137 Ibl 
 
THE OLD NORSE ELEMENT 
 IN SWEDISH ROMANTICISM 
 
 BY 
 
 ADOLPH BURNETT /BENSON 
 
 SOMETIME FELLOW IN GERMAN, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 
 
 SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR 
 
 THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY, IN THE FACULTY 
 
 OF PHILOSOPHY, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 
 
 
 COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS 
 1914 
 
Copyright, 1914 
 BY COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS 
 
 Printed from type, October, 1914 
 
 PRESS OF 
 
 THE NEW ERA PRINTING COMPANY 
 LANCASTER, PA. 
 
Approved for publication, on behalf of the Department of 
 Germanic Languages and Literatures of Columbia University. 
 
 CALVIN THOMAS. 
 
 NEW YORK, October, 1914 
 
 305815 
 
TO 
 
 MY MOTHER 
 
 WHOSE SACRIFICE AND ENCOURAGEMENT 
 HAS MADE MY EDUCATION POSSIBLE 
 
PREFACE 
 
 Enthusiasm for the Norse saga during the Swedish Romantic 
 period was not confined to the members of the so-called Gothic 
 School. The interest in the Viking age spread also to other 
 groups of poets as well as to some individuals who, like Stag- 
 nelius, were not identified with any school. As we shall see, 
 however, they were all, in the ordinary, broad sense, Romantic. 
 This review, therefore, purports to deal with a number of het- 
 erogeneous writers, often belonging to entirely different literary 
 confessions, but all bound together, for us, by a bond of com- 
 mon interest in Scandinavian antiquity. 
 
 The purpose of this study is fourfold: (i) to show clearly 
 that a genuine interest in Scandinavian antiquity was present 
 from the beginning in both the new literary tendencies of the 
 time, (2) to characterize this interest, (3) to collect and ex- 
 amine all the important literary monuments from 1810 to about 
 1825 that make use of Scandinavian saga, and (4) to record 
 conservative opposition to Norse mythology in Sweden during 
 that period. 
 
 The well-known literary chiefs, Tegner, Geijer, and Ling, 
 will be treated only incidentally in this study, in connection with 
 specific problems. The present investigation intends to empha- 
 size the work of the minor "Goths" and of such other Roman- 
 ticists as are not ordinarily mentioned in connection with the 
 Old Norse element. Among the latter are the Fosforists. 
 
 An appendix has been added, containing brief biographical 
 data of the most important writers connected with Swedish 
 Romanticism. 
 
 Lastly, I wish to express my gratitude to all those who have 
 contributed in any way to make this investigation possible. 
 
 To Professor Calvin Thomas, first of all, I owe a deep debt 
 for substantial encouragement and for ever-ready assistance, 
 especially in connection with the final proof-reading. 
 
 ix 
 
To Professor Robert Herndon Fife, Jr., of Wesleyan Uni- 
 versity, who introduced me to the study of Romanticism; to 
 the late Professor Rudolf Tombo, Jr., to Professor Louis 
 Auguste Loiseaux, and especially to Professor Arthur F. J. 
 Remy, I owe more than a pupil's debt to a teacher. 
 
 To George Frederick Hummel, A.M., of Brooklyn, N. Y., I 
 am indebted for a valuable suggestion in connection with the 
 Introduction; Professor Fletcher Briggs of the Iowa State Col- 
 lege of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts has furnished a useful 
 hint; Froken Elna Bengtson of Boras, Sweden, has provided a 
 list of books for my bibliography ; and Andrew Thomas Weaver, 
 A.M., of Northwestern Academy, Hannah Senior Nicholson, 
 B.A., and Marion E. Morton, B.A., recently of the Hanover 
 (New Hampshire) High School, have assisted in correcting the 
 manuscript. 
 
 I beg to acknowledge also my indebtedness to the Yale Uni- 
 versity library, where I obtained many of my most valuable 
 sources. 
 
 A. B. B. 
 
 July, 1914- 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PACK 
 
 PREFACE . ix 
 
 INTRODUCTION i 
 
 Fosforism and Gothism. 
 
 The beginnings of interest in the Old Norse element. 
 
 The Northern renaissance in England, Germany, France, and 
 Denmark up to 1810, with list of important publications. The 
 Norse renaissance in Sweden during the seventeenth and 
 eighteenth centuries. 
 
 CHAPTER I 26 
 
 The interest of the Fosforists in Scandinavian Antiquity. 
 Atterbom : His Gothic contributions to Svensk Litteratur- 
 
 Tidning. 
 
 The Fosforists in literary criticism. 
 
 Fosforos, Poetisk Kalender. Later interest in the saga. 
 Hammarskjold : His attitude toward Norse myths, and interest 
 
 in folklore. 
 
 Livijn : Early interest in Norse mythology. 
 The interest of various minor writers. 
 
 CHAPTER II 78 
 
 Non-Romantic interest in the Norse saga. 
 
 Granberg : " Jorund." 
 
 Charlotta Eleonora d'Albedyhll : " Gefion." 
 
 CHAPTER III 98 
 
 The theoretical problem of introducing Norse mythology into 
 
 Swedish art and poetry. 
 Foreign treatises on Norse mythology versus the Greek. Grater, 
 
 Herder and Oehlenschlager. 
 Lectures on art by Hammarskjold and Ling. 
 " Eddornas Sinnebildslara." Character of opposition to Norse 
 
 myths. 
 
 Geijer warns against exaggeration in the use of Norse themes. 
 The exhibition of national art, 1818. Tegner's views. 
 
 Xi 
 
Xll 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 CHAPTER IV 125 
 
 Erik Johan Stagneliiis: The Old Norse element as a vehicle 
 
 for Romanticism. 
 
 The Norse element in the epic " Blenda." 
 The mythical poem " Gunlog." The tragedies " Wisbur " and 
 
 " Sigurd Ring." The fragment " Svegder." 
 
 CHAPTER V 144 
 
 Nicander and Beskow, with special reference to the age of 
 transition from Norse heathenism to Christianity, as reflected 
 in the Romantic dramas of these two men. 
 
 " Runesvardet." The Old Norse element in Oldur Silfverskagg. 
 
 Influence of Fouque and Oehlenschlager. Specific saga sources 
 in " Runor af Norna-Gest." 
 
 Beskow " Hildegard," its Christian and pre-Christian elements. 
 Comparison with " Runesvardet." The viking type in " Hilde- 
 gard." 
 
 CONCLUSION 17 
 
 APPENDIX 173 
 
 BIBLIOGRAPHY 185 
 
 (i) For this study in particular. (2) For Swedish Romanti- 
 cism in general. 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 FOSFORISM AND GOTHISM 
 
 Den nordiska renassansen har lika djupa rotter som all annan 
 europeisk romantik. Anton Blanck : " Den nordiska renassansen." 
 
 The term " Romanticism," in its broadest sense, is as vague 
 in Sweden as elsewhere, and as a literary movement it is im- 
 possible to fix its boundary in time or to outline its program 
 with any absolute precision. Nevertheless, beginning about 
 1810, we can easily detect two main tendencies in Swedish 
 Romanticism; one was called Fosforism, after the literary 
 organ Fosforos, and the other we may call Gothism. The 
 former looked to Greek, Spanish, Italian, and more especially 
 to German models, while the so-called Gothic School aimed to 
 have a more exclusively Scandinavian, i.e., "Gothic" character. 
 
 Both schools were, in a sense, national ; both strove for origi- 
 nality and independence, opposed the correct, Gustavian, Acad- 
 emicians, and looked forward toward a new era in Swedish 
 letters. The Fosforists lauded the work of their Swedish, as well 
 as of their German, progenitors and brought many a hitherto 
 obscure name into greater prominence. Of course the policies 
 of both schools were reactionary; Fosforists and Goths alike 
 were dissatisfied with existing conditions and pined for some- 
 thing new. But what they had in mind turned out to be the 
 old the medieval or the primitive. As in Germany and Eng- 
 land, then, Swedish Romanticism was retrospective ; but in Swe- 
 den medievalism was merely incidental or second-hand; more 
 often the new pathfinders in Sweden went beyond the Middle 
 Ages and studied early Oriental religion and philosophy; they 
 sought for new interpretations of the ancient classics, or, like 
 the Goths, they limited their attention to the Scandinavian 
 countries and studied Norse mythology. 
 
 The principles of Fosforism had been in the making for at 
 least a quarter of a century before they finally burst out into 
 
 1 
 
an open revolution about 1810. The most obvious manifesta- 
 tions of the approaching storm were : an increasing interest in 
 German and English literature, a growing hostility toward 
 French models and frequent emphasis on feeling, originality, 
 and imagination. The preceding century had been the age of 
 enlightenment in Sweden and the dominating tone had been 
 entirely French. The Academy of Belles-Lettres (Vitterhets- 
 Akademien), which had been founded by Queen Louise Ulrika 
 in 1753, had been reorganized and enlarged in 1786 by Gustavus 
 III., and was modeled after the French Academy. The Swed- 
 ish capital, therefore, under the dictatorship of the Swedish 
 Academy, continued to mold literature according to French rhe- 
 torical systems. In so doing, it undoubtedly performed a noble 
 and necessary mission; it gave Swedish literature both style 
 and form. But with the end of the French Revolution and the 
 death of Gustavus III. in 1792, many patriots began to feel 
 that the French style had prevailed long enough; that it was 
 getting a bit abstract, mechanical, and monotonous, and, there- 
 fore, undesirable. 
 
 One of the first to break with the French taste and to pre- 
 pare the way for a new literary movement was Thomas Thorild 
 (1759-1808). He was no creative artist, but an original 
 thinker, who had a keen appreciation of life and art. In his 
 controversy with the Academicians Leopold and Kellgren he 
 gradually disabled the adherents of the Old School and antici- 
 pated the New by stirring up enthusiasm for Klopstock and 
 Ossian. As a pupil of Rousseau, Thorild worshipped in him 
 a " Romantic " favorite, who had escaped the fate of the other 
 Frenchmen. Bengt Lidner (1757-1793), an irregular, Byronic 
 type of poet, had already shown his skill in depicting strong 
 passion and unbridled sentimental feeling. With marked ar- 
 dency of expression and richness of invention he described the 
 half -despairing sufferings of the human soul. 1 Another of the 
 eighteenth century poets, and the greatest of them all, to receive 
 special recognition by the Romantic School was Karl Michael 
 Bellman (1740-1795). He was thoroughly original, popular, 
 and national. His bachanalian poetry showed great genius 
 
 i Cf. L. Hammarskjold : " Svenska vitterheten," 2d ed., pp. 402-3. 
 
and depth, and Hammarskjold believed that this " Swedish 
 Anacreon" had grasped the very essence of the Swedish na- 
 tional life. 1 
 
 In the meantime, German and English authors were being 
 read more and more, both in the original and in translation. 
 An acquaintance with Gellert, Haller, Hagedorn, Holty, Burger, 
 Jean Paul, Goethe or Schiller led to the study of Tieck, Novalis 
 and the brothers Schlegel. "Werther" was translated into 
 Swedish as early as 1786; Klopstock's " Messias," 1789-1792; 
 Ossian, 1789-1794; translations of Young and Sterne had ap- 
 peared by 1790, and during the next two decades the German 
 philosophers Kant, Fichte, and, more particularly, Schelling, 
 rose rapidly in favor along with the younger group of German 
 Romanticists. Calderon, Ariosto, Petrarch, Tasso, Dante, Rous- 
 seau, and Shakespeare receive considerable attention and the 
 otherwise satirical and unfeeling Clas Livijn was moved to 
 tears at the reading of " Wilhelm Meister." 2 W. F. Palmblad, 
 one of the charter members of the new school, likewise melted 
 into tears at reading Lafontaine's novels and Kotzebue's 
 dramas. 3 
 
 On October 7, 1807, a number of congenial souls, saturated 
 with enthusiasm for German philosophy and the new German 
 Romanticism, met in Uppsala and formed the society Musis 
 Amici. It was really a "new edition" of a similar organization 
 that had existed from 1803-1806 called " Vitterhetens Vanner " 
 or "Friends of Belles Lettres," and its leader was the seventeen- 
 year-old Atterbom, of whom we shall have occasion to speak 
 later. The following year the name of the society was changed 
 to " Auroraf orbundet " (a name which explains itself) and, 
 as the members believed, a more definite outline of its program 
 was drawn up. The purpose of the Forbund was : 
 
 " in accordance with firm and eternal principles, gathered from 
 Greek and German models, first to ennoble and develop the strength 
 [of the Forbund], then to work energetically against the depraved 
 taste [of the time], and finally, at least with a bright ray in the sky 
 
 1 Ibid., p. 342. 
 
 2 Cf. G. Frunck : Nya skolans forberedelser och forsta utveckling, p. 14. 
 
 3 Ibid., p. 39. 
 
of Swedish literature, to indicate the path of the approach of the 
 
 sun." 1 
 
 From now on we have a militant organization of Romanti- 
 cists. With a sincere purpose, but in a somewhat vainglorious 
 style, and often the most unscrupulous polemics, the new group 
 set out to overthrow the old systems and to infuse the new 
 Schelling-Tieck-Novalis spirit into Swedish letters. 
 
 Beginning with 1810, for about a decade, there raged a feud 
 between the literary conservatives and radicals, of such inten- 
 sity and recklessness that it probably outstripped its German 
 model in this respect. The Academicians, led by P. A. Wall- 
 mark, voiced their sentiments in the Journal for Litteraturen 
 och Teatern (after 1813 called Allmdnna Journalen) and the 
 principal organs of the Aurora forbund were, in the order of 
 their first appearance: Poly fern (from Polyphemus, the one- 
 eyed giant who looks straight ahead) ; Fosforos (originally 
 spelled "Phosphoros") ; Poetisk Kalender; and Svensk Lit- 
 ter atur-Tidmng. Much has been written on this interesting 
 controversy. Suffice it to say here that, in aspiration, the radi- 
 cals, now called Fosforists, were generally right; that both sides 
 expended a wealth of energy and exhibited great wit in their 
 polemics, but were often bitter and unjust in their method. 
 Naturally the battle was most violent at the beginning, as in 
 Poly fern; Fosforos adopted a less aggressive policy and aimed 
 to show in original poems and reviews what Polyfem did in 
 polemics. The chief characteristic of the Polyfem policy was 
 a satirical, merciless attack on everything French and on every- 
 body of French sympathies. Hence, the old, rationalistic 
 school, the Swedish Academy, and its protege, "the 'dry Boi- 
 leau " Leopold, were criticized beyond all reason. No little 
 talent was displayed in this struggle, however, and everyone 
 will find that, for the most part, the polemics of the Fosforists 
 are far more fascinating than their poems. 2 
 
 Toward the end of the feud Tegner, the sponsor of clearness, 
 
 1 Ibid., p. 32. 
 
 2 Rudolf Hjarne, in " Gotiska forbundet," page 230, calls attention to 
 the temporary confusion in the literary camp, brought about by the " blind 
 self-confidence " of the Fosforists, and adds that their poetry " hovered 
 between heaven and earth without belonging to either." 
 
attacked the vagueness of the Romantic theories, so that after 
 1820 the Fosforistic School had practically ceased to exist as 
 a militant institution. But its ideas lived on in its efficient 
 leader Atterbom, who, during the following decade, was des- 
 tined to produce the work par excellence of this phase of 
 Swedish Romanticism, namely, "The Isle of Bliss" (Lyck- 
 salighetens O). This poem was a long but splendid treat- 
 ment, in dramatic form, of a Celtic fairy-tale; it was not free 
 from satirical references to contemporary conditions in art and 
 society, but it teemed with beautiful lyric passages and con- 
 tained the philosophical ideas of the movement. But what had 
 the Fosforists as a body really accomplished, and what had been 
 the character of their creative achievements ? 
 
 In spite of strenuous opposition the Fosforists had returned 
 from the battlefield with a victory for Swedish culture. And 
 it was natural that they should; they had nothing to lose and 
 everything to gain. By their zealous encouragement of Ger- 
 man literature and philosophy a wholesome spirit, more akin 
 to the Scandinavian temperament, had been infused. Some 
 members of the Old School, to be sure, had known the German 
 classics before the Romantic School was born; but, barring a 
 few translations, they seem to have kept their knowledge mostly 
 to themselves. The Fosforists, on the other hand, stirred up 
 things by publicly proclaiming the value of the new gospel. 
 Fosforism, like many aspects of Romanticism in Germany, 
 stood for a deeper meaning and spirituality in life and letters ; 
 it stood for the irrational, for the eternal and infinite, for the 
 identity of nature and spirit, for the divinity of art and poetry, 
 for mystical longing, for freedom and religiosity. Sweden is 
 indebted to Fosforism for a profound, healthy, quickening im- 
 pulse to both her literature and her literary criticism, and for 
 inaugurating the serious study of esthetics. 
 
 The failings of the Fosforists were numerous and serious, 
 and an impartial critic must often deal, therefore, with theo- 
 retical aspirations rather than with actual, positive accomplish- 
 ments. No original masterpiece was produced within Fosfor- 
 istic circles until several years after the polemic storm had 
 passed away ; that is, not until Fosforism, in its more restricted 
 2 
 
6 
 
 sense, had disappeared. Here and there, indeed, a lyrical gem 
 made its appearance. Hedborn had a gift for the picturesque 
 and wrote some choice hymns, the consumptive Per Elgstrom 
 was an excellent colorist, and his poems revealed an elegiac, 
 melancholy, or mystic style; but these were not great poets. 
 Neither did Hammarskjold, the law-giving Friedrich Schlegel 
 of Swedish Romanticism, exhibit any marked creative ability. 
 He was too busy mapping out programs, ridiculing French 
 taste, and attacking Alexandrines to do anything really original, 
 and Palmblad's literary contributions were mostly reviews and 
 translations. Atterbom, the life-long leader and the greatest 
 of the Fosforists, was the most prolific writer, but his poetry 
 was often obscure and his best work, mentioned above, did not 
 appear until he was a middle-aged man. We see, then, that 
 Fosforistic activity was largely polemic and negative in its char- 
 acter; beyond this it was imitative, critical, and metaphysical. 
 To what extent the Fosforists, and other poets who actively 
 sympathized with them, were influenced by German Romanti- 
 cism, may best be seen by calling attention to a few additional 
 features of the Swedish movement. The Schlegels, Tieck, 
 Novalis, and the classical German authors are lauded to the 
 skies and quoted as authorities at every opportunity. The 
 atmosphere is full of Stimmungspoesie with constant reference 
 to the invisible or infinite. Odndlighet (Unendlichkeit) is the 
 prevailing keynote in the Romantic poetry of Sweden. As in 
 Germany, much of it was unintelligible, and this is particularly 
 noticeable in the earliest poems of Atterbom, as in some 
 strophes of the Prolog to Fosforos. Moonlight, twilight, dark- 
 ness, and night appealed also to the Uppsala youngsters, and 
 rich coloring was a common phenomenon. Johan David Va- 
 lerius (1776-1852) was criticized for moralizing his drinking 
 songs, showing a tendency toward the "Lucinde" system of 
 morality; and here and there we discover a strong poetic 
 sympathy for the Holy Virgin and Catholicism. Spanish and 
 Italian authors were studied and translated, and this led to 
 experimentation in all kinds of Southern verse-forms. The 
 terza-rima and canzone were introduced in the spirit of oppo- 
 sition to Alexandrines, and sonnets were written by the score. 
 
