Mellom Blåbjøllbakken og Pompeij. Stadnamn, minne og identitet i Tor Jonssons poesi

Abstract

This thesis deals with the meaning of place names in poetry, especially in the poetry of the norwegian poet Tor Jonsson. It is a common view among many scholars that names have no sense or only a minimal sense, and that their meaning is mostly to refer to certain objects. In this thesis the author argues the view that place names often have a great amount of meaning attached to them. The meaning attached to place names is mostly connotations. Since the thesis deals with place names in literature, no distinction is made between "sense" and "meaning" of a word.

Place names often have stories attached to them, and place names are also important to both personal and group identity. When reading poetry with place names the connotations each reader has to the place names in the text, or to place names in general, can alter how the poetry is interpreted.