National Anthem Comparison
Denmark vs Iceland
2
Shared themes
✗
Different moods
55
55 years apart
✓
Same continent
Comparison Analysis
Denmark and Iceland, both Europe nations, take distinct approaches to their national anthems. Denmark's "There Is a Lovely Land" was written in 1819, while Iceland's "Hymn" dates to 1874.
Both anthems share themes of nature and ancestors / heritage. Denmark additionally explores love of homeland, while Iceland also touches on god / faith.
The emotional tones differ: Denmark's anthem is proud, while Iceland's is prayerful.
Denmark's anthem predates Iceland's by 55 years, having been written in 1819 compared to 1874.
Shared themes
Denmark
🌿 Nature ❤ Love of homeland 🏺 Ancestors / Heritage
Iceland
✝ God / Faith 🌿 Nature 🏺 Ancestors / Heritage
Shared themes:
🌿 Nature 🏺 Ancestors / Heritage
Metadata
| Denmark | Iceland | |
|---|---|---|
| Written | 1819 | 1874 |
| Adopted | 1835 | 1918 |
| Lyricist | Adam Oehlenschlager | Matthías Jochumsson |
| Composer | Hans Ernst Kroyer | Sveinbjörn Sveinbjörnsson |
| Language | da | is |
| Region | Northern Europe | Northern Europe |
Lyrics Side by Side
Denmark
Der er et yndigt land
Original
Der er et yndigt land,
Det står med brede bøge
Nær salten østerstrand;
Det bugter sig i bakke, dal,
Det hedder gamle Danmark,
Og det er Frejas sal.
Der sad i fordums tid
De harniskklædte kæmper,
Udhvilede fra strid;
Så drog de frem til fjenders mén,
Nu hvile deres bene
Bag højens bautasten.
Det land endnu er skønt,
Thi blå sig søen bælter,
Og løvet står så grønt;
Og ædle kvinder, skønne møer
Og mænd og raske svende
Bebo de danskes øer.
Hil drot og fædreland!
Hil hver en danneborger,
Som virker, hvad han kan!
Vort gamle Danmark skal bestå,
Så længe bøgen spejler
Sin top i bølgen blå.
Translation
There is a lovely land,
it stands with broad beeches
near the salty eastern shore;
it winds itself in hills and valleys,
it is called old Denmark
and it is Freja's hall.
There sat in ancient times
the armour-clad warriors,
resting from battle;
then they marched forth to the enemies' harm,
now their bones rest
behind the mound's standing stones.
This land is still fair,
for the sea is blue around it,
and the foliage stands so green;
and noble women, fair maidens
and men and brave lads
inhabit the Danish isles.
Hail king and fatherland!
Hail every honest citizen
who does what he can!
Our old Denmark shall endure,
as long as the beech tree mirrors
its crown in the blue wave.
Iceland
Lofsöngur
Original
Ó, guð vors lands! Ó, lands vors guð!
Vér lofum þitt heilaga, heilaga nafn!
Úr sólkerfum himnanna hnýta þér krans
þínir herskarar, tímanna safn.
Fyrir þér er einn dagur sem þúsund ár
og þúsund ár dagur, ei meir:
eitt eilífðar smáblóm með titrandi tár,
sem tilbiður guð sinn og deyr.
Íslands þúsund ár,
Íslands þúsund ár,
eitt eilífðar smáblóm með titrandi tár,
sem tilbiður guð sinn og deyr.
Ó, guð, ó, guð! Vér föllum fram
og fórnum þér brennandi, brennandi sál,
guð faðir, vor drottinn frá kyni til kyns,
og vér kvökum vort helgasta mál.
Vér kvökum og þökkum í þúsund ár,
því þú ert vort einasta skjól.
Vér kvökum og þökkum með titrandi tár,
því þú tilbjóst vort forlagahjól.
Íslands þúsund ár,
Íslands þúsund ár,
voru morgunsins húmköldu, hrynjandi tár,
sem hitna við skínandi sól.
Ó, guð vors lands! Ó, lands vors guð!
Vér lifum sem blaktandi, blaktandi strá.
Vér deyjum, ef þú ert ei ljós það og líf,
sem að lyftir oss duftinu frá.
Ó, vert þú hvern morgun vort ljúfasta líf,
vor leiðtogi í daganna þraut
og á kvöldin vor himneska hvíld og vor hlíf
og vor hertogi á þjóðlífsins braut.
Íslands þúsund ár,
Íslands þúsund ár,
verði gróandi þjóðlíf með þverrandi tár,
sem þroskast á guðsríkis braut.
Translation
O God of our land! O our land's God!
We praise Your holy, holy name!
Out of the solar systems of the heavens Your hosts weave You a crown,
Your hosts, the gathering of the ages.
Before You one day is as a thousand years
and a thousand years a day, no more:
one little flower of eternity with a trembling tear,
that worships its God and dies.
Iceland's thousand years,
Iceland's thousand years,
one little flower of eternity with a trembling tear,
that worships its God and dies.
O God, O God! We fall down before You
and offer You a burning, burning soul,
God the Father, our Lord from age to age,
and we murmur our holiest words.
We murmur and give thanks a thousand years,
for You are our only shelter.
We murmur and give thanks with a trembling tear,
for You shaped the wheel of our fate.
Iceland's thousand years,
Iceland's thousand years,
were the morning's dusk-cold, falling tears
that grow warm in the shining sun.
O God of our land! O our land's God!
We live like a fluttering, fluttering blade of grass.
We die if You are not that light and that life
which lifts us up out of the dust.
O, be each morning our dearest life,
our guide through the labour of the days,
and in the evenings our heavenly rest and our shield
and our captain on the road of the nation's life.
Iceland's thousand years,
Iceland's thousand years,
let the nation's life flourish with dwindling tears,
ripening on the road of the kingdom of God.
Interesting facts
Denmark
- 1. The royal anthem 'Kong Christian stod ved højen mast' tends to be heard on military and royal occasions, while 'Der er et yndigt land' is the one most often heard at sports matches, where since the 1990s it has been customary to sing only the first verse and the closing lines of the last.
- 2. Hans Ernst Krøyer's melody, with its mix of wide leaps and small chromatic steps, is not easy to sing, yet later settings by Thomas Laub (1919) and Carl Nielsen (1924) never displaced it.
- 3. Beeches, a symbol of Danish nature and patriotism since the 1800s, appear in the anthem's second line and again in its closing lines; in 1936, when Argentina asked which tree should represent Denmark in a park of national trees, the Foreign Ministry named the beech.
Iceland
- 1. The hymn's central image comes from Psalm 90, where a thousand years in God's sight are like a day that has gone by. Its two-way wording, 'one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years a day', is closer to 2 Peter 3:8.
- 2. It is notoriously difficult to sing. In the official score the melody spans a minor fourteenth, an octave plus a minor seventh, and the government itself says the range is much too wide for many people. Usually only the first of the three stanzas is sung.
- 3. Act No. 7 of 1983 formally made Lofsöngur the national anthem of Iceland and forbids performing or publishing it in any form other than the original, or using it for commercial or advertising purposes; before that the song's status rested on custom. The state had acquired the copyright to the music in 1948 and to the poem in 1949.
- 4. Jochumsson wrote the first stanza in the autumn of 1873 while staying with Sveinbjörnsson at 15 London Street in Edinburgh, where a plaque has marked the house since 1974. He wrote the other two stanzas in London, and the music followed in the spring of 1874.
Listen
Denmark
Iceland