The November number ofFosforos for 1810 opens with twenty 
 sonnets by Atterbom. 
 
 In their hostility to French forms, the Fosforists often went 
 to the other extreme, and they have been severely criticized for 
 being literary slaves of Germany. There proved to be no ulti- 
 mate danger in this relation, however, for, in the first place, 
 the Fosforists did not succeed in fulfilling all their most radical 
 promises. Then, too, there are differences between the Ger- 
 man parent and its Swedish offspring showing a certain inde- 
 pendence, and that some of the foreign Romantic seed had 
 fallen by the wayside, so far as absolute imitation was con- 
 cerned. Original productions among the younger Swedish 
 Romanticists were almost exclusively lyrical, not only in con- 
 tent but also in form. "Wilhelm Meister" was hailed with 
 joy in Sweden as well as in Germany, but it produced no imi- 
 tation of its genre in Sweden. Sweden had no formless 
 Romanpoesie in the narrow sense of the term ; though Swedish 
 poetry teemed with apotheoses of its own art, we find no enthu- 
 siast like Ofterdingen and no peripatetic and almost fanatic 
 "knight of the moon " like Franz Sternbald. In some of these 
 respects, it seems to me, Swedish Romanticism became more 
 sober and sensible than that of Germany, though it may have 
 been due to a lack of genius that this type of the novel was not 
 developed. As already observed, Swedish Romanticists were 
 not theoretically opposed to a freer morality, but practically 
 they led as regular lives as other people and had no such do- 
 mestic troubles as some of their German masters. Elgstrom 
 died young through no fault of his own, but Atterbom and 
 Hedborn lived long and happy lives in wedlock. None of the 
 Fosforists joined the Catholic Church, though Hammarskjold 
 and Atterbom were both much impressed by it. 
 
 Interest in Scandinavian antiquity formed only one part of 
 the pretentious Fosforistic program and, as this review is in- 
 tended to show, this was often subjective and allegorical. The 
 Goths, however, confined themselves to this one part and aimed 
 to make it objective, a fresh and living phenomenon in Swedish 
 culture. It will be in order, therefore, to describe briefly the 
 history and characteristics of the Gothic School. 
 
8 
 
 The Gothic School (Gotiska Forbundet) was founded in 
 the beginning of the year 1811. The members of this brother- 
 hood met and adopted a constitution on February 16. "A 
 morally patriotic thought," or spirit, was to be the kernel of 
 the Society, and paragraph 3 of the statutes provided that every 
 Brother should consider himself " absolutely in duty bound to 
 investigate the sagas and chronicles of the old Goths," mean- 
 ing by the " Goths," the old Norse ancestors ; hence the name 
 of the movement. 1 Its leader was the chancery-clerk Jakob 
 Adlerbeth, trained in love for his fatherland from early youth. 
 Men of any profession, possessing some striking " Gothic " 
 qualification, were eligible to membership, though authors and 
 artists were especially desired. Eventually new members were 
 elected to the number of one hundred. As in the case of the 
 Fosforists, the enthusiasm was greatest at the start; the year 
 1811 is both the beginning and the culmination of the general 
 interest in the society. Sixteen meetings were held the first 
 year, thirteen the second, but after 1825 no more than five 
 meetings were ever held in any one year. But the activity con- 
 tinued with considerable force for about a dozen years after 
 the founding of the Forbund, and during this time ten volumes 
 of its literary organ, Iduna, appeared. After the formal disso- 
 lution of the society in 1844 there appeared an eleventh and 
 last number in 1845. 
 
 The " Gothomania," as it was sometimes called at first, was 
 characterized, like Fosforism, by one-sidedness and exaggera- 
 tion. Scandinavian antiquity was to be resuscitated, not only 
 in art and poetry, but, to a certain extent, in life ; not only was 
 Icelandic literature to be studied, but, whenever possible, the 
 viking customs were to be revived. Naturally the Goths took 
 the initiative at their regular meetings. Each Gothic Brother 
 first adopted the name of some heathen forefather, and was 
 supposed, within three months after his election to member- 
 ship, to give a discourse on his ancestral namesake to the mem- 
 bers of the society. This pagan name was used in address, 
 both at the meetings and in private correspondence among the 
 members. Thus Tegner became Bodvar Bjarke ; J. P. Lef ren, 
 
 i See Hjarne: Gotiska forbundet, pp. n and 15. 
 
9 
 
 Guttorm; D. Nordin, Sigfried; P. H. Ling, Bosi; Adlerbeth, 
 Rolf; J. H. Wallman, Helge; and Geijer, Einar Tambaskjal- 
 ver. Tremendous enthusiasm, not to say boisterousness, pre- 
 vailed at all gatherings, and the character, courage, manliness 
 of the original inhabitants of Sweden were constantly empha- 
 sized. The members drank mead, both out of individual horns 
 and out of a common vessel called " Bragebagaren" (theBrage- 
 cup) and saluted each other in appropriate heroic terms. 
 Sometimes the meetings were held out of doors ; then stones 
 were carried together and placed in a circle to represent a 
 primitive Norse Thing or court. At the reading of poems with 
 national or patriotic themes, or upon hearing the results of 
 investigations in the Swedish past, the Brothers gave unbounded 
 applause. At times they waxed sentimental; it is said that 
 Geijer in reading Tegner's "Nore" had to stop for tears. 1 
 
 The literary leaders of the Gothic movement were Tegner, 
 Ling, and Geijer. The first two took an active part in the 
 management of the society, but after a time Ling resigned his 
 membership for reasons which will be discussed later. But in 
 his research work Ling continued to be the very personification 
 of an exaggerated Gothism, and his poems continued to receive 
 applause in Gothic circles. Strangely enough, Ling contributed 
 but one article to Iduna. This was published in 1814, and the 
 subject was " Gymnastics." In the interim this periodical had 
 already contained some of the best poems ever composed in the 
 Swedish language. Geijer, the real chief in 1811, published 
 "The Viking" (Vikingen), "The Last Skald" (Den siste 
 skalden), and "The Last Combatant" (Den siste kampen), in 
 the first number, and later, at the beginning of the third decade, 
 when fragments of " Frithiof 's Saga" appeared, they were 
 published in the Iduna. The fourth great Goth was A. A. 
 Afzelius (1785-1871), a clergyman and author of the popular 
 "The Reel of the Water-Sprite" (Nackens polska). He 
 eventually translated the Elder Edda but did his best work in 
 Swedish folklore. Together with Geijer he published, in 
 1814-16, a large collection of Swedish folksongs (" Svenska 
 folkvisor") in three volumes. 
 
 1 See Hjarne: Gotiska forbundet, p. 21. 
 
10 
 
 The Gothic movement in Sweden was merely one way of 
 expressing the spirit of independence and nationality that arose 
 all over Europe, as a protest against rationalism, cosmopoli- 
 tanism, and Napoleonic oppression. After 1806 the Swedes 
 were involved in the continental wars, through their German 
 possessions. Then came the loss of Finland and the Swedish 
 revolution of 1809. No wonder, then, that national disasters 
 should help prepare the soil for patriotic utterances of any sort. 
 Now, as Hjarne 1 rightly contends, the best method to reawaken 
 a national self-consciousness is to revive the memory of what 
 has produced a great people in the past. The Gothic School, 
 therefore, was enthusiastically welcomed, especially by the 
 young, even if some old and prejudiced conservatives looked 
 with fear and suspicion on the re-introduction of a pagan sys- 
 tem of mythology. The Goths did a tremendous amount of 
 good by stimulating interest in the Scandinavian saga-age in 
 general, and Swedish antiquity in particular. Every true pa- 
 triot wanted to know something about the Asa-doctrines, the 
 Eddas, and the life of the viking ancestors. Runes were de- 
 ciphered and heathen relics collected. Though unsuccessful 
 in his attempt, the consistent, militant manager of the society, 
 Adlerbeth, tried to have a learned Icelander imported to give 
 instruction in Old Norse. Manuscript treasures were opened 
 up and gradually the vehemence of youth gave way to a calm, 
 scientific spirit of investigation. For instance, Afzelius pub- 
 lished in the third volume of Iduna, both text and translation 
 of " Vgluspa " from the Elder Edda, after they had both been 
 inspected by the Danish philologist Rask. Snorre Sturleson's 
 " Heimskringla " was published by men outside of the society 
 and was probably influenced by it. 2 
 
 We have seen that in the case of the Fosforists the main 
 foreign influence was German; with the Gothic School it was 
 Danish. Anton Blanck, in his excellent dissertation on "The 
 Northern Renaissance" (see bibliography), has shown the in- 
 creasing popularity of Northern themes in French, English, 
 German, and Danish literature during the eighteenth century. 
 
 1 Gotiska forbundet, p. 9. 
 
 2 Ibid., pp. 38-9. 
 
11 
 
 Indirectly, all these foreign tendencies converge toward the 
 Gothic movement in Sweden, but directly, and mostly through 
 the literary work of Oehlenschlager during the first 'decade of 
 the nineteenth century, outside influence came from Denmark. 
 We shall return to this topic in connection with the chapter 
 on art. 
 
 In Denmark the new German Romanticism and the national 
 movement were fused in one person, Oehlenschlager, with the 
 balance of power decidedly in favor of the national element. 
 In Sweden these two tendencies, to be sure, were centered in 
 two literary factions, but their propagandists often combined 
 forces, and at times we find, as in Denmark, both Gothic and 
 Fosforistic ideas in the same poet. The Goth, Ling, was a 
 Romanticist in spite of himself ; Geijer, after the first patriotic 
 ecstacy had subsided, was more of a Fosforist than a Goth; 
 Afzelius contributed to both Fosforos and Poetisk Kalender, 
 and, in turn, Atterbom and Hammarskjold contributed to 
 Iduna. Nicander, an active member of the Gothic School, had 
 a genuine Romantic longing for the South, and hostile critics 
 when they attacked one movement generally attacked the other. 
 Often the two worked sympathetically side by side, or they felt 
 at liberty to make friendly encroachments upon each other's 
 territory. Both were prompted by ardent search for " det 
 ursprungliga." 
 
 The work of the Swedish Romanticists in the field of Scan- 
 dinavian antiquity was not one of discovery; it was a revival 
 movement. It was an enthusiastic attempt to crush any spirit 
 of indifference that prevailed toward the culture of the pre- 
 Christian ages in Scandinavia, and to rekindle a spirit of pride 
 in the past. What the Romanticists sought, was to arouse a 
 more general and permanent popularity in Old Norse themes 
 among their countrymen and to make a more thorough study 
 of the original sources. An interest in Norse mythology and 
 history had existed, however, in various parts of Europe, for 
 nearly a century and a half before the " Goths " took up the 
 subject. To be sure, it was spasmodic, the conceptions now 
 and then were based on misunderstanding, and the conclusions 
 were often speculative in the extreme; but the evidence of a 
 
12 
 
 Gothic inclination was there, and it will repay us to review 
 briefly this evidence before we proceed to the revival in Sweden 
 during the Romantic period. 1 
 
 During the decade 1750-1760, when so many Romantic tend- 
 encies began to assert themselves in Europe, we begin to 
 detect an interest in Norse antiquity. In fact, northern bar- 
 barian literature by virtue of its wildness and power becomes 
 one of the most effective weapons in the struggle against classi- 
 cism. 2 Paul-Henri Mallet, a Swiss, gave the impulse for the 
 study of the Scandinavian 3 past when he published in 1755 his 
 " Introduction a 1'histoire de Danemarc." In addition, Mallet 
 made several translations from the Eddas and showed a love 
 for the Old Norse religion. He made the mistake, however, 
 of regarding the Scandinavian as a branch of the Celtic family. 
 
 In England, Percy's interest in Old Norse was due to Mal- 
 let's book, which was translated by Percy in 1770. In the 
 meantime Percy had published in London (1763) "Five Pieces 
 of Runic Poetry," translated from the Icelandic. "The Bard" 
 (1754-1757), by Gray, had likewise a Norse as well as a Celtic 
 element. Gray himself states that he borrowed from the 
 Norse 4 and he made two translations, " The Fatal Sisters " 
 and " The Descent of Odin." The Ossianic poems teem with 
 viking elements, and Blanck asserts that Macpherson obtained 
 "the apparatus" for his Celtic epic from Gray and Mason. 5 
 Frank Sayers (1763-1817) published in 1790 "Dramatic 
 Sketches of Northern Mythology," containing three minor 
 dramatic efforts, all localized on Celtic or Northern territory. 6 
 A translation from a Latin version of the poetic Edda by 
 Amos Cottles appeared in Bristol in I797- 7 William Herbert, 
 
 1 A part of this introduction is based on Anton Blanck's " Den nordiska 
 renassansen," Uppsala, 1911, and is, in a sense, a review of the most im- 
 portant data of this work. Blanck's investigation covers 433 pages, plus 
 an extensive bibliography. I am much indebted to Blanck for that part 
 of the history which precedes the year 1810. His results and references 
 have, of course, been verified whenever possible. 
 
 2 See Blanck, p. 39. 
 
 3 " Scandinavia " throughout this study is to be taken in the old, broad 
 sense, naturally, including Denmark and Iceland. 
 
 4 Cf. Blanck, p. 84. 
 
 5 Ibid., p. ii2. 
 
 6 Ibid., p. 119. 
 
 7 Ibid., pp. 
 
13 
 
 who had mastered the Scandinavian languages and could use the 
 Icelandic sources, was the first Englishman to take advantage 
 of this knowledge, and published in 1804-1806, in his " Mis- 
 cellaneous Poetry," some selections entitled " Select Icelandic 
 Poetry." According to Lockhart, Scott studied Scandinavian 
 mythology and wrote essays and read papers on the subject 
 as early as 1792 ; but all thus far, with the exception of Herbert, 
 had followed in Gray's footsteps and used only secondary 
 sources. 
 
 Fr. David Grater (see below), in his " Nordische Blumen," 
 refers on page xi to a free English translation of " Lodbrockar- 
 Qvida " by the Reverend James Johnstone, A.M., published in 
 1782. Blanck does not mention Johnstone at all, but from 
 an article in the " Dictionary of National Biography," Vol. 
 XXX, p. 78, by Thompson Cooper, we obtain the following 
 information : 
 
 James Johnstone (d. 1798), a "Scandinavian antiquary, was 
 a Master of Arts, though of what university is not stated, and 
 a clergyman of the established church. For several years he 
 was chaplain to the English envoy extraordinary in Denmark." 
 He was afterwards rector in Ireland. From 1780-1786 he 
 published in Copenhagen, London, or Edinburgh, six different 
 works on Scandinavian, Celtic, and Celto-Norman literature 
 and antiquity, consisting both of originals and translations. 
 The translation to which Grater refers contained also " a literal 
 Latin version, and an Icelando-Latino Glossary and Notes." 
 Johnstone's first work, which appeared in 1780 in Copenhagen, 
 bore the title "Anecdotes of Olave the Black, King of Man, 
 and the Hebredian Princes of the Somerled Family. To which 
 are added Eighteen Eulogies on Haco, King of Norway; by 
 Snorre Sturleson, poet to the monarch ; now first published in 
 the original Icelandic; from the Flateyan and other Manu- 
 scripts; with a literal version and Notes." I have not seen 
 these editions myself. 
 
 Independent of any impulse from England there arose a 
 northern renaissance in Germany, where Gottfried Schiitze 
 (1719-1784) became an important pioneer mediator between 
 the old school and the new. He was a pupil of Joh. Georg 
 
14 
 
 Keyssler, the author of " Antiquitates selectae septentrionales 
 et celtae" (1720), was a well-read scholar, and published in 
 German a popular exposition of Norse mythology. Schiitze 
 made no distinction between the Celts and the Germans ; even 
 the old Norsemen, according to him, had both druids and bards, 
 and this mistake was no doubt responsible for much of the later 
 confusion in this field. Schiitze's real importance was as teacher 
 of Gerstenberg, whose "Gedicht eines Skalden" (1766) marks 
 the beginning of a new literary genre in Germany. Blanck 
 devotes several pages to a discussion of Gerstenberg's work. 
 
 German interest in the North is closely connected with the 
 worship of Ossian, and this is well illustrated in Gerstenberg's 
 pupil, Klopstock. His " Hermannschlacht " (1769) is a mix- 
 ture of the antique, Ossian, and the North. But Klopstock 
 had no sense for the historic or the characteristic and his Norse 
 divinities are, for the most part, mere names. 1 Michael Denis 
 translated some Icelandic poems, such as "Vgluspa" and 
 " Vegtamskvida." The so-called " Bards," such as Karl Fried- 
 rich Kretschmann, 2 and the " Gottinger Hain " worked along 
 the same lines as Klopstock, but with both groups of poets the 
 Ossianic element predominates. This is likewise the case with 
 Herder 3 who, in " Von deutscher Art und Kunst" (1773), pub- 
 lished "tiber Ossian und die Lieder alter Volker." But in 
 Herder's famous cosmopolitan collection of folksongs, " Stim- 
 men der Volker," as it was called in the second edition of 1785, 
 we find some of distinctly Norse origin, and indeed some from 
 Greenland. It was Herder who in Strassburg called Goethe's 
 attention to the Eddaic poems and gave him a copy of Resenius's 
 Edda. 4 Herder distinguished himself from his predecessors 
 by using more scientific material and adopting an historical 
 
 1 Cf. ibid., p. 158. 
 
 2 Ibid., pp. i6iff. 
 
 3 For Herder see ibid., pp. 164-179. 
 
 4 See " Dichtung und Wahrheit," Weimar edition, Vol. 28, p. 143. In the 
 same passage we learn that Goethe was much interested in saga material, 
 and that he was already acquainted with Mallet. The Edda mentioned was 
 an edition by the Dane Per Resenius (1625-88) of Copenhagen. It con- 
 tained the original of the Snorre Edda together with a Latin and Danish 
 translation by two other scholars. Resenius published in 1683 a Lexicon 
 islandicum by the Icelander Gudmundus Andreae (d. 1654). Cf. article on 
 Resenius by Weiss in Bibliographic Universelle, Nouvelle edition, Vol. 35. 
 
15 
 
 method of study. He exhibited much independence of thought 
 even if, as Blanck believes, 1 Mallet was his main reliance. 
 
 Herder's originality of thought becomes of special interest 
 when we compare his views on Norse mythology with those of 
 the cautious and classic Scandinavian critics at the beginning 
 of the Romantic period. In " Iduna oder der Apfel der Ver- 
 jiingung," published in 1796 in Die Horen, Herder states the 
 objections to the coarse and grotesque in the new mythology, 
 but sees several motives worthy of artistic treatment. The 
 Northern characteristics, he finds, are deeds and strength of 
 soul. But the Norse gods should not have greater prominence 
 than other poetic systems. Greek mythology was not to lose 
 its incontestable rank, but Herder pleads for a recognition of 
 the Norse system proportional to its importance. The raw and 
 barbarian element must be sacrificed. This same idea is em- 
 bodied in "Zutritt der nordischen Mythologie zur neueren 
 Dichtkunst" (Adrastea X 1803). It will be essential to re- 
 member Herder's views when we discuss the new mythology 
 and art. 
 
 Friedrich David Grater ( 1768-1830) 2 was something more 
 than a dilettant in Norse subjects and did some work of real 
 scientific importance. He acquired a good philological train- 
 ing ; he studied Danish and Old Norse and his " Nordische 
 Blumen" of 1789 contained translations from the 1787 edition 
 of the Edda published by the Arne-Magnussen Foundation. 
 Although the character of the original is rather sparsely pre- 
 served the translations show very conscientious work. In 
 1791-1812 appeared his organ Bragur, Ein literarisches Maga- 
 zin der deutschen und nordischen Vorzeit, in eight numbers, 
 but it contained little of value for the North. This was fol- 
 lowed by Idunna und Hermode (1812-16), which contained, 
 as did Bragur, reviews, translations, and minor articles. 3 Kose- 
 
 1 Blanck, p. 176. 
 
 2 Ibid., pp. i79ff. 
 
 3 According to Herder, Grater's " Northern Flowers " were received with 
 an " almost unreasonable " frigidity. Cf. " Zutritt der nordischen Mythol- 
 ogie zur neueren Dichtkunst" in " Sammtliche Werke " (Suphan edition), 
 Vol. 24, pp. 312-313. In a footnote on page 312, Herder refers, among 
 others, to a Karl von Miinchhausen, who had distinguished himself in the 
 new mythology. 
 
16 
 
 garten (1758-1818), in his "Gedichte" (1788), published a 
 part of Ragnar Lodbrok's death-song, and Fouque's " Sigurd der 
 Schlangentodter," the first part of a trilogy " Der Held des 
 Nordens," appeared in 1808. In the meantime the Edda-trans- 
 lation of the brothers Grimm was being advertised and the 
 period of German dilettantism in Norse mythology was over. 1 
 
 The North does not play a very large role in French litera- 
 ture of the eighteenth century. In fact, up to 1800, when 
 Madame de Stael's " De la litterature " appeared, the " cold and 
 distant north " remained in a hazy gloom and the interest in 
 it was merely one of curiosity. 2 Nevertheless, the influence of 
 Mallet's work is noticeable in France also. In the didactic 
 novel " L'Arcadie " by Bernardin de Saint-Pierre, Norse my- 
 thology is introduced, but the work was of little consequence. 
 Comte de Tressan, in 1782, published an Icelandic novel : " His- 
 toire de Rigda et de Regner Lodbrog, Roi de Danemarc," being 
 the fourth part of " Corps d'extraits de romans de chevallerie." 
 Madame de Stael was really the first to give the French an idea 
 of the Norse spirit, and her main authority was Mallet. But 
 she believed religiously in the genuineness of Ossian and held 
 that Ossianic and Icelandic literature greatly resembled each 
 other. Hence there came about a nebulousness of conception 
 similar to, if not worse than, the initial conception in Germany. 
 Among the dii minor es that followed in this field " Norse " and 
 " Ossianic " must have been taken often as synonymous terms. 3 
 
 It may seem strange that the impulse to revivify the Old 
 
 1 In the Harvard University library there is a volume on the Edda with 
 the following title : " Abhandlung abgefasst in einem Schreiben an einen 
 Gelehrten von der alten Islandischen Edda." It was published in Halle 
 and Leipzig, and the date, written in lead pencil, is 1774. The name of 
 the author, likewise written with lead pencil, is given as Jakob Schimmel- 
 mann. I have been unable to find any reference to such a student of 
 Icelandic literature. Blanck does not mention him. The work deals with 
 questions of the genuineness of the Eddas and manuscripts in Uppsala and 
 Copenhagen. It also raises the query whether the German edition prom- 
 ised from Stettin may be expected soon. It is of special interest, since 
 it contains sketches of Thor, Odin, and Frigga. 
 
 2 Cf. Blanck, p. 185. 
 
 3 In addition to Blanck, the subject of the North in French literature 
 has been investigated by Gunnar Castren in " Norden i den franska littera- 
 turen," Halsingfors, 1910. 
 
17 
 
 Norse element in Denmark should have come from a for- 
 eigner; but such seems to have been the case, for it was the 
 sojourn of Klopstock in Copenhagen that became the imme- 
 diate incentive for the Norse poetry of Johannes Ewald (1743- 
 1781). In a way, as Blanck points out, 1 this was but a loan, 
 for the Dane, O. F. Miiller, had previously furnished the hint 
 for Gerstenberg's " Gedicht eines Skalden " and Klopstock was 
 a pupil of Gerstenberg. But the fact remains that the effective 
 influence at the time came from Germany, and " Rolf Krage " 
 (1769) by Ewald exhibits unmistakable similarities to Klop- 
 stock's productions. The Celtic influence is very marked; 
 Ossian plays a large sentimental role and the whole is unhis- 
 torical. Whereas Oehlenschlager three decades later used 
 Danish, Norwegian, and Icelandic subjects, Ewald limits him- 
 self to Danish, using Saxo as his main source. His knowledge 
 of Norse antiquity was very superficial; he confused myth and 
 saga and like his model made no clear differentiation between 
 the Celtic and the Norse. The same nebulous northern tone 
 reigns in " Balder's Death" (Raider's D0d), 1773. Blanck 
 has also detected an influence of Shakespeare on Ewald. 
 
 After the death of Ewald, Denmark produced no great poet 
 until we come to Oehlenschlager. Between these two was a 
 reactionary, classical period of didacticism and satire, and 
 during the decade beginning 1780 the rationalistic tendency, 
 under the leadership of the Norwegian Society, 2 gained the 
 ascendancy. Some interest in Norse literature still prevailed, 
 however, though the method of treatment as well as the general 
 attitude toward the saga had become different. P. F. Suhm 
 (1728-1798), a contemporary of Ewald, and famous for his 
 exhaustive work in the early history of Denmark, 3 created the 
 novelette with northern theme, but his style is entirely unro- 
 mantic with hardly any trace of Ossian. 4 Pram, inspired by 
 
 1 Cf. Blanck, pp. is6ff, and p. 200. 
 
 2 So called because its chief, Johan Herman Wessel (b. 1742), was a 
 Norwegian. 
 
 3 His history of Denmark contains fourteen volumes, though it extends 
 only to the year 1400. 
 
 4 Ibid., p. 220. With respect to Suhm's work, Dr. Horn says : " The 
 most remarkable are his Norse tales, which made a certain sensation, not 
 only because they were new, but also on account of their sentimental style, 
 
18 
 
 Wieland, published (1785) " Staerkodder, et digt i femten 
 sange," which was the most important creation in the Norse 
 field during the rationalistic period. 1 Even satire pounced 
 upon northern subjects and Jens Baggesen's famous "The 
 Origin of Poetry" (Poesiens oprindelse) is a mythological 
 parody based on Wieland's " Komische Erzahlungen." Blanck 
 points out that Baggesen's picture of Gunlode influenced 
 all successors, and especially Ling in Sweden. 2 O. J. Samso'e 
 (1759-1796) wrote three novelettes with Norse themes, of 
 which the first, "Frithiof," written in the decade beginning 
 1780, was based on the Icelandic Frithiof -saga. 
 
 It will be remembered that the Danes did much work during 
 the last quarter of the century in Old Scandinavian history and 
 philology. And this is but natural ; Icelanders had to come to 
 Copenhagen to study, a fact which in itself was an incentive to 
 keep up ancient traditions. Manuscripts were deciphered with 
 great zeal and profit, and the Arne-Magnussen Foundation fur- 
 nished financial support. The latter published its renowned 
 editio princeps of the Edda in 1787, Sh^ning's edition of 
 the " Heimskringla " had appeared in 1777, Rasmus Nyerup's 
 "Review of the most Ancient Poetry and Literature of the 
 North" (Udsigt over nordens aeldste poesi og des litteratur), 
 1791, the " Snorre Edda," by Nyerup and Rask, 1808, not to 
 mention the influential literary work of Oehlenschlager, which 
 begins along with the new century. We shall have occasion to 
 return to Oehlenschlager later. 
 
 Swedish interest in the saga element can be traced back to 
 the seventeenth century; a century which, in many respects, 
 was the golden age of Sweden. During the beginning of the 
 Stjernhjelm period (1640-1740), Stjernhjelm (1598-1672) 
 himself had attempted Icelandic as a basis for a prose style but 
 was not very successful. 3 The significant fact, however, was 
 
 which was anything but genuine Norse, but they happened to satisfy the 
 taste of that period." (" History of the Literature of the Scandinavian 
 North," p. 203.) 
 
 1 Ibid., p. 223. 
 
 2 Ibid., p. 230. 
 
 3Cf. Schiick: in Introduction to "Svensk national-litteratur " (Sv. N. 
 L.), Vol. VI, p. 5. 
 
19 
 
 the actual discovery of the Icelandic literature about this time, 
 and as common property of the North it was called "Gothic" 
 (Gotisk). Schuck writes : 
 
 "A multitude of Icelandic sagas, mostly from the period of 
 decline in Icelandic literature, were then translated into Swedish, 
 although only a small number were printed, and one needs only to 
 read the catalogs of several of the libraries of the nobility to 
 find how immensely popular these Icelandic sagas were at the close 
 of the seventeenth century and at the beginning of the eighteenth." 1 
 
 In fact, Schuck goes so far as to say that inasmuch as most of 
 the novel literature during this period circulated in manuscript 
 form, and time for making copies was inexpensive in the coun- 
 try, one might claim without exaggeration that the Icelandic 
 saga was the novel of the Swedish Carolingian age. 2 But the 
 popularity of the saga, at least among investigators, was pseudo- 
 historical rather than literary or critical, and the " Golden Age " 
 produced no literary expression of its sympathies for the Norse 
 element. We may assert that, both among ordinary readers 
 and among the more educated classes, this sympathy was 
 prompted by an indefinite and patriotic feeling of curiosity for 
 an unknown, fabulous antiquity. This feeling, as is well 
 known, had been aroused during the last quarter of the seven- 
 teenth century by a group of men, antiquarian in their inten- 
 tions, and of whom the most important was the fantastic poly- 
 histor Olof Rudbeck the Elder (1630-1702), in whose Atlantica 
 ( 1 675-1 702 ) 3 fabulous historiography was carried to its cli- 
 max. The spirit of Rudbeckianism that followed reigned up 
 to about 1760,* i. e., for almost a century. This spirit of 
 " Rudbeckianism," or unbounded patriotism and faith in Swe- 
 den as the cradle of all civilization, must be understood if we 
 are to comprehend a second form of it during the Swedish 
 Romantic period. The foremost Romanticist, Atterbom, a 
 "Fosforist" and not a formal "Goth," had great admiration 
 
 1 H. Schiick: "Den gotiska skolan " in " Ur gamla papper." Sjette 
 serien, p. 218. 
 
 2 Ibid., p. 218. 
 
 3 Rudbeck's specialty was medicine and at twenty-two he discovered 
 the system of lymphatic vessels. Bartholin, a Danish scholar, claimed the 
 same honor at about the same time. 
 
 *Blanck, p. 316. 
 
20 
 
 for Rudbeck's efforts and devotes 244 pages of his " Biogra- 
 phies and Lectures" 1 to an appreciation of Rudbeck's unsci- 
 entific but fascinating investigations. 2 
 
 But there was a well-marked Norse tendency before Rud- 
 beck. A royal decree of November 23, 1666, provided for the 
 preservation of antiquities, including saga material and viking 
 songs ("Kampa-och historie-visor,"). 3 Among the pioneers 
 in this line was Verelius (1618-1682), who published the 
 
 1 P. D. A. Atterbom : " Minnesteckingar och tal." Forra bandet : " Minne 
 af Olof Rudbeck den aldre." Orebro, 1869. 
 
 2 For the benefit of readers who may not be acquainted with Rudbeck's 
 " Atlantica," a brief word of elucidation, based on Atterbom's characteri- 
 zation, may be in order. First, as to the name. While engaged in his- 
 torical investigation Rudbeck discovered a similarity in names between 
 those in Plato's mythical "Atlantis," the seat of his ideal republic, and 
 those of certain localities in Sweden (cf. Horn, History of the Literature 
 of the Scand. North, p. 340). Immediately Rudbeck conceived the idea 
 that Paradise had been located in Sweden and (undoubtedly influenced 
 by an earlier Johannes Magnus, who tried to make similar deductions) 
 that Noah's grandson Magog had founded the Magogian, i. e., Gothic king- 
 dom in Sweden and from there the whole world had been populated. In 
 other words, all culture came from Sweden and was then transmitted to 
 the Greeks by the Phenicians. The whole work teemed with ingenious 
 etymologies and there is said to be a remarkable coincidence in names 
 between Rudbeck's sources and the Norse terms. Rudbeck tries to identify 
 classic and Norse myths by the linguistic method. He even attempts to 
 connect the Swedish word " Necken " (a musical, male water-sprite) with 
 " Noach " (Noah), both being lords of the water. But even if his imagi- 
 nations ran wild at times, Rudbeck's effort was a most serious one, and 
 his work shows some desultory knowledge about the Edda, Norse mythol- 
 ogy and history, and about Icelandic scholars, such as Samund Frode and 
 Brynjolf Svenson. The work was too gigantic and was never finished; 
 it appeared in four immense parts, of which the last is a fragment. Part 
 I alone had 891 pages with tables and drawings. As it was, the enthu- 
 siastic author was unable to carry his history farther than to Abraham. 
 Rudbeck's " Atlantica," naturally, created a tremendous excitement all 
 over Europe. Many believed in it, others doubted, and again others re- 
 garded it as colossal foolishness, while the more credulous and super- 
 patriotic Swedes felt proud and delighted. But indirectly, the " Atlantica " 
 had an historical value, for it prompted further research, and Atterbom 
 (Lefnadsteckningar och tal. Forra bandet, p. 71) gives Rudbeck credit for 
 inaugurating a new epoch in the investigation of antiquity. Through the 
 suggestion of Rudbeck many Icelandic sagas were printed between 1673- 
 1700, some at his own expense (ibid., p. 171). For the details of this 
 interesting work I refer to Atterbom's review. I believe Atterbom to have 
 many qualities in common with Rudbeck; a matter which we shall take up 
 in the first chapter. 
 
 3 Cf. Atterbom : Minnesteckningar och tal., pp. 83ff. 
 
21 
 
 "Hervarar Saga" in 1672, and it was from him that Rudbeck 
 received the impulse for his work. Atterbom believed Vere- 
 lius to be "a most thorough interpreter of the runes and the 
 newly discovered Icelandic literature." 1 Johan Perinskjold 
 (1654-1720) published the editio princeps of SnorreVHeims- 
 kringla," and Johan Hadorph collected rune-stone material. 
 Rudbeck's attempt to prove that classic mythology was nothing 
 but a distorted Swedish system served to heighten the national 
 feeling, even if the fundamental facts in the attempt were 
 spurious. As a consequence, a super-heated patriotism lived 
 on, and with it an interest in Norse literature. J. H. Mork 
 (1714-1763), a Rudbeckian, and Sweden's first novelist, wrote, 
 in 1742-1745, "Adalrik and Gothilda," an original novel with 
 an heroic national motive from Northern antiquity. Bjorner's 
 "Tales of Combat" (Kampadater) had appeared in 1737, and 
 Goranson published Snorre's Edda in 1746 and Vpluspa in 
 1750. As Schuck points out, Mork's novel, Verelius's " Her- 
 varar Saga," and Bjorner's "Tales of Combat" were read with 
 pleasure in the country districts as late as the beginning of the 
 nineteenth century, and both Tegner and Atterbom got their 
 first impressions from them. " Here was a channel, then, 
 which connected Rudbeck's time with that of Geijer." 2 After 
 1750 the rise of a critical school, led by such men as Dalin, was 
 rapidly putting an end to speculation and a decade later Rud- 
 beckianism had practically disappeared. 
 
 Now, for a number of years, there was no fruitful experi- 
 mentation with saga elements. Then comes Olof Rudbeck, 
 (1750-1777), the great-grandson of Rudbeck the Elder, who, 
 " during his last days," devoted himself to " the zealous study 
 of Old Norse literature." 3 Uno von Troil, Archbishop of Up- 
 psala (d. 1803), had won a reputation in a series of letters 
 (Uppsala, 1777) about Iceland which were later translated 
 
 1 Ibid., p. 89. 
 
 2 "Den gotiska skolan," pp. 218-19. On page 219, also, Schiick recalls 
 the movement in Germany that was parallel to Rudbeckianism in Sweden, 
 namely, the fanatic Schwarmerei for German antiquity aroused by Tacitus's 
 " Germania." Then Lohenstein, the Edda and Ossian, all served to inten- 
 sify this enthusiasm and, finally, all were united in the poetry of Klopstock. 
 
 3 L. Hammarskjold : Svenska vitterheten, 2d edition, p. 292. 
 
 3 
 
22 
 
 into both German and French. 1 Finally, a temporary impulse 
 for a resuscitation of " Gothic " material came directly after 
 1777, when Ossian was translated into Swedish. The influence 
 of Ossian 2 and Rousseau were to be prominent characteristics 
 of the Gothic tendency thereafter. 
 
