Herman Wildenvey

Herman Wildenvey (1885–1959), a Norwegian poet, mentor of the young Nordheim, freemason, author of personal poetry written in a traditional form, often called the poet of joy or the bard of the summer, although he was mainly preoccupied with philosophy and metaphysics. He published 44 tomes of his own poetry as well as translations of great poets and writers of the world, such as Shakespeare, Hemingway, Goethe, Aesop or Heine. From 1923 until his death he lived with his wife Gisken (1892-1985), a writer, in Hergisheim villa. Since 1996, the Herman Wildenvey Poetic Prize is awarded on the 20 July, the day of his birthday. Nordheim claimed that he learnt more about composing from Herman Wildenvey’s poetry than in the conservatory.