was honored with several awards from the municipality, county, and state. In 1976, he received the Norwegian Arts Council’s award for his work on local history books, and the following year he was granted the State Artist’s Scholarship. He was awarded the King’s Medal of Merit in gold in 1994.

As early as 1979, the municipality erected a bronze bust of him, created by Tore Bjørn Skjølsvik. Hyldbakk was a very frugal man, saved money, and bequeathed nearly one million kroner to the municipality of Surnadal, in addition to his house at Kleiva. Today, the Vårsøg Festival is held there every Pentecost.

In addition, the municipality annually awards the Kleiva Prize, with the funds intended to “promote cultural and local historical purposes”—though notably, not for elite sports or football.