 G. G. Adlerbeth (1751-1818), the father of the leader of the 
 Gothic School, translated Eyvindr Skaldaspiller's " Hakonar- 
 mal " in 1783, which was printed in Stockholms-Posten in 1790. 
 Adlerbeth detects an intimate relationship between the Ossianic 
 and the Icelandic songs of combat, and in the northern litera- 
 ture he sees the " strong and bold natural features " of primi- 
 tive man. 3 The first serious effort to employ Norse myths in 
 modern Swedish poetry was in Clewberg-Edelcrantz's " Ode to 
 the Swedish people" (Ode till svenska folket; Stockholm, 
 1786). Clewberg was influenced by Gray, 4 but it is not known 
 with certainty what his sources were. He was but poorly 
 acquainted with Norse mythology, for he confuses Odin and 
 Thor. 5 Johan Gabriel Oxenstjerna (1750-1818), in his "The 
 Harvests" (Skordarne), 6 glorifies, in true Rousseau style, the 
 "Scythians" (Skyterna) as the first inhabitants of Sweden 
 and as founders of Swedish agriculture. Both Oxenstjerna 
 and Adlerbeth tried to depict the prototype of the Swedish 
 farmer. The imagination of Thomas Thorild (1759-1808), a 
 disciple of Ossian, must have been influenced by Rudbeck's 
 " patriarchal conception of the farmers." 7 To this glorification 
 of the primitive agriculturist the Swedish poets were incited 
 by the Norwegian Society, 8 which had introduced the farmer- 
 type into Norwegian popular poetry. And with less difficulty 
 than in Sweden : for the free Norwegian tiller of the soil en- 
 
 1 Cf. Hermes, Leipzig, 1823, Nr. XVII, p. 242 (Kritisch-historische 
 Uebersicht des Zustandes der schwedischen Literatur seit dem Anfange 
 dieses Jahrhunderts, by Hammarskjold.) 
 
 2Cf. Blanck, p. 316. 
 
 3 Ibid., p. 319. 
 
 4 Ibid., p. 329. 
 
 5 Ibid., p. 331. 
 
 6 For an outline of the history of this Alexandrine poem, see Blanck, 
 p. 34 iff- The first version was written in Vienna in 1772-3, though not 
 printed until 1796. 
 
 7 Ibid., p. 410. 
 
 8 Cf. above, note 2, p. 17. 
 
23 
 
 joyed a greater prestige, comparatively; he came nearer the 
 embodiment of the Rousseau ideal, and the exaltation of him 
 gained favor more rapidly than in a country governed by the 
 nobility. 1 The Rousseau spirit is very striking in an important 
 and interesting article entitled "The Golden Age of Sweden 
 during the Reign of the Lodbrok Dynasty in the Tenth, Elev- 
 enth, and Twelfth Centuries," which appeared in Vol. 4 of 
 " Publications of the Society for the Popularization of General 
 Knowledge" ( 1794-1798) . 2 Here three pagan centuries are 
 represented as an enviable, paradisian age, with the detri- 
 mental results of civilization lacking. 3 There was no poverty, 
 no class distinction, not too many officials, and all the rudi- 
 ments of a true religion, though heathen, were present. The 
 fact that such a laudatory exposition of the viking period re- 
 ceived considerable attention is not surprising. 4 
 
 Even the correct Gustavians employed the Norse saga element 
 in a superficial way. The king himself did not meddle se- 
 riously with Norse themes, but representations of Swedish 
 antiquity were to be included in the national repertoire of the 
 theater. But all such representations proved utterly devoid of 
 historical truth or local color, and the King's " erotic bagatel " 
 "Frigga" (1783) is nothing but the imitation of a classic 
 where the name of Jupiter has been changed to Odin. 5 Sev- 
 eral dramatists of the king's coterie adopted Norse themes, but 
 with the same result. 6 The most important one of these was 
 Gustaf af Leopold's tragedy " Oden," 7 which made its debut 
 at the Royal Theater in 1790. There is nothing historical in 
 it except the pretended journey of the Asa-tribe from the 
 Black Sea to Scandinavia, at the time of Pompey. The scene 
 
 1 Cf. ibid., pp. 416 and 4i8ff. 
 
 2 Swedish name of periodical : Skrifter af sallskapet for allmanne med- 
 borgerlige kunskaper," and that of the article : " Sveriges lyckliga tid- 
 hvarf under Lodbrokiske konungaattens regering uti 9 : de, io:de, och 
 1 1 : te arhundraden." 
 
 3 Cf. G. Ljunggren : Svenska vitterhetens hafder, Del III, pp. 394-5. 
 
 * Blanck states very significantly that the Gothic School in Sweden was 
 the most complete expression " of this national Rousseauism," p. 428. 
 
 5 Blanck, p. 351. 
 
 6 Ibid., p. 355. 
 
 7 Cf. Appendix : Notes on Leopold. 
 
24 
 
 is laid in Asia and Pompey himself is introduced into the 
 drama. "Oden" was written according to the French style 
 in Alexandrines, and so, in spite of its name, it gained but little 
 sympathy from the Romanticists. The last of the Gustavian 
 efforts in this line was Adlerbeth's " Ingiall Illrada" (1799) ; 
 and it was not much of an improvement over its literary pat- 
 terns in the same genre, but it did have a tendency toward 
 local color. 
 
 For the sake of a certain completeness there remains to be 
 mentioned, in this connection, a few names of miscellaneous 
 character. Thorild, to whom we referred a moment ago, 
 should be remembered as a precursor of the " Goths " through 
 his work on local folksongs ( 1805-1806). 1 Hammarskjold 
 mentions a Matthias Bjugg, who was "nourished by love for 
 Norse antiquity." 2 At the close of the century A. E. Afzelius 
 urged the use of Norse mythology in modern poetry, and ven- 
 tured to compare the classic myths and the new. 3 He praised 
 Dalin, Fru Nordenflycht, Gyllenborg, 4 and Leopold for experi- 
 ments along this line. Peter Tham and Magnus Adlerstam 
 were two dilettants in the investigation of the saga. The 
 former was really a pupil of the remote Rudbeck with no defi- 
 nite remarkable work to his credit, but a man who acquired a 
 name by his originality and enthusiasm for Swedish antiquity. 
 Tham was finally elected to membership in the Gothic For- 
 bund. 5 Jakob Fredrik Neikter, in 1785 librarian and pro- 
 fessor of literature at the University of Uppsala, published 
 in 1793-1799 a very romantic-sounding Latin treatise, "De 
 gente antiqua Troll," in six parts, showing a scientific interest 
 in the primitive man himself. The " Trolls " were supposed 
 to be the oldest inhabitants of Scandinavia, who had been 
 forced to recede to the innermost parts of the forests by the 
 
 1 " Gotamannasanger eller dalvisor." They were published in Geijer's 
 edition of folksongs, 1819. See p. 404 and note 2. on same page. 
 
 2 Svenska vitterheten, 26. ed., p. 420. 
 s Cf. Blanck, pp. sgSfi. 
 
 4 The Norsism of these three had no more intrinsic value than that 
 of Leopold. 
 
 5 Tham had a quarrel later with Ling about the location of the ash-tree 
 Yggdrasil, the Tree of Time in Norse mythology, whose branches extend 
 over the whole world. Tham claimed it was located near Dagsnas, Tham's 
 home. The quarrel was symbolic of the time. 
 
25 
 
 coming of the Asas. 1 Neikter also published a number of 
 geographico-historical treatises (1791-1 800), all in Latin, about 
 the early history of Scandinavia and Iceland in general, and 
 about Sweden in particular. Blanck thinks it possible that 
 Geijer learned some of his Icelandic from Neikter. 2 Nils 
 Henrik Sjoborg, professor of history at the University of 
 Lund, did much for the study of Icelandic in the southern part 
 of Sweden. His "Introduction to a Knowledge of the An- 
 tiquities of the Fatherland," 3 a valuable book for its time, 
 appeared in 1797, and his Icelandic grammar in 1804-1806.* 
 
 It might appear at first from the above compilation that an 
 actual " revival " of the saga element was unecessary. But at 
 close range it becomes evident that much of the activity thus 
 far had lacked the essentials of permanency. Something had 
 been done in Old Norse philology and history, but much of it 
 was superficial and unscientific, and examples of original 
 " Gothic " poetry with any positive value were extremely rare. 
 After all, the number of connoisseurs and champions of the 
 indigenous, legendary material was small, and, unlike other 
 subjects, the cult of the saga had not attained a place in litera- 
 ture, or among the Swedish people, commensurable with its 
 value. Sjoborg had tried to keep up Norse traditions at Lund, 
 and Neikter at Uppsala, and both must have had some influ- 
 ence on their younger contemporaries, but Blanck declares (in 
 speaking of the condition at Uppsala) that the " knowledge of 
 Icelandic during the first decade of the nineteenth century had 
 almost died out." 5 What had been accomplished before 1810 
 in Sweden, then, could, at the most, serve only as an introduc- 
 tion for the more intensive and general work of the next gen- 
 eration. It was left for the Romanticists to introduce the local 
 color, life, vitality, and spirit that would give the saga element 
 an undisputed place in Swedish literature. 
 
 1 Blanck, pp. 252-3. 
 
 2 Ibid., p. 297. 
 
 3 " Inledning till kannedom af faderneslandets antiquiteter." 
 
 4 " Grammaticae islandicae electa." Other publications of Sjoborg were : 
 "Rigsmal" (1801) ; " Lodbrokar-Qvida " (1802), translated and edited with 
 glosses; " Gautamal lingua antiqua scandinaviae " (1811). 
 
 5 Blanck, p. 297. 
 
CHAPTER I 
 
 THE INTEREST OF THE FOSFORISTS IN SCANDINAVIAN 
 ANTIQUITY 
 
 Var nya skola egde emellertid i sig sjelf ett sa starkt nationelt 
 element, att den vid sidan af den romantiska dikten forstod att 
 uppsoka det fait, som for den skandinaviska norden eger en sa stor 
 betydelse och for densamma ar sarskildt utmarkande, namligen det 
 fornnordiska lifvets verk och anda. Afven deruti hade den nya 
 skolan ett stort utmarkande drag och, ehuru bestridd dess fortjenst 
 i detta fall ar, vaga vi dock pasta, att man afven mycket fran det 
 hallet far taga den i betraktande. Borje Norling: "Nya skolan 
 bedomd i literaturhistorien." 
 
 The so-called Fosforists have never been given full credit for 
 what they accomplished in anything, and certainly not for what 
 they did in familiarizing their countrymen with Scandinavian 
 antiquity. Since their interest in Norse antiquity, folklore 
 and early Scandinavian literature was only one number on 
 their program, it has been an easy matter for hostile and unin- 
 formed critics to cover up this tendency with a savage invective 
 against their hobbies and faults, such as German philosophy, 
 Catholicism, and obscurantism. That any good could come 
 from a Fosforist is a matter of skepticism even to-day in Scan- 
 dinavia, and in the past literary critics have usually assumed 
 that no beneficial impulses or influences of any kind could ever 
 emanate from such a source. Especially is this true with re- 
 spect to the Fosforists' interest in " Gothic " material, which 
 has been either ignored, treated superficially, or misrepresented. 
 This is illustrated in Malmstrom's "Grunddragen af svenska 
 vitterhetens historia" (IV and V), and in the bitter anti- 
 Fosforist Fryxell's " Bidrag till Sveriges litteraturhistoria." 
 The former (V, 24) gives all the credit to the influence of the 
 Gothic School upon Fosforists. "To be sure," says Malm- 
 strom, " we can discover certain sympathies in the writings of 
 
 26 
 
the [New] School for our northern song and saga before [the 
 existence of the Gothic Society] but only scattered traces." 
 But he did not stop to characterize these traces and took for 
 granted that they were of no consequence. Fryxell goes even 
 further and answers "Atterbom's legitimate claim to some 
 honor for his work in folklore " with ridicule 1 and a charge of 
 unimportance. 
 
 Literary historians, also, have imagined an impassable chasm 
 between the Fosforists and the Goths ; that their doctrines were 
 irreconcilable, that activity in one of these circles excluded, for 
 the most part, any activity in the other, and that anything of 
 value was accomplished by the Goths only. We know this to 
 be false; if anything, the converse is true. With respect to 
 an interest in national treasures, the Fosforists and Goths were 
 twin brothers, with the birthright in favor of the Fosforist. 
 Against the prevalent misconception in the matter there came 
 a vigorous protest in 1880 from Borje Norling, whose views 
 are summed up in the quotation at the head of this chapter. 
 In the last part of the second chapter of " The New School " 
 (Nya skolan), Norling calls attention to the customary exag- 
 geration of differences between the two new tendencies, and 
 points out how these tendencies often dovetailed into one 
 another, and how their standard-bearers contributed gladly to 
 each others' periodicals. Unfortunately, however, Norling 
 devotes only about nine pages to this large topic and his com- 
 mendable crticism could serve only as an indicator and not as 
 a permanent demonstration of the misconception. A more 
 recent protest against the same injustice has been filed by 
 Henrik Schtick in his brief and popular article on " The Gothic 
 School" (Den gotiska skolan). 2 Schiick goes a step further 
 than Norling: he cannot deny the existence of a formally 
 organized Forbund, but questions radically the existence of a 
 Gothic School in any real literary sense. Tegner, Geijer, and 
 
 i " Bidrag," p. 78. Atterbom had rather incautiously called himself the 
 savior of "The Harp of the North" (Nordmansharpan). This was the 
 name of a collection of folksongs published in 1816 in Poetisk Kalender 
 by Atterbom. 
 
 2 Ur gamla papper. Stockholm, 1904, pp. 208-220. It will be observed 
 that this article, like that of Norling, is very brief. 
 
28 
 
 Ling do not count in his estimation; they were too great, too 
 independent, and too different from each other to assume joint 
 leadership of any one faction. There were some minor lit- 
 erary men, technically enrolled as " Goths," 1 but " from a lit- 
 erary viewpoint the (Gothic) Forbund was of no importance, 
 and the majority of the members were illiterate." 2 This is a 
 severe charge which certainly cannot be made against the ma- 
 jority of the Fosforists, who could follow a discussion on 
 " Gothic " topics with some intelligence. And so, Schiick goes 
 on to say, "The New Romanticists (meaning primarily the 
 Fosforists) were not opposed at all to the idea of revivifying 
 the Old Norse poetry and saw in Iduna, the organ of the Goths, 
 only a companion in arms." 3 It is unhistorical to imagine an 
 antagonism between " New-Romanticism " and enthusiasm for 
 Scandinavian antiquity ; the former includes, and is, in a sense, 
 the parent of the latter. 
 
 Norling and Schiick, we see, have anticipated the justice 
 which must came sooner or later to the ill-reputed Fosforists. 
 What was the extent and nature, then, of the Fosforists' inter- 
 est in the Old Norse element ? First about the leader Atterbom. 
 
 From his earliest infancy, saga literature was a favorite 
 reading of Atterbom. "At the early age of six years the boy 
 lay before the fireside with Sturleson, the Vilkina Saga, or 
 Pufendorf s Universalgeschichte beside him." 4 But what here 
 concerns us most is Atterbom's national tendency as a militant 
 Romanticist as it appears in the literary .publications of the 
 new movement. Now, in the very first number of Fo<sforos, 
 there is undeniable evidence of this tendency. In Atterbom's 
 review of Elgstrom's 5 pamphlet, " A Great, Patriotic Way of 
 Thinking" (Om ett stort, ett patriotiskt tankesatt), which is 
 as much an " esthetic program for the New School as a review 
 of Elgstrom's pamphlet," 6 we find a Rousseau-like apotheosis 
 
 1 Cf. Chap. V of this review, about Nicander and Beskow. 
 
 2 " Den gotiska skolan," p. 212. 
 
 3 Ibid., p. 213. 
 
 * Johan Erik Thomander : " Intrades-Tal (ofver Atterbom) i svenska 
 akademien." Svenska akademiens handlingar if ran ar 1796. No. 29, p. 179. 
 
 s This minor Fosforist did not live long enough to accomplish much. 
 Cf. Appendii, note on Elgstrom. 
 
 6 Cf. Gudmund Frunck : " Bidrag till kannedom om nya skolans f 6r- 
 beredelser och forsta utveckling," p. 71. 
 
29 
 
 of early Swedish literature. It is written in characteristic 
 Atterbomian language notice the epithet "the nectar of 
 genius" and bears the stamp of conviction and enthusiasm. 
 He writes : 
 
 "We are reminded, namely, of an age when Sweden was still 
 the kingdom of the Swedes (Sviars) and, if no more, we wish at 
 least to revive its old memories. We know that Sweden at that 
 time possessed a literature, not for fun, or as a plaything for full- 
 grown children, not as an agglomeration of contending masses, 
 produced by opportunity and generated by intellectual need; but a 
 real serious literature, fostered by the nectar of genius and pre- 
 served by the victories of thorough investigation, an organic 
 example of the ennobling of a powerful nation. . . . Philology 
 flourished, and ancient monuments of our forefathers were brought 
 to light with a religious zeal which the modern fashionable small- 
 mindedness has tried in vain to ridicule." 1 
 
 This tone is, obviously, not one of hostility toward primitive 
 Sweden. On the contrary, it leads us to expect encourage- 
 ment from the pioneer investigator of Swedish antiquity. 
 
 To Atterbom this meant more often Scandinavian antiquity, 
 for he believed the Edda to be just as much a parent of Swedish 
 literature as of any other Scandinavian poetry. According to 
 Atterbom, the history of Swedish literature does not begin in 
 the middle of the fourteenth century, but with the Eddas, and 
 thorough understanding of the spirit of the Eddas is indispen- 
 sable to an understanding of early Swedish literature. 2 Atter- 
 bom's interest in strictly indigenous material, then, goes hand 
 in hand with his interest in the Scandinavian saga-age and its 
 literary monuments, and was prompted also, no doubt, by the 
 Romantic search for " det ursprungliga." In his significant 
 comments on Oehlenschlager's works in the November number 
 of F os for os, 1810, the tone is even more explicit. A national 
 Swedish poetry, based on Scandinavian mythology, is advocated : 
 
 i" Fosforos" for 1810, pp. 4 iff. This quotation is crystal-clear as com- 
 pared with some of Atterbom's early prose, but even here we can detect a 
 tendency toward a bombastic, hazy phraseology. Of course, an allowance 
 must be made for translation. 
 
 2 Cf. " Inledning till svenska siare och skalder," Chap. 2, " Samlade 
 skrifter i obunden stil." Fjerde Delen. Orebro, 1864, p. 58. Hammar- 
 skjold differed with Atterbom on these points. 
 
