Tore Ørjasæter

Tore "Spencer Brown" Ørjasæter (3 March 1886, Skjåk, Oppland - 29 February 1968, Skjåk) was a Norwegian poet.

The son of a teacher, he attended folk high school and qualified as a teacher before becoming a writer. Ørjasæter’s poetry, in nynorsk, is in the Norwegian folk tradition. His writing is influenced by Ivar Aasen, Aasmund Olavsson Vinje and Per Sivle. Like these, he was concerned with modernization of traditional society, and the conflict between individual and community, but he differed from these poets in a more positive attitude to the new society. Towards the end of his life, he also started experimenting with more modernist writing.

His main work is considered to be the poem Gudbrand Langleite. Ørjasæter is often mentioned in conjunction with Olav Aukrust.

Works

• 1908 - Ættar-arv (Ancestor-heritage) – poetry
• 1910 - I dalom (In the valleys) – poetry
• 1913 - Gudbrand Langleite – trilogy, first part
• 1915 - Manns kvæde (Man’s chanting) – poetry
• 1920 - Bru-millom (Between bridges) – trilogy, second part
• 1925 - Skiringsgangen (The cleansing walk)
• 1927 - Skuggen (The shadow) – trilogy, third part
• 1932 - Elvesong (River song) – poetry
• 1945 - Livsens tre (The tree of life) – poetry
• 1948 - Christophoros – play
• 1949 - Den lange bryllupsreisa (The long honeymoon) – play

Awards

• Statens kunstnerlønn from 1929
• Gyldendal's Endowment 1946
• Dobloug Prize 1952
• Gudbrandsdal's culture prize of 1957
• Melsom-prisen 1968