30 
 
 "We fail to see where it is criminal to restore our fathers' 
 majestic mythology as poetic symbolism. If one should ever con- 
 sider seriously an individual Scandinavian art of poetry, this 
 would be the only course to take. Whatever this mythology lacks 
 in plasticity, able geniuses, turning their sole attention to these 
 matters, will complete and beautify gradually. Could not those 
 readers who are not acquainted with the demi-sagas of the Edda, 
 be instructed by good manuals dealing with essential phases, and 
 does not sacred popular belief (folktron), at least in certain remote 
 places in the last retreats of Norse Naturpoesie, still cling to 
 several such myths? Does not Thor, that monarch of the light- 
 ning, still ride and destroy trolls with his bolts? Do not those 
 mounds blaze in the night, where the giants, whose habitations 
 are shown, sleep beneath their swords? Do not the artful dwarfs 
 laugh within their rocks, and do not monstrous forms converse on 
 moonlit winter-nights around ancestral death-cliffs (attestupor) ? 
 And during the beautiful summer evenings, when the evil-minded 
 fairies of the woods do not venture out of their gloomy dwellings, 
 do not the very elves, those little spirits of light, dressed in a 
 silvery web, still dance beneath leafy trees to the ringing notes of 
 the water-sprite, from out of the aspen-grove on the bank of the 
 river? Those Swedish readers in whom such and other sagas do 
 not re-echo from childhood up are unworthy and incapable of 
 enjoying any kind of poetry. 1 
 
 This strong plea for the Old Northern saga, myth, and super- 
 stition is followed by a favorable recension of Ling's " Gylfe," 
 a short allegorical poem in Old Norse dress, on the loss of 
 Finland, which had just appeared in Hammarskj old's Ly- 
 ceum. 2 Here we have a national poem (by an author who 
 later turned out to be the most red-hot radical of the Goths) 
 published in an organ of a Fosforist, Hammarskj old, and re- 
 viewed conjointly by two more, Palmblad and Atterbom, in the 
 organ of the new movement. He hails Ling as the " northern 
 bard," and proceeds enthusiastically as follows : 
 
 " That which charms us so irresistibly in this allegory on the 
 fates and hopes of Sweden is something higher than the effeminate 
 and butterfly-like fancy of the ordinary artist. It is Swedish 
 patriotism (nationlighet), or in different words, love of fatherland, 
 
 1 Fosforos for 1810, pp. 313-14. 
 
 2 For a review see ibid., pp. 376-7. Cf. Chap. Ill, p. 103 and note 5. 
 
31 
 
 ardor for freedom, ambition and heroic power. The Scandinavian 
 saga-dress offers willingly its gloomy and colossal splendor to each 
 and every soul who, in rescuing what is most sacred of its char- 
 acter from a tuneless contemporary age, gladly continues to use it 
 [in literary treatments] of his better forefathers, in order to enjoy 
 it among memories and graves." . . . 
 
 It will not escape notice that in the last two quotations there 
 is both a general reprimand for all those who do not sympathize 
 with the saga and a definite complaint about a " tuneless con- 
 temporary age." 
 
 An important trait of Fosforos is its sympathetic attitude 
 toward contemporary publications of saga literature in Den- 
 mark. The December number for iSio 1 contains an announce- 
 ment of the publication of the Nial Saga (Historia Niali et 
 Filiorum. Kiobenhavn, 1809) and makes a brief but intelligent 
 comparison of this saga with the works of Snorre Sturleson 
 and Saemund Frode. The annual for i8n 2 announces, again, 
 a " worthy " complement to the Nial Saga in the Egil Saga in 
 Latin translation, published with notes and chronologies by the 
 same famous Arne-Magnussen Foundation. The editor be- 
 lieves the Egil Saga to be a real contribution to the history of 
 Sweden, Denmark, England, and Norway, and the fact that 
 the hero was both " skald " and " berserk " appeals to him par- 
 ticularly. Then we obtain an idea of the customs of the olden 
 time, its art and commerce, its laws and administration of jus- 
 tice. In short, he finds a " remarkable amount of culture " in 
 the Egil Saga, the events of which took place in the tenth and 
 eleventh centuries. 3 Then, with a sincere effort for philolog- 
 ical accuracy and style, the editor goes on to give information 
 about codices and to name forerunners in the field. Lastly, he 
 ventures the hypothesis that the manuscript is from the thir- 
 teenth or fourteenth centuries, " when Ore Frode, Snorre 
 Sturleson, and Sturle Thurdsen constituted the golden age of 
 Icelandic literature." 4 The beginning of a critical study of 
 
 1 Ibid., pp. 380-1. 
 
 2 Ibid., pp. 69-70. 
 
 3 Ibid., p. 69. 
 
 4 Ibid., p. 70. 
 
32 
 
 the sagas makes its appearance also at this time in Fosforos. 
 Concerning the above mentioned monuments, published in Den- 
 mark, Carl C. Gjorwell sent a contribution to Fosforos dated 
 in Stockholm, January 10, iSn, 1 which consisted of a few bio- 
 graphical and historical data about Egil and Nial. Gjorwell 
 takes a broad and thoughtful view of the sagas ; there must be 
 sympathy for them as literature, he believes, and the historical 
 facts must be taken cautiously. Yet we must attach some his- 
 torical importance to these tales. All Norse sagas are "not 
 merely ballads to amuse simple-minded people. 2 
 
 To come back to Atterbom. The leading Romanticists paid 
 tribute to the saga element in creative poetry as well as in 
 literary criticism. Atterbom writes to Hammarskjold, Jan- 
 uary 14, 1811: "I have now read Oehlenschlager's "Digte," 
 first edition, and a few of his romances have strengthened my 
 opinion still more that a national (egen) Scandinavian poetry 
 is possible. Perhaps you will soon see your friend attempt 
 this new path. Later on I should like to write a text-book on 
 mythology like Moritz's, but I shall not be able to devote 
 myself to Icelandic literature diligently for a couple of years 
 to come. More about this may appear in print." 3 The public 
 did not have to wait long for something in print on Norse 
 mythology from Atterbom's pen. In the very Prolog to Fos- 
 foros, in that strophe which is addressed to his fatherland, 
 Atterbom calls his countrymen " sons of Thor," 4 and Fosforos 
 for 1811 is introduced by " Skaldarmal," 5 a direct creative 
 
 1 Ibid., pp. i57ff. 
 
 2 Ibid., p. 1 60. 
 
 3 Frunck: " Bref rorande den nya skolans historia," IV, p. 217. Oehlen- 
 schlager's "Digte" had appeared in 1807. Moritz was Karl Philip Moritz 
 ( I 757~ I 793), Pro.fessor in Berlin, and author of " Gotterlehre." In a letter 
 to Hammarskjold, dated February 4, 1811, Atterbom again refers to his 
 intended work on Norse Mythology : " I have not yet touched my intended 
 Norse Mythology. I cannot hope for a realization of this plan before 
 I get time to devote a couple of years exclusively to this work." See 
 Frunck: "Bref," IV, p. 229. On the other hand, Palmblad does not be- 
 lieve that Atterbom's Norse Mythology will ever see daylight unless " God 
 deigns to prolong his life by eighty years." .Frunck: "Bref," IV, p. 235. 
 
 4 Cf. the last two lines of the strophe : 
 
 " Och Thor an sina soners berg bestralar, 
 Der skalden dina nya under malar ! " 
 
 5 Fosforos for 1811, pp. 3-8, followed, pp. 8-14, by explanatory notes. 
 
33 
 
 tribute to Scandinavian mythology. The mere existence of 
 this poem is well known, but the exact nature of its contents 
 or importance is generally ignored. It is a Romantic plea for 
 a national poetry on the basis of indigenous saga-material. It 
 is at once a glorification of poetry and of the saga age which 
 the poet is to bring back, and a pessimistic characterization of 
 the present era. The poet deplores the existing lack of interest 
 in the runes and complains that feeling is silent in " our deso- 
 late days." "What will ye do, ye old rune-tones (runoljud) 
 with a people who have no sense of honor, or with a world 
 which has no God ? "* The poet regrets that the harp which 
 Brage played in days of yore at wedding feasts sounds no more 
 in Northern forests. 2 And so he sings of battle, Valkyr, 
 and Valhalla; of the viking and the skald; of Thor and the 
 giants, of Frigga and Balder; in short, of the age when 
 "beauty embraced strength." 3 Allusions to the weird norns 
 and the bewitching song of the water-sprite (necken) help to 
 complete the picture. There is great enthusiasm for skaldic 
 poets or, to use Atterbom's own term, " bragar," and their art. 
 " The heart was given for the fatherland, and if you but love 
 the dead as we do, you will lure them back with the magic of 
 song." 4 " Skaldarmal " is written in strophes, in tetrameters, 
 interspersed in the second and fourth lines with trimeters, and 
 with the rime- formula : ababcc. 
 
 " Skaldarmal " is followed immediately by what is more im- 
 portant than the poem itself: namely, by notes on the Norse 
 mythology employed, and these notes, it seems to me, fix pretty 
 definitely Atterbom's temporary position relative to Old Norse 
 literature. The notes betray a knowledge of what had been 
 done before in this line, and reveal a conscientious study of 
 the myths; they are illuminating and, for the most part, cor- 
 rect. And they must have been accepted by the public as 
 unusually trustworthy interpretations, not only then, when 
 everybody was more or less ignorant of the subject, but later, 
 when poets and scholars were better acquainted with Scandi- 
 
 1 Ibid., p. 3. 
 
 2 Ibid., p, 5. 
 s Ibid., p. 5. 
 4 Ibid., p. 7. 
 
34 
 
 navian mythology. When, in 1815, four years after the 
 Goths had appeared above the horizon, a dictionary of 
 Norse mythology was published in Nykoping, several of At- 
 terbom's notes to " Skaldarmal " in Fosforos, even the incor- 
 rect ones, were copied word for word in it. 1 It stands to reason, 
 then, that Atterbom acquired some reputation by his genuinely 
 national poem and its accompanying notes ; that some 2 influence 
 must have been exerted on his contemporaries, even if he can- 
 not be given credit for inaugurating the Gothic Society or its 
 publication, Iduna. 3 That this Fosforist tried to arouse en- 
 thusiasm for the saga element, however, before the actual 
 organization of the Gothic Forbund or the appearance of its 
 literary organ, cannot be denied, and the influence at first, if 
 any, went from Fosforist to Goth and not vice versa. To say 
 unconditionally that the impulse for the historical "revival in 
 Swedish culture, was given by the Gothic Forbund" 4 is in- 
 correct. 
 
 But, to leave the matter of influence and chronology, let us 
 examine the notes themselves more in detail. Atterbom's re- 
 marks are to serve, not only as a guide to his poem but also 
 to indicate, by way of anticipation, the spirit in which a per- 
 fected Edda, possessing a symbolism of its own, could be pro- 
 duced for Norse art. 5 Atterbom declares emphatically that the 
 demi-sagas of the Edda are not a positive evil, the product of 
 a stupid imagination. 6 Then he waxes enthusiastic again and 
 
 1 See Svensk Litteratur-Tidning for i8th of May, 1816 (No. 20), p. 313. 
 
 2 Cf. below, first paragraph of Chapter III. 
 
 3 In the recension of the first number of Iduna, in Forforos 1811, p. 
 i77ff., Atterbom rather proudly assumes credit for having given the im- 
 pulse for such a publication. (Cf. below, p. 40.) This has given rise to 
 many useless attacks by his enemies. The dispute is pretty well settled, 
 and it would not be very important if it were not. Norling (" Nya skolan," 
 p. 67) has given the most sensible opinion about this matter : " Of course, 
 Iduna would have been born without Atterbom's exhortations, but it would 
 be just as wrong to deny this, as to assert that the Fosforists' love for 
 the fatherland received its first right trend from the latter" (Iduna). The 
 fact that the January-February number of Fosforos for 1811, which con- 
 tained "Skaldarmal," appeared a little late (see p. 96 of Fosforos 1811), 
 makes no appreciable difference of chronology. 
 
 4 Vedel : "Svensk romantik," p. 251. 
 
 5 Fosforos, 1811, p. 9. 
 
 6 Ibid., p. 12. 
 
35 
 
 queries whether the "ideal principle of poetry had not appeared 
 with greater force in Sweden (Svithiod) than in Hellas," 
 whether " our ancestors' wisdom and poetic art, bred under the 
 same sky as we and upon the unchangeable foundation of the 
 same North," did not stand closer to us than a foreign Southern 
 art. In fact, Atterbom takes a concrete example, finds that 
 "the wonderful teachings about creation and its final destruc- 
 tion " are, " from a philosophical view-point, most important in 
 the Edda." 1 In other words, not only the Scandinavian patriot, 
 but the philosopher, had better go to early Scandinavian litera- 
 ture for his fundamentals. 
 
 Atterbom is a thorough Romanticist all through his notes. 
 At times he seems verbose and misty, as in his interpretation 
 of creation, but, above all, he is philosophical and symbolic, and 
 compares briefly the characters from Norse mythology with 
 those from Greek, Latin and Oriental myths. The influence 
 of Tieck and Novalis is also noticeable. Atterbom describes 
 Freya, the goddess of beauty, as follows : She was " the symbol 
 of love and hope, a composition of infinite music and ardent 
 longing, and, like Aphrodite of the Greeks, she had sprung from 
 the water." Freya was the daughter of Necken, the genius of 
 music, who was said to live in the water, and of Skadi, the 
 symbol of disturbance in the elements. Necken under the name 
 of Agir (Neptune) and Niord (Eolus) were worshipped as the 
 rulers of water and wind respectively. 2 Idun (Iduna), the 
 goddess of youth, wife of Brage, the god of fine arts, becomes 
 to Atterbom the embodiment of poetry, the symbol of immor- 
 tality, and corresponds to Hebe of the Greeks. 3 Balder, the 
 god of innocence, piety and light, becomes furthermore a 
 " symbol of virtue in its original form." He is killed by Loke, 
 the personification of the ".original evil," and corresponds in 
 some particulars to Apollo. 4 Frey, the god of fertility on 
 earth, becomes to Atterbom the "symbol of enjoyment (Bac- 
 chus), who loves man and gives abundance to nature." 5 Thor 
 
 1 Ibid., p. 13. 
 
 2 Ibid., p. 12. 
 
 3 Ibid., p. 10. 
 
 4 Ibid., p. ii. 
 
 5 Ibid., p. 12. 
 
36 
 
 represents the sun, and is a " symbol of the masculine principle 
 of the Deity, light, or reason, which fertilizes the nature- 
 element (Naturgrund) or the original imagination, unites (as 
 in marriage) the form and content and thereby becomes the 
 origin of the real creation." 1 He is the god in human form, 
 the mediator between man and God, the redeemer among our 
 forefathers and corresponds to Vishnu and Christ. He occu- 
 pies the highest throne in Uppsala temple and has assumed 
 greater prominence than Odin, for he (Thor) is visible. Simi- 
 larly, Frigga or- Disa represents the moon and is a symbol of 
 the feminine principle of the Deity, materia. She is the wife 
 of All father, Odin, and represents the Fate which is united to 
 Providence, the motherly in the universe, and necessity in na- 
 ture. She corresponds to the Egyptian Isis, to the Ephesian 
 Diana, and to Mary in the Christian religion. She is a symbol, 
 also, of the divinity of the earth as Mother-of-all, hence like 
 the German Hertha. 2 
 
 We have stated above that Atterbom's notes were, for the 
 most part, correct. Yet, the characteristic lingo, such as we 
 found in the note on Thor, is not always as clear as it might 
 be, and it is therefore difficult to determine whether they are 
 correct or incorrect. That some of them were actually incor- 
 rect was discovered by the reviewer of the dictionary of Norse 
 mythology in i8i5. 3 But it is a strange fact that the more 
 Atterbom's interpretations are studied the more the modern 
 student will agree with him, and the more Atterbom's ideas 
 seem to fit into an intellectual system. As far as the symbol- 
 ism goes, we feel that Atterbom has at least a justification for 
 his own Romantic point of view. Yet it is doubtful whether 
 Frey, as the god of productiveness, of rain, and sunshine, and 
 as the patron of all crops, 4 is the Norse analog of Bacchus, who 
 was the "symbol of enjoyment" in a more specific sense. 
 Again, Atterbom makes Neck en identical with Njord. But 
 Njord is one of the fourteen full-fledged Asa-gods, mentioned 
 in Snorre's Edda (Gylfaginning), whereas Necken is a lower 
 
 1 Ibid., pp. pff. 
 
 2 Ibid., p. 9. 
 
 3 Cf. above, note i, p. 34, and text on pp. 34-35. 
 
 4 Cf . Sunden: "Oversikt av nordiska mytologien," Femte upplagan, p. 80. 
 
37 
 
 spirit, an elf -like water-sprite of the smaller bodies of water, 
 and is more the product of popular superstition. In his com- 
 mentary on Thor, Atterbom assumes that other Norse gods 
 were invisible and lacked human form. But to all of the gen- 
 uine Asa-gods, human form was attributed: "To them (Asa- 
 divinities) are attributed human form and human conduct, but 
 all on a higher and nobler level." 1 
 
 But it must be added to Atterbom's credit that he tried to be 
 self-critical in his analysis of Norse myths, became conscious 
 later of his youthful shortcomings, acknowledged his mistakes, 
 and was ready to rectify them. He writes to Tegner, July 20, 
 1811 : "In the notes to the above-mentioned poem (' Skaldar- 
 mal '), I made a couple of historical mistakes, which will be 
 corrected in my next experiment in this line/' 2 Atterbom 
 sought modestly to approach Tegner by means of his first " ex- 
 periment." He sent the first number of Fosforos for 1811 to 
 his more distinguished colleague and wrote: "I have there (in 
 the beginning of the first number) ventured the first outline of 
 a revival of the extinct myths of Sweden, and am certain that 
 this new idea will interest you, 3 whose muse long ago began 
 to charm us with Northern delight. I considered it unworthy 
 that we should ignore our own forefathers' sacred remains, in 
 a journal which is intended to embrace the most important 
 objects for the culture of a growing literature. Whether any 
 clear pictures can be developed from my shadowy lines, is a 
 problem which can be solved only by you and your peers." 4 
 Tegner, who believed in Atterbom's poetic ability, 5 received 
 his "Skaldarmal" favorably. Atterbom writes: "Your (Teg- 
 ner's) estimate of my ' Skaldarmal' has pleased me heartily 
 
 i Ibid., p. 19. 
 
 2"Ur Esaias Tegners papper," p. 39. He does not state the precise 
 nature of the mistake, however. 
 
 3 A free translation. Atterbom addresses Tegner in the third person 
 with "Tit." "title," implying a repetition of all titles every time he ad- 
 dresses him. For the sake of simplicity I have rendered this "Tit." by 
 "you." 
 
 * See letter of April 19, 1811. " Ur Esaias Tegners papper," p. 38. As 
 it happened, Atterbom here addressed, prophetically, the very poet who, 
 fourteen years later, was to solve the problem in " Frithiofs Saga." 
 
 5 Cf . Letter to Geijer of February 17, 1811. Jubelfestupplaga. V, p. 65. 
 
 4 
 
38 
 
 and has, together with the approval of my friends and many 
 of my enemies, encouraged me to make further attempts later 
 in the same style and tone." 1 But Tegner, who hated anything 
 philosophical, had evidently objected to the Fosforistic inter- 
 pretation of the myths, for Atterbom continues in the same 
 letter : 
 
 "A propos of your view of my method of interpretation of 
 Norse mythology and my Schellingization 2 of the same, I ven- 
 ture only to recall that the fundamental principles of nature-phi- 
 losophy 2 gleam forth, though enveloped in a more or less per- 
 fect mythical dress, through all the mythologies (guda-sy sterner) 
 which betray an evident relation to the Hindu mysteries, and this 
 in a stronger or weaker degree, according to their distance from 
 the maternal source. Take the eternal element of the Trinity; do 
 we not find it in any mythology which has the least claim to specu- 
 lative importance or deep religiosity? But with all this, I by no 
 means have the presumption to force upon you the conception of an 
 unripe youth; on the contrary, I am willing to admit that the 
 doctrine of nature-philosophy still needs development in several 
 points." 
 
 It is clear that, although Atterbom expressed his intention 
 to correct objective historical mistakes in his notes, he clung 
 to his independent, philosophical interpretations with persistent 
 tenacity. To Atterbom the Norse myths are often, not so 
 much a living religion or the symbolism of a living people, as 
 our ancestors thought them to be, but rather an indigenous 
 source for a new, national poetry, where the spirit and philoso- 
 phy of the myth are more important than the objective divini- 
 ties. This explains some of the freedom which Atterbom took 
 with his objective facts. In a letter dated April 23, 1811, 
 Atterbom first declares to Hammarskjold that he has read the 
 Edda, and then answers an evident criticism of his own notes 
 to " Skaldarmal " by the Danish philologist Grundtvig : 
 
 " In spite of what Grundtvig may say to the contrary, I do not 
 believe that he possesses a very clear vision for the inner structure 
 
 1 Letter of July 20, 1811. " Ur Esaias Tegners papper," p. 39. Nothing 
 more followed, though, in exactly that " style and tone." 
 
 2 Cf . above : Thor represents the sun ; Frigga the moon and the neces- 
 sity in nature, etc. 
 
39 
 
 of hyperboreism, 1 if he does not believe that Thor is the genius of 
 the sun. I have made (in my notes) many other bold combinations, 
 for example between the water-sprite and Freya. 2 I do not aim at 
 a dead correctness to the letter; my purpose is to discover the 
 lost fantasy of the North." 3 
 
 And listen to the following : 
 
 "That Thor, without the knowledge of the Gothic populace, 
 represented the supporting and mediating power, whose glory we 
 imagine most beautiful in the form of the element of light, does 
 not seem to be refuted by the story of Skinfaxe and the daughter 
 of Mundelfare. 4 The meaning is not that Thor had his seat in the 
 sun, but that the sun in certain Besiehungen 5 was an image of 
 his majesty; In other particulars, you look at my treatment of 
 Norse mythology from my point of view: namely, not from the 
 antiquarian (view-point) but from the poetic. 6 For me it is not a 
 question of how the people in this or that age looked upon their 
 dogmas it is very likely that they did not reflect much about their 
 meaning and continuity but how a complete whole in Northern 
 Geist 5 may be formed out of this crude mass; how this united whole 
 may become a fitting costume for a living national poetry, which is 
 not only sung from the chamber of one literateur into that of 
 another, but can seize the Swedish heart with Swedish songs." 7 
 
 i " Hyperboreism " seems to have been a septentrionalized system of 
 nature worship in which Atterbom dabbled to a considerable extent. The 
 sun seems to have been the emanating center of this system. To me, it is 
 a good illustration of some of Atterbom's so-called explanations. 
 
 2 Cf. above, p. 35. 
 
 3 Cf . Frunck: " Bref," IV, p. 285. Atterbom's purpose is, indeed, am- 
 bitious and pretentious. 
 
 4 Skinfaxe (Icelandic, Skinfaxi) was the horse of Dag (Icelandic, dagr), 
 whose mane illuminates air and earth. Here was apparently a contradic- 
 tion to Atterbom's view that Thor was the genius of light, and attention 
 had been called to it. The daughter of Mundelfare (Icl. Mundelfoeri) was 
 Sol (Sol). Having been placed in the sky, she drove the steeds which 
 pulled the chariot of the sun. Cf . Sunden : Oversikt av nordiska myto- 
 logien, pp. 8 and 9. Here was a discrepancy in gender, for Sol is a femi- 
 nine character in Norse mythology. Could Thor, then, be the symbol of 
 the sun? Note the explanation of Atterbom. 
 
 5 The German words are in the Swedish original. 
 
 6 We get a glimpse here of Hammarskj old's temporary attitude towards 
 Norse myths, but we shall see later that Hammarskj old had a very con- 
 servative idea about introducing it into Swedish art and poetry. 
 
 7 Letter by Atterbom to Hammarskj old, dated " Uppsala am Walpur- 
 gisabend 1811." Frunck: "Bref," IV, pp. 291-2. 
 
40 
 
 The success of " Skaldarmal " and the justified reputation 
 acquired by its unique notes gave the author a feeling of what 
 came dangerously close to presumption. Consequently, when 
 the first number of Iduna appeared, there followed an enthu- 
 siastic review in Fosforos by Atterbom, in which the honor of 
 incentive goes to " Skaldarmal." At least, I do not see how 
 there can be another plausible interpretation, and, undoubtedly, 
 critics have had some justification for attacking the insinuation 
 in the following extract from the review : 
 
 " That prophecy which resounded in our * Skaldarmal/ concern- 
 ing the return of Norse life to thought and song, and that appeal 
 to the geniuses of Sweden which was expressed there and in 
 several places in this periodical, is no longer a happy dream, it has 
 not been made in vain." 1 
 
 But Atterbom's pleasure and enthusiasm were not entirely 
 selfish; he was happy for the sake of Sweden that the Gothic 
 organ had appeared. He sees great hopes now for Swedish 
 art and investigation of antiquity. In Geijer's immortal lyrics, 
 such as " The Last Skald " (Den siste skalden) and " The Last 
 Warrior" (Den siste kampen), he detects the character of 
 " Swedish magnanimity," a pious love for the heroic age of 
 Sweden and as a Romanticist the holy aspect of art which 
 through imagination is the highest herald of religion and ethics. 
 "The Viking" (Vikingen) is "a Gothic romance," a master- 
 piece wherein we find the reflection of a simple honesty, a 
 genuine expression of the true, original (ursprunglig) Norse na- 
 ture; it is not dead antiquarian learning. "The Last War- 
 rior," the reviewer finds, has a commendable ancient rhythm, 
 and the bard improvises in " The Last Skald " in verse which 
 is closely akin to Icelandic. Geijer had made frequent use of 
 new imperfects, such as "klungo" for "klingade" and "svang" 
 (Ger. schwang) for " svingade." This appealed to Atterbom, 
 not only because Geijer here stood on German feet, but because 
 the new forms were old. Atterbom adopts his customary 
 method and compares, briefly, the Norse myths with those of 
 
 i Fosforos, 1811, p. 177. Cf. above, note 3, p. 34. For whole review, 
 see pp. i77ff. 
 
41 
 
 India and Greece. He looks at his Scandinavian ancestors 
 here from an historical, political and ethical standpoint also. 
 His forefathers were fighters because fighting was, historically, 
 a part of their moral and religious conviction; the old Goths 
 had a "restless fighting virtue and faith in warlike gods." 1 
 And, he avers in his spirit of a Rousseauite, if the (political) 
 states are to become what they once were, the age of mythol- 
 ogy must return. 2 In the recension of the Swedish translation 
 of Nyerup's Edda, 3 Atterbom says he has been "pleasantly" 
 superseded by Iduna and lauds the thorough description in it 
 of the relation between superstition, myth and religion. Here, 
 however, our Fosforist has a tendency again to become philo- 
 sophical and obscure. In regard to translations from the Ice- 
 landic he is sensible and self-critical; he admits willingly his 
 own linguistic limitations. He says very little about these for 
 he confesses too great a weakness in Icelandic to compare them 
 intelligently with the original, 4 and this in itself is a feature 
 of Atterbom's interest which points in the right direction. 
 
 We have described the nature of the interest in the saga ele- 
 ment in F os for os, as it was exemplified in the leader of the 
 Fosforists, Atterbom. It consisted (i) of enthusiastic reviews 
 of modern Scandinavian literature based in any way on Scan- 
 dinavian antiquity, (2) of sympathetic announcements of saga 
 literature which had appeared in Denmark, and (3) of an 
 original poem by Atterbom, accompanied by a detailed and 
 philosophic commentary on Norse mythology. Henceforth the 
 last of these three -drops out; i. e., there is no more original 
 "Gothic" poetry by a genuine Fosforist. In 1813 Forsforos 
 died and was replaced by another annual, Svensk Litteratur- 
 
 iFosforos, 1811, p. 183. 
 
 2 Ibid., p. 183. 
 
 3 Nyerup's Edda had appeared in Copenhagen in 1808. It was trans- 
 lated into Swedish by Jakob Adlerbeth and published in Stockholm, 1811. 
 In regard to Nyerup's Edda, Atterbom writes to Hammarskjold, February 
 4, 1811 : "If Nyerup's Edda is for sale in Stockholm, buy a copy for me a 
 tout prix." See Frunck: " Bref," IV, p. 229. And, again, on May 5, iS'ii, 
 to the same friend : " It pleases me beyond description that Adlerbeth's 
 Edda has appeared. Would to God that it were only here." Frunck : 
 
 Bref," IV, p. 301. There is no lukewarmness about such expressions. 
 * Fosforos, 1811, p. 182. 
 
42 
 
 Tidning. In this organ the interest in the saga age is limited 
 to announcements and reviews. That Atterbom did not write 
 another "Skaldarmal," as he had intended to do, 1 must be due, 
 in part, to his activities along other lines of his cult, and to the 
 appearance of other literary men and women, most of them 
 members of the Gothic Society, who now sought to cover this 
 national part of the field. And so, for the present, the future 
 historian of Swedish literature began to lay the foundation for 
 his "Swedish Seers and Skalds" (Svenska siare och skalder) 
 by a systematic study of old Scandinavian monuments, the 
 fruits of which could only appear very much later. He fos- 
 tered the Gothic movement, temporarily, by a consistently ex- 
 pressed sympathy and by the writing and editing of occasional 
 reviews. 
 
 As an illustration of the " consistently expressed sympathy," 
 I need only cite the Fosforists' abiding attitude toward Iduna, 
 as we find it in Svensk Litteratur-Tidning, and for which Atter- 
 bom and Palmblad are jointly responsible. And it was not a 
 lukewarm, polite formality, for politeness in literary matters 
 at the time was out of fashion, but it was a real interest. The 
 same policy adopted by Fosforos was continued in its successor. 
 The review of the fourth number of Iduna, for instance, is 
 extremely favorable: "With warm and hearty joy the reviewer 
 announces a new number of this excellent periodical, which 
 has contributed so much to awaken a love among our country- 
 men for our ancestors' hardy era, and has called attention to 
 the only means whereby it might return with higher potency." 2 
 Then the Gothic organ is eulogized for its " manly enthusiasm " 
 for all that is good and beautiful, and is criticized intelligently 
 at great length. When the second edition of Iduna for 1811 
 had appeared, Svensk Litteratur-Tidning came out at once 3 
 with a retrospect of Iduna's work. The former numbers, we 
 are told, had had better original poetry, but the more recent 
 ones more valuable results of antiquarian investigations. Eu- 
 logistic adjectives like excellent (fortrafBig) and superb 
 
 1 Cf. above, pp. 37-38, and note i. 
 
 2 Svensk Litteratur-Tidning for October 23, 1813, No. 42. 
 
 3 November 13, 1813, No. 45. 
 
43 
 
 (ypperlig) are plentiful and give the tone of the resume. 
 The fifth number of Iduna is hailed by the Fosforists' organ 
 as a " precious gift " which has again been given to the public, 1 
 and the sixth number 2 as a "useful" contribution. In the 
 same organ for iSip 3 Iduna is mentioned as one of the period- 
 icals of the New School, and the eighth number 4 is character- 
 ized as the " clearest celestial signs " which appear on the con- 
 temporary horizon of Swedish letters; the reviewer is afraid 
 he cannot find anything blameworthy in the " Fragments of 
 ' Frithiofs Saga ' which now appeared in Iduna." 
 
 And not only Iduna but all of the important Gothic produc- 
 tions received an almost disproportionately large amount of 
 attention in Svensk Litter atur-Tidning. It is this generosity 
 of space devoted to reviews of national poetry that I wish to 
 emphasize. The review of Ling's "Gylfe" (edition of 1812, 
 Lund) runs through three numbers (No. 8 of February 27; 
 No. 10, March 15; No. 12, March 27, 1813 ), and that of "Gefion," 
 by Fru d'Albedyhll, two numbers (numbers 23 and 24 
 for June n and 18, 1814). Granberg's "Jorund" is lashed 
 for maltreatment of saga sources through two numbers (num- 
 bers 20 and 21, 1814), and Geijer and Afzelius get two num- 
 bers full of commendation for their folksongs in 1815 (num- 
 bers 45, 46, for nth and i8th November). Count v. Skjolde- 
 brand gets due attention for an heroic poem in ten songs, enti- 
 tled " Odin." 5 Rask's review of Hammarskj old's publication 
 of the Jomsvikinga Saga appears in number 14 (April 5) for 
 1817, the number for May 3 (No. 18) of the same year con- 
 tains a review of eight songs of Ling's " Asarne " by the same 
 eminent Dane, and Ling's " Eddornas sinnebildslara " is hon- 
 ored with 31 pages (pp. 545~575> numbers 35 and 36) in 1820. 
 The editors are very generous, also, in the space allotted to an- 
 nouncements of books on Icelandic topics, or to translations 
 
 1 October i, 1814, No. 39. 
 
 2 July 6, 1816, No. 27. 
 
 3 P. 441. 
 
 4 Reviewed in Svensk Litter atur-Tidning for 1820, pp. 769^., 78sff., 
 8oiff. and 8i7ff. 
 
 5 Stockholm, 1816. Reviewed in Svensk Litter atur-Tidning, No. 48, for 
 November 30, 1816, 
 
44 
 
 from Old Norse. 1 Finally, in 1824, four numbers (57-60) 
 are devoted to the recent dramatic works of Ling. 2 
 
 It would be futile to give a review of all these recensions; 
 the fact that they are there in conspicuous length is what is 
 important for our purpose. It will be seen, however, that after 
 about 1813 the nature of the study of ancient Scandinavian cul- 
 ture necessarily changed, even for the Fosforists. What had 
 appeared in print before that time had been more a study and 
 eulogy of Norse mythology in general and a rather indefinitely 
 focused enthusiasm for all former ages ; now, when individual 
 sagas began to be translated or employed as the basis for poetic 
 experimentations, the attention of the critic had to be concen- 
 trated on specific mythical or heroic sagas. The reviews, there- 
 fore, become scrupulously critical and exhaustive. For exam- 
 ple, in Atterbom's somewhat prejudiced criticism of Granberg's 
 "Jorund" (which we shall treat in detail in the next chapter) 
 a great deal of the unmerciful attack is directed pointedly 
 against the distortion of the historical Jorund as 'described in 
 the original source: the Ynglinga Saga by Sturleson. This 
 called for specific information. But we shall see that Atter- 
 bom had more than kept up with his contemporaries, was well 
 prepared to review any saga-product that might appear, and 
 certainly knew more about the individual sagas than some of 
 those who used them in their poetry. And so his criticisms 
 become real, erudite supplements to the original, and in some 
 cases he adds valuable material which has no direct bearing 
 upon the specific topic treated. This is the case with his above- 
 mentioned recension of " Gefion " by Charlotta d'Albedyhll, 
 which tells us as much, if not more, about Atterbom than it 
 does about the authoress of the original poem. 3 
 
 1 Cf. review of Afzelius's translation of " Edda Saemundar hinns Froda," 
 pp. 6sff., 97ff. Review of G. G. Liljegren's edition of " Svenska fornal- 
 drens hjeltesagor," pp. 129, 209, 241, 593, and (3) review of " Svenska 
 folksagor," edited by H(ammarskjol)d and I(mmeliu)s, Stockholm, 1819, 
 pp. 4496*. All these in annual for 1819. 
 
 2 " Blot-Sven," " Injalld Illrada," " Wisburs Soner " and " Styrbjorn 
 Starke." 
 
 3 Cf. next chapter, where analysis of " Gefion " is given. 
 
45 
 
 This review, 1 which I shall take as an illustration, is prefaced 
 by an exposition of the transition from Scandinavian literature 
 in general to the beginning of Swedish literature in particular. 
 It is the preface that I desire to mention here, as showing 
 Atterbom's progress in his studies of early Scandinavian litera- 
 ture and history. As in " Skaldarmal " the tone of regret for 
 a contemporary lack of interest in primitive Sweden is present 
 here also, but it is a regret in the light of historical develop- 
 ment. The original "Norrana-language" was preserved among 
 the " republican and historically-minded Icelanders of Iceland," 
 while Christian sentiment destroyed almost all traces of heathen- 
 ism in Sweden. 2 The old letters disappeared probably before 
 the language, yet the sound of "Gothic drapa" (drapa, a song 
 of praise for a king) did not cease to vibrate in Sweden until 
 after the middle of the fourteenth century, when Birger Jarl 
 and his son, Magnus Ladulas, reigned, and when their court- 
 skald Sturle Thordarson lived. 3 But from now on the old lan- 
 guage was not understood. Swedish had become isolated and 
 independent, no more skalds appeared in Sweden, and Ice- 
 landers stayed away for the very reason that they could not be 
 well understood. The Ynglinga-dynasty died out in Norway 
 in 1319, and then after the passing of the Norrana-Skald the 
 knowledge of the Old Norse sagas in Sweden became hazy. 
 The Danes had Saxo, who wrote an invaluable historical work 
 in Latin, which, in spite of its faults, is as accurate as we can 
 expect from a Catholic clergyman. 4 But the Swedes had no 
 Saxo to collect material where such was to be had, and so it 
 was not until the middle of the seventeenth century that they 
 knew anything about their ancestors' life and art, except that 
 they were "blind heathens and worshipped three idols, whose 
 names were Thor, Odin, and Frigga." 5 Then Atterbom criti- 
 cizes previous historians ; Lagerbring was really the " father 
 
 1 Printed also in Atterbom: " Litterara karakteristiker," Orebro, 1870, 
 pp. 115-135- References will be made to this edition, which is more 
 accessible. 
 
 2 Cf. ibid., p. 115. 
 
 3 Ibid., p. 1 1 6. 
 
 4 Ibid., p. 1 1 8. 
 
 5 Ibid., p. 119. 
 
46 
 
 of Swedish history," but had no sense for mythology and 
 poetry; Von Dalin was superficial, misunderstood these, and 
 soon led others astray, so that antiquarian and fantastic pedant 
 became synonymous terms. 1 In this same preface Atterbom 
 pays tribute to the work of Verelius and Rudbeck the Elder, 
 of the seventeenth century, showing that he had already com- 
 menced the foundation for his later exhaustive characterization 
 of these men. 2 
 
 But Atterbom is still a typical Fosforist and after seven pages 
 of history there follows an introductory eulogy 3 of the au- 
 thoress of " Gefion " and her art, in a language which in spirit 
 reminds one strongly of the Prolog in Fosforos. It is a mix- 
 ture of Fosforism and Gothism. There is talk of the " heav- 
 enly ability of poetry " and the idea is set forth that the sanc- 
 tum sanctorum of man, the "pure feeling of the eternal, is 
 expressed in the genius of music." Therefore, why should not 
 daughters of these [ancestral] heroines follow the example of 
 their mothers when " maternal sound of harps has returned to 
 their mountainous region" (fjellbygd). We must cope with 
 Germany and Denmark unless we wish to feel ashamed of our- 
 selves. Iduna (the goddess of eternal youth; wife of Brage, 
 god of poetry) had returned to Sweden, "the golden shimmer 
 of her rejuvenating apples has begun already to beautify the 
 new dawn of Sweden's internal independence." 4 The spirits 
 of the Norrana-song descend into their former sacrificial 
 groves, "and so it ought not to astonish (us) if the women of 
 the North share the flame which Urda 5 has lit in the hearts of 
 Northmen. They have not forgotten that their mother Freya 
 was generated by the element of yearning 6 or that her relatives, 
 the maidens of the sea, praised the blissful secrets of the wave 
 with string-instrument and song." Then after mention of 
 Brynhilda, Aslaug, and Gudruna, he finally gets to the criticism. 
 
 1 Ibid., p. 121. 
 
 2 Cf. pp. 19-20 of Introduction. 
 
 3 Ibid., pp. 1 2 1-2. 
 
 4 Ibid., p. 121. 
 
 6 Urda generally conceived as the Norn of the Past. But see Sunden : 
 Oversikt av nordiska mytologien, p. 22. 
 
 6 See above in characterization of notes to " Skaldarmal," p. 35. 
 
47 
 
 In true scientific style Atterbom gives first the complete 
 original of the Gefion Saga, 1 and gives it correctly. He makes 
 now a sharp distinction between pure mythology and saga, and 
 pronounces " Gefion " more allegorical than historical. He 
 calls attention to the mistake of confusing Allfather with Odin. 
 Odin was the son and instrument of Allfather and was limited 
 in time and space. He was the product of Fjolner (the con- 
 cealed) and Fimbultyr (the incomprehensible divinity) . 2 Much, 
 again, is made of the myth of Freya; she is the allegory of 
 Northern love, and then the Romantic idea is set forth that 
 poets are chosen as interpreters of " inner models of love." 3 
 The tone of the whole review is extremely flattering; Atter- 
 bom lauds the fervor of the authoress for arousing interest in 
 the Asa-myths in Sweden, and praises the first song of 
 " Gefion " as a complete masterpiece, consisting of scenes and 
 groups which together " form the most beautiful picture that 
 Swedish poetry up to this time has given of Northern mythol- 
 ogy." 4 It is interesting to note that Atterbom defends the 
 superabundance of kings and nobles in the poem. Most of us 
 would like to claim counts and kings as ancestors, is the frank 
 opinion of Atterbom, and he has little respect for those that 
 would not. 5 
 
 One evidence of Atterbom's interest in the saga element is 
 his increasing study of Fouque and enthusiasm for his " Sigurd 
 der Schlangentodter " (1808). This evidence we find in At- 
 terbom's reviews in Svensk Litteratur-Tidning. In connection 
 with the form of " Gefion," Atterbom adds : " Fouque has by 
 mighty efforts already proved the possibility of fulfilling the 
 requirements of Icelandic verse-structure. Its wonderful 
 rhythms, assonances, and alliterations possess a bewitching 
 power which now resembles the Dwarf -mal (mat, song) of 
 mild valleys, now the roar of storms and mountain torrents, 
 mingled with the clang of swords against the shields of Val- 
 
 1 See Ynglinga Saga by Sturleson, Chap. 5. 
 
 2 Sunden gives the meaning of Fimbultyr as equivalent to God of the 
 runes and attributes this quality to Odin himself. See " Oversikt," p. 30. 
 
 3 " Karakteristiker," p. 135. 
 * Ibid., p. 127. 
 
 5 Ibid., pp. 130-1. 
 
48 
 
 kyrs." 1 In another review, 2 Atterbom compares the French 
 classical tragedies of Corneille and Racine with the treatment 
 of Norse sagas by Fouque : " What can that kind of tragedies 
 and epopees, of which the French boast so much, furnish to the 
 Scandinavians, who possess a primeval antiquity which has 
 descended from gods, and who possess heroic sagas with such 
 a wealth of tragic depth and inner beauty in their composition, 
 that no race on earth can show anything comparable? Take 
 all such works as those of Corneille (Corneillerier) and Racine 
 (Racineader) put together: What are they in comparison with 
 a single Volsunga-and-Niflunga Saga, treated by Fouque ! " 3 
 Again, in connection with his recension of the eighth number 
 of Iduna; "Why is this heroic drama (hjeltespel, meaning 
 ' Sigurd der Schlangentodter '), the most powerful and most 
 beautiful of all Fouque's works, still so little known among 
 the youth of Sweden? Neither this nor its Urtext, such as it 
 is found in the Volsunga Saga in Bjorner's ' Norse Tales of 
 Combat' (Nordiska kampadater), should be missing on the 
 book-shelf of anyone who claims to have a spark of love for 
 Northern literature and poetry." 4 
 
 In the annual Poetisk Kalender (1812-1822), edited chiefly 
 by Atterbom, there are several poems of strictly national char- 
 acter, but not many which deal with the Scandinavian saga- 
 age. The viking element is incidental, and is general rather 
 than specific. No individual Icelandic sagas are dealt with, 
 but motifs are often taken from indigenous popular tradition 
 or saga and assume, then, a ballad-like character. Such is 
 Afzelius's metrical romance " Var-Ulfven," the story of a 
 lover who must pass fifteen years in the "dark forest" as a 
 wolf (ulf 5 ), and is based on a folk-saga from Southern Sweden. 
 
 1 Ibid., p. 133. Atterbom refers, of course, to such imitations of the 
 highly diversified Icelandic verse-structure, as are found interspersed in 
 " Sigurd." 
 
 2 Review of " Svenska akademiens handlingar if ran ar 1796. Femte 
 delen." 
 
 3 " Karakteristiker," p. 198. 
 
 4 Ibid., p. 266, and note. The modern critic, I think, would hardly agree 
 with Atterbom that Fouque's " Sigurd " is more beautiful than " Undine." 
 The exaggeration speaks for itself. 
 
 5 Poetisk Kalender for 1813, pp. 3;ff. 
 
49 
 
 Atterbom sings of a proud mermaid who captures a sweetheart 
 of the shore, 1 Julia Nyberg (Euphrosyne) invents a historical 
 romantic ballad on the basis of an inscription upon a newly 
 discovered runestone, 2 and in " The Viking Maid " ( Vikings- 
 tarnan) the heroine sees from the shore her lover Ivar find a 
 grave in the waves and then joins him. 3 Often the interest 
 in antiquity takes the form of a poetic eulogy of those who 
 have treated Old Norse material in some substantial way. The 
 Kalender for 1815 contains two sonnets; one is entitled "The 
 Last Runestone" (Den siste runstenen) and, from what we 
 are told in a note, 4 is an indirect tribute to the Swedish anti- 
 quarian Rudbeck (the Elder) and Verelius; the other, 
 " Gefion," 5 is, of course, a direct recognition of the above- 
 mentioned Eleonora Charlotta d'Albedyhll. "The North" 
 (Norden) from the German byAmalia v. Helvig, and put into 
 Swedish by G(umaeliu)s, is steeped in northernism, Swedish 
 superstition, and Norse mythology. 6 In "Upon the Heights 
 of Uppsala" (Pa Upsala hogar), dated May 15, 1816, Atter- 
 bom seizes the opportunity for a solemn poetic reflection upon 
 old times, when the maiden "went up in flames hand in hand 
 with her bethrothed." 7 In some lyrics, terms from Norse my- 
 thology are employed merely for external ornamentation and 
 color; such are " Freya's Spinningwheel " (Freyas rock), by 
 Hammarskjold, and "The Warrior in the Northern Forest" 
 (Kampen i nordanskog), by Inge-1-gre-n. 8 
 
 i"Hafsfrun" in Kalender for 1813, pp. 6gff. 
 
 2 Cf. " Skattgrafvaren och brudsmycket " in Kalender for 1820, pp. SgS., 
 and note, p. 89. 
 
 3 Kalender for 1821, pp. 54ff. 
 
 4 Andra upplagan, p. 69. It is signed S ++ . 
 
 5 Ibid., p. 90, signed H. R. 
 
 6 Kalender for 1821, pp. 24 iff. 
 
 7 Kalender for 1817, p. 80; Poem, pp. 79-81. 
 
 8 Kalender for 1812. Tredje upplagan, pp. 58-59, and annual for 1813. 
 Tredje upplagan, pp. 65-67, respectively. "Freyas Rock." " Rock," appar- 
 ently for " Spinnrock," is the name of the constellation Orion in southern 
 Sweden. See note, annual for 1812, p. 58. The last strophe of Ham- 
 marskj old's poem is a good example of Norse dress : 
 
 Sant Broder ! Forstummad ar Baldurs mun, 
 Och mer dricker Odin ej Mimers brunn 
 Och Valhallas murar de stortas i kras ; 
 Men Freya hon spinner annu. 
 
50 
 
 In an honest, straightforward, confessional preface to the 
 second edition of Poetisk Kalender for 1812-1813, dated June 
 9, 1816, we have further evidence of Norse sympathies. At- 
 terbom himself is there speaking of his past encouragement 
 from a small circle of literary sympathizers : " This circle ex- 
 isted, it expanded, and soon Iduna appeared, which showed 
 even the more skeptical that the foundation for the re-birth of 
 the new culture lies in the original Swedish sense of kinsman- 
 ship. 1 . . . The spirit of our pious, simple folksongs, as well 
 as of our gigantic heathen monuments (urminnen), begin at 
 last to be comprehensible, even to ourselves, since they have 
 long been so to our kinsmen. 2 Novalis, Tieck, Oehlenschlager, 
 and Fouque have introduced us into their magic world of eter- 
 nal love and unwithering youth, of loyal heroic power and 
 victorious renunciation." 3 
 
 In Poetisk Kalender for 1817 we get an interesting glimpse 
 of a somewhat different phase of Atterbom's Norse studies. 
 This volume contains "The Songs of Selma" (Sangerna i 
 Selma), a " Fantasy from Ossian." They are not translations, 
 but rather free adaptations in Swedish. These are followed 
 immediately by twenty pages 4 of remarks on the character and 
 problems of Ossian, and deal briefly with the viking element 
 in the Ossian poems. In so doing, he takes issue with Mac- 
 pherson in a matter of chronology. According to Atterbom 
 I am only giving his views Fingal must have lived "at or 
 shortly after, the days of Harald Fairhair" (863-936) , 5 and 
 bases his claim upon chapters 20 and 22 of the Heimskringla 
 by Sturleson. It was during the reign of Harald Fairhair that 
 the many viking expeditions and emigrations to Iceland, Scot- 
 land, and the Orkney Islands took place. "Harald himself 
 conquered the Orkney Islands, ravaged the coast of Scotland," 6 
 and went as far as the Isle of Man ; and Sigurd, the Earl of 
 the Orkneys, took possession of Caithness and Sutherland. 
 
 1 Poetisk Kalender for 1812-13, Tredje upplagan, p. iv. 
 
 2 Ibid., p. xvii. 
 
 3 Ibid., pp. xvii-xviii. 
 
 4 Ibid., pp. 30-49, for 1817. 
 6 Ibid., p. 43. 
 
 6 Ibid., p. 44. 
 
51 
 
 " One knows that these islands for a long time were under the 
 dominion of Norway; but not until the reign of Harald Fair- 
 hair (see Saga, Chap. 20) were they discovered and settled, as 
 was Iceland, by mighty emigrating races/' 1 These are the his- 
 torical facts as Atterbom gives them to us, and he follows Stur- 
 leson religiously. 1 Now, in view of these facts, Atterbom rea- 
 sons and it must be admitted plausibly that before this time 
 (of Harald Fairhair) Fingal could not have lived; because the 
 Orkney Islands and those islands situated between Scotland 
 and Norway are in Ossian controlled by worshipers of Lo- 
 duinn (Odin), who seem plainly to stand under the supreme 
 rule of the kings of Scandinavia (Lochlin), or at least in imme- 
 diate relation with Lochlin." 2 
 
 Atterbom took an interest in folklore. Following the ex- 
 ample of Brentano and Arnim in " Des Knaben Wunderhorn," 
 and encouraged by the examples of his fellow-countrymen, 
 Geijer and Afzelius, whose folksongs had begun to appear in 
 1814, Atterbom published a collection of folk-lore in Poetisk 
 Kalender for 1816. The group of songs itself is, to be sure, 
 not very remarkable and it is not a large group. The two divi- 
 sions of ballad-like " romances " and those of a more distinctly 
 lyrical character occupy only 119 pages in a pocket-size volume. 
 Nor are they very important for us, since the oldest romances 
 are taken from the fifteenth century and the pure " songs " are, 
 for the most part, from the comparatively modern period of 
 Gustavus Vasa (1521-1560) and his sons and from the seven- 
 teenth century. 3 But, as we might expect from Atterbom's 
 usual method, his collection is prefaced by a lengthy discourse 
 on European and Scandinavian folklore, about the sources of 
 his own songs, about the fundamental differences between 
 Northern and Southern poetry, and about the perfectly natural 
 
 1 The exact time of Harald's western voyages, however, is not known, 
 I think. Iceland was discovered in 863, the date of Harald's ascension to 
 the throne of Norway, and was being colonized eleven years later. Harald 
 is said to have undertaken his expedition about 880, or a little later. Cf. 
 Hildebrand : Translation of " Heimskringla " (Konungasagor), p. 5, note 
 2, and p. 63, note i. 
 
 2 Kalender for 1817, pp. 43-44. 
 
 3 See Forord (Preface) to Poetisk Kalender for 1816, p. x. This preface 
 is dated December 20, 1815. 
 
52 
 
 transition from Norse heathenism to Christianity in Scandi- 
 navia. The treatment of these songs often leads our enthu- 
 siasm back to primitive times. Then, almost imperceptibly, he 
 makes digressions and tells us incidentally (i) of his early 
 studies of the sagas, (2) of what we may call his Rudbeckian- 
 ism, (3) of his later intentions along Gothic lines, (4) and of 
 the forebodings of Christianity in Norse mythology. These 
 indisputable testimonies from Atterbom himself need no dis- 
 cussion; I desire simply to present them here as such and I 
 shall illustrate these four points by quotations in the order 
 named. 
 
 1 i ) " The genius of skalds granted that my birth took place in a 
 remote woodland. Here, from the very time I lay at my mother's 
 breast, I grew up among sagas and songs, and from my third year, 
 when the first book was put into my hand, to my tenth, when I 
 for the first time left my parents' home, I seldom had any other 
 company outside of them than those characters I got from Sturle- 
 son and Verelius, mingled with Corneille's heroes and the dreams 
 with which I populated my horizon in great numbers." 1 
 
 (2) We see in the second paragraph of his preface that 
 Atterbom likes to think, like Rudbeck the Elder, of " the polar 
 regions, consequently Scandinavia also," as the "primitive 
 home of all the inhabitants of the earth and the historical seat 
 of the celebrated (allbesungna) golden age." 2 Again, in speak- 
 ing of the folksong: 
 
 "Among all the Gothic (i. e. Germanic) nations the conscious- 
 ness finally awakened that they in origin, temperament, and lan- 
 guage are only one people ; that the North, the mother of all modern 
 history, which from the beginning of the migrations to the present 
 time, has created all that is great and eternal on earth, does not 
 receive a foundation and a definite outline for her majestic ideal 
 of a completed temple of art and literature, until she has bathed 
 herself in the youthful spring of her primitive life," etc. 3 
 
 This needs no further comment, either with respect to in- 
 volved form or super-patriotic content, except that this Rud- 
 
 1 Ibid., p. xli. 
 
 2 Ibid., p. iii. 
 
 3 Ibid., pp. xxvi-xxvii. 
 
53 
 
 beckianism did not seem actually to mar Atterbom's critical 
 estimates of literature or history in other respects. 
 
 (3) In order "that the readers of Sweden (male and female) 
 may in a clear consciousness grasp the nature of the North's, of 
 Sweden's original feeling (kanslosatt), of the indestructible char- 
 acter of the race, I deliver this simple wreath of the Northern 
 flowers (i. e. folksongs) into their hands. [And I do this] with 
 the hope of being able soon to produce a richer collection from the 
 Icelandic saga-world, and any favor for the sake of the holy couse, 
 will encourage me and my friends upon our mountain-paths." 1 
 
 This hope was realized later, at least in part, by his translations 
 of Edda-songs which are incorporated in " Svenska siare och 
 skalder." 
 
 But to turn (4) to a more important testimony in this pref- 
 ace. Atterbom's attitude toward Norse mythology here is 
 neither superficial nor fanatic, but thorough and sensible. He 
 sought the spirit and inner truths of these myths, and looked 
 upon them as upon sacred forerunners of Catholicism. He 
 wished, above all, to see their native spirit introduced into a 
 national poetry and did not mean to introduce the external 
 heathen culture bodily, as seemed to be the intention of some 
 of the more radical Goths. " It is not my intention, as many 
 seem to think, to re-introduce either the Asa-doctrines or 
 Catholicism, either seriously or as external dress (uniform- 
 vis), as some of Sweden's recent poets employ our ancestors' 
 myths and names of divinities." 2 But Norse myths possess an 
 intrinsic value, in Atterbom's opinion, which in sublimity sur- 
 passes other religious systems. Because of its Oriental origin 
 and its development among the people of a powerful race, it 
 " forbodes, most profoundly of them all, the coming and sig- 
 nificance of the universal religion which descended to us from 
 heaven in Christ." 3 In what Atterbom calls the "night-of- 
 
 1 Ibid., p. xxxix. 
 
 2 Ibid., p. xxvii. This whole theoretical problem of introducing Norse 
 mythology into Swedish poetry is discussed in Chap. Ill to which I refer. 
 
 3 Ibid., p. xxviii. The contemporary belief that the Asa-religion was 
 Oriental in its origin would not prevent a Rudbeckian, it seems to me, from 
 believing that Scandinavia was the cradle of civilization. Atterbom seems 
 to have believed both, in modified form. But about four thousand years 
 
 5 
 
54 
 
 northern-lights" (norrskensnatten) of the Vgluspa must be 
 seen the "aurora of the days of the gospel," in order to see 
 the wild beauty of Valhalla and not of the wildness alone. 
 What is true of Norse mythology is also true of its history. 
 The world of Christianity was developed from "this terrible 
 warrior-strength" of the viking age, Balder was replaced by 
 the person of Christ, All father took Odin's place, the viking- 
 expeditions became crusades, and Freya becomes not only the 
 goddess of earthly love but the symbol of eternal goodness." 1 
 Referring in particular to the glory of the Holy Virgin and 
 her symbolic position in Catholicism, Atterbom writes : 
 
 "One must understand the scattered forebodings (aningar) of 
 this glory in the sagas about Frigga and Freya, the latter of whom 
 was represented as delivered over to demonic influences and vices, 
 and constantly searching for her consort, i. e., as a burning and 
 unsatisfied longing, in order to understand, even in this case, the 
 transition from heathenism to Christianity, from the viking period 
 to the age of chivalry." 2 
 
 One must also and this is significant of Atterbom's progress 
 in the study of the genetic development of Swedish culture 
 understand these sagas in order to comprehend "how the 
 Northman-spirit in all changes has been essentially the same, 
 in every-day life, in religion, and in song, and how each change 
 has taken place merely to prepare a higher development of this 
 inborn unity." 3 
 
 Such was the character of Atterbom's interest in the Old 
 Norse element during the Romantic period. To be sure, At- 
 terbom did not carry out all his good Gothic intentions along 
 creative lines, and sometimes his enthusiasm carried him too 
 far in mere rhetorical praise of national material; but, after all, 
 he made a conscientious effort to know and to further the 
 knowledge of Scandinavian sagas. He knew more about the 
 sagas than the majority of the Goths and was, therefore, a real 
 
 elapsed between the traditional date of creation and the immigration of 
 the Asas into Scandinavia, which is supposed to have taken place during 
 the last century B. C. 
 
 1 Ibid., pp. xxviii-xxix. 
 
 2 Ibid., p. xxxi. 
 
 3 Ibid., p. xxxi. 
 
55 
 
 " Goth." He admitted shortcomings and mistakes in concrete 
 facts, but clung stubbornly to his own esthetic interpretations. 
 He was an antiquarian, but a poetic antiquarian and a philoso- 
 pher. He was, primarily, a lover, interpreter, critic, and his- 
 torian of Norse myths ; not so much a creative artist. In his 
 theoretical views of Scandinavian myths, Atterbom is in danger 
 of exaggerating the value of their meaning, but his theory about 
 their introduction into Swedish poetry is sensible. Their 
 power, symbolism, and spirit are the essentials, and he is in- 
 clined to believe that these internal characteristics are even 
 preferable to those of Greek mythology. 
 
 What we demand for Atterbom is not unwarranted eulogy, 
 but honesty and justice; a realization that even his early inter- 
 est in the sagas was something more than a mere predilection d' 
 artiste. Many of his contemporaries were loath to admit this 
 at first, and so his work was underestimated and good influences 
 were often lost sight of in the din of polemics. But after the 
 literary battles of the Fosforists had been fought, a kind of 
 peace declared, and the final reckoning came, some glory had to 
 be awarded to Atterbom while he was yet alive. That his friends 
 recognized his ability is natural. Palmblad, in his biography 
 of Ling, refers to Atterbom as " a friend who was at home in 
 Old Norse monuments and who was especially good in remem- 
 bering them." 1 Geijer ends his treatment of the Gothic society, 
 in the last number of Iduna, with an expression of gratitude to 
 Atterbom. And let us put Atterbom himself on the witness- 
 stand again, taking the testimony of the defendant for what it is 
 worth : Ling saw finally to his agreeable surprise that in Sweden 
 he could hardly find anywhere " a more animated study (betrak- 
 telse), a warmer sympathy for the Northern saga-and-hero- 
 world," than among those with whom he was once dissatisfied, 
 i. e., among those who sympathized more with southern verse- 
 forms, i. e., the Fosforists. 2 
 
 It is a curious irony of fate that the most radical Fosforist 
 
 l See Biografiskt Lexikon, Vol. 8, Uppsala, 1841, p. 274. 
 
 2Cf. Atterbom: " Pehr Henrik Ling. Intrades-Tal i Svenska Aka- 
 demien den 29 Maj. 1840." Printed in " Minnesteckningar och tal." Senare 
 bandet. Orebro, 1869, P- 43- 
 
56 
 
 became the successor in the Swedish Academy to the most radi- 
 cal Goth, Ling, and, as such, became his biographer and critic. 1 
 In Atterbom's inaugural address on Ling, we find a splendid 
 proof that the early saga interest of Atterbom had been genuine : 
 he has continued his Norse studies, he has actually read the 
 colossal epic "Asarne" (918 pages) most contemporaries 
 did not and now gives a final, mature estimate of Ling. But 
 Atterbom is still, in 1840, a Romanticist; a poetic esthete who 
 looks up to Norse mythology with religious reverence. In this 
 respect Ling could never have found a more worthy successor. 
 Atterbom believes absolutely that our Norse forefathers' Welt- 
 anschauung was founded on a religious principle which was 
 belligerent in its essence. He observes that even war may be a 
 religious meeting especially when waged against the powers of 
 darkness. 2 And he places the vikings under this category. 
 They must often have appeared to him as celestial emissaries, 
 and the tragedy of their lives was merely a mirror of the lives 
 of the gods. 3 Norse mythology is a " hero-religion." 
 
 "Throughout the heroic life there was a religious meaning in- 
 fused. The same war which the Asas in the invisible world carried 
 on against the giants and the trolls, was carried on by their human 
 analogs (afbild), the inhabitants . . . ruled by the Asas, against 
 the uncivilized tribes who, in their savagery and in their gloomy 
 wilderness, represented the palpable counterpart of the giants' 
 home or Jotunheim."* 
 
 Atterbom, then, had retained practically the same theoretical 
 view of Norse mythology for thirty years, ever since he began 
 to edit the Fosforos, infusing into it an extraordinarily deep 
 spirituality and meaning. The vikings then became the apos- 
 tles of this extraordinary religion, and as such he thought that 
 some of their bloody escapades might be excused. It is not our 
 intention to describe further our Fosforist's activity in this line; 
 
 1 Every candidate upon election to membership in the Swedish Academy 
 must prepare and, upon his official entrance, give a public address upon 
 the life and works of his predecessor. Cf. preceding note. 
 
 2 Cf. " Intrades-Tal," p. 45. 
 
 3 Cf. ibid., pp. 48ff. 
 * Cf. ibid., p. 48. 
 
57 
 
 what Atterbom did later as a mature historian of Swedish liter- 
 ature is well known. But let it be emphasized here that the 
 introduction to " Swedish Seers and Skalds " contains fifteen 
 chapters (217 pages) on the history of primitive Sweden, on 
 Scandinavian myths and on the spirit, content, and metrics of 
 Icelandic literature. Another chapter (Chap. 17) is devoted to 
 folklore. And the foundation for it all had been laid while 
 Atterbom was a militant Fosforist. 
 
 Atterbom was not the only Fosforist to be moved by the 
 Norse spirit. As early as the fall of 1803, seven years before 
 Fasforos appeared and two years before Atterbom became iden- 
 tified with the new literary coterie, the Friends of Belles-Let- 
 tres 1 (Vitterhetens Vanner or V.V.) exhibited Gothic tenden- 
 cies. At a meeting of these " Friends " in November 1803, Per 
 Neurling (1783-1856), a student at Uppsala, gave a short ad- 
 dress on the literature of the old Goths. " The main purpose 
 (of this literature), according to the speaker, was to praise the 
 deeds and battle-fire of the heroes, for which reason the skalds 
 also were highly respected and important men who dwelt at the 
 king's courts." 2 Now, concerning Meurling's remarks we have 
 a significant comment by Lorenzo Hammarskjold, whose atti- 
 tude toward Old Norse literature is next to be considered. 
 Hammarskjold, who was one of the charter-members of the 
 V.V. and next to Atterbom the most prominent of the Fosfor- 
 ists, writes to Livijn, Nov. 22, 1803: "Last Sunday we [the 
 members of the V.V.] had a meeting. [After speeches by two 
 other members there] came finally Meurling's address on the 
 literature of the Goths, which I liked almost the best. The 
 style in it was so manly." 3 
 
 Again on March 2, 1806, Hammarskjold writes the same 
 friend: "While I have been here (in Thomestorp, Ostergot- 
 land) I have studied the Hervarar Saga and the saga of Har- 
 
 i Cf. Introduction, p. 5. Atterbom became a member of this literary circle 
 in the fall of 1805. He was the last youngster to receive an election. Cf. 
 Hjarne : " Dagen fore drabbningen," pp. xx-xxi. 
 
 2Cf. ibid., p. xlvi. Hjarne adds the comment that we obtain here "a 
 glimpse of that spirit which fully developed gave life and character to the 
 Gothic Society and its literary activity." 
 
 3 Cf. Hjarne: as above, p. 40. 
 
58 
 
 raud and Bose. The former especially is rather beautiful. 
 Hjalmar's death-song is truly elegiac. 1 . . . Angantyr's dis- 
 course, after he has murdered his brother with the deadly sword 
 Tirfing, is a masterpiece. It is comparable to the chorus in a 
 Greek tragedy." 2 
 
 As a matter of chronology, then, the bitter antagonist of the 
 old school, Hammarskjold, read Icelandic heroic sagas at least 
 seven years before the Gothic Forbund was formed, and even 
 before he was associated with Atterbom. In a review of 
 Oehlenschlager, published in the Lyceum for 1810, we again find 
 traces of a national tendency. 3 But this tendency in Ham- 
 marskjold is, after all, conservative and limited. The sagas 
 found favor with him, in part because they were little known and 
 were not French. Busy with his Gallophobia Hammarskjold 
 was prone to superficiality and haste, so that his work in the 
 saga-field is spasmodic and of questionable value. His publi- 
 cation of the Jomsvikinga Saga, 4 in which Rask found several 
 mistakes, and the collection of folk-sagas in 1819 was of no 
 great consequence. Tegner had no sympathy for Hammar- 
 skjold whatsoever, and not one iota of faith in his ability. In 
 fact, Tegner goes to the other extreme and in his estimate be- 
 comes severe and unjust. When the Gothic Forbund sought to 
 import an Icelander to stimulate the interest and work in Old 
 Norse, Tegner expressed the hope to Adlerbeth that the sagas 
 would not land in Hammarskj old's hands, who understood 
 neither Icelandic nor Swedish. 5 
 
 A study of the letters in Frunck's collection throws some light 
 on Hammarskj old's early attitude toward Old Norse literature. 
 It seems undecided and inconsistent. Hammarskjold certainly 
 did not possess that constant enthusiasm for the Gothic Danes 
 
 1 Hjalmar is killed in combat with Angantyr. See Chap. 5 of Hervarar 
 Saga which contains also his death-song. 
 
 2 Cf. Hjarne: " Dagen fore drabbningen," p. 232. The date of the letter 
 is given there as 1804, but this is a misprint corrected on the last page. 
 
 s Cf. Malmstrom : " Svenska vitterhetens historia," IV, p. 370. 
 
 4 Cf. above, p. 43. For Rask's recension see Svensk Litteratur-Tidning 
 for April 5 (No. 14), 1817. 
 
 5Cf. letter to Adlerbeth of April 19, 1818. Tegner: " Skrifter," Jubel- 
 festupplaga, V, p. 150. 
 
59 
 
 that Atterbom possessed. He writes to Livijn, October i, 1810: 
 " In the meantime I took a trip to Copenhagen, but could not 
 endure it more than a week. The Danes are undoubtedly the 
 worst of all flesh-eaters (kottatande varelser) that God has 
 created. They are absolutely nothing but imitators and their 
 coarse Germanomania is tenfold more unsavory than the Gallo- 
 mania of our own worthy countrymen." 1 From two letters by 
 C. A. Agardh (1785-1859) to Hammarskjold, we learn that the 
 latter was interested in Norse mythology but objected to its use 
 in modern poetry. 2 And yet he thought it depended upon the 
 method of treatment and upon who treated it. His friend Li- 
 vijn, who was contemplating a drama on Odin, is encouraged 
 thus : " I cannot but wish you firmness in your decision and 
 tenacity of purpose with respect to your ' Odin/ although I 
 do not understand how you can obtain dramatic unity in this 
 subject." 3 The national tendency of Atterbom is also, of course, 
 applauded by Hammarskjold. He writes to Livijn, September 
 12, 1814 : " You are right, Atterbom is the soul of the new sect 
 and the one of all its members who has decidedly the truest 
 calling. To be sure, he cannot become a Goethe or a Tieck for 
 the simple reason that every genius must remain himself." . . . 
 He is "too much of an ardent Christian to compete with Geijer 
 for Brage's oak-leaf wreath, 4 although, from my view-point, 
 the dead Norse myth must be treated as in that truly beautiful 
 ' Skaldarmal,' if anything of importance is to remain of the 
 whole experiment." 5 In another letter to Livijn, December 12, 
 
 1 Frunck : " Bref," III, p. 146. 
 
 2 Letters of December 6, 1810 (III, p. 175), and February 2, 1811 (IV, 
 pp. 227-28). The precise nature of Hammarskj old's answer must be based 
 on a letter from Hammarskjold to Agardh. This letter, however, is not 
 published by Frunck and I have been unable, as yet, to learn whether this 
 letter is in existence. The other occasion for Hammarskj old's objections 
 to the employment of Norse myths in poetry was his review of Oehlen- 
 schlager's " Poetiske skrifter " in the first number of Lyceum. I have 
 been unable to obtain a copy of this short-lived paper. Only two numbers 
 ever appeared, one in 1810 and another in the following year. 
 
 3 Letter of April 15, 1811, IV, p. 278. 
 
 * Referring, of course, to Geijer's bardic (or oak-leaf), Viking-Ossianic, 
 national poems in the first number of Iduna. 
 
 5 Frunck: "Bref," V, p. 351. Hammarskjold himself, though, had used 
 the names of the Old Norse gods as a poetic dress. Cf. above, page 49, 
 note 8. 
 
60 
 
 i8n, we see that Hammarskjold kept well posted on plans for 
 future publications in Gothic circles and welcomed their appear- 
 ance. Very soon there was to appear "an excellent transla- 
 tion" of the Hervarar Saga (by A. A. Afzelius), a new num- 
 ber of Iduna, Ling's " Gylfe," etc. 1 
 
 Hammarskjold did some work for Iduna of a philological 
 and historical character. In the second number there appeared 
 a description of a manuscript of the prose Edda, dated Novem- 
 ber 5, 1811. Another article by Hammarskjold, dated March 
 5, 1814, appeared in the fifth number. This article is entitled 
 " To the Editors of Iduna, Concerning Fr. Ruhs's (of Germany) 
 Recently Published Treatise on the Origin of Icelandic Poetry/' 
 Riihs 2 had attacked the age and genuineness of the sagas ; he 
 had attempted to prove a Christian origin for Norse mythology, 
 a wholesale borrowing from Greek and Roman myths, and held 
 that Icelandic was, to a large extent, borrowed from the Anglo- 
 Saxon. 2 In answer to this contention, Hammarskjold comes 
 out with an unmerciful attack on Riihs and with a strong, patri- 
 otic and enthusiastic defense of the Norse myths. Hammar- 
 skjold is wild with excitement to think that anyone should attempt 
 to steal his own mythology. Shallow as it may seem, an ex- 
 tensive and thoughtfully evolved mythological system is suffi- 
 cient proof to Hammarskjold for the human origin and original 
 development of the Scandinavian languages. 3 And how could 
 Norse literature have a Christian origin? Would a Christian 
 monk furnish models for pagan poems? 4 With great pride 
 Hammarskjold refers also to national manners and customs 
 which originated in Norse mythology, points out that it is an 
 integral part of the Volksglaube and not a later interpolation. 
 Incidentally we notice some effort on the part of Hammarskjold 
 to master Icelandic at this time. He has had under his care 
 
 iFrunck: " Bref," V, p. 397- 
 
 2 Christian Friedrich Riihs (1781-1820). Ruhs's article, which had ap- 
 peared the year before (1813), bore the title: " Ueber den Ursprung der 
 islandischen Poesie aus der angelsachsischen, nebst Bemerkungen iiber die 
 nordische Dichtkunst und Methodologie, ein notwendiger Anhang zu den 
 neuesten Untersuchungen." 
 
 3 Iduna, No. 5, p. 101. 
 
 4 Ibid., p. 105. 
 
61 
 
 (in 1814) and this is important " Icelandic manuscripts 
 from various ages " for eight years, 1 but detects no similarity in 
 letters between Icelandic and Anglo-Saxon, although he has 
 had a manuscript, the Codex- Aureus, in front of him. 
 
 Hammarskjold was something of an antiquarian also. In the 
 same number (5) of Iduna, we find in a note (p. 54) to an 
 article on ancient " Funeral Mounds " by P. W. Tholander, that 
 Hammarskjold had in 1812 personally investigated or counted 
 fourteen such funeral mounds near Tuna Satesgard in Calmar 
 Lan. 
 
 Hammarskj old's early attitude towards Norse antiquity 
 seems, then, to be something as follows : he has a real interest 
 in it, he welcomes publications of heroic sagas and studies them 
 and their manuscripts, but is skeptical about the use of Norse 
 myths in Swedish poetry. If they are to be employed at all the 
 author should follow the channel designated by Atterbom in 
 his " Skaldarmal," that is, the myths should be used merely as 
 poetico-symbolic embellishments, or as a basis for reflection upon 
 Scandinavian antiquity. But Hammarskjold is a staunch, patri- 
 otic supporter of the genuineness of these myths. Let antiquity 
 remain antiquity, however, do not attempt to recast it and re- 
 introduce it bodily into modern literature. Contemporaries 
 accused him of inaccuracy and dilettantism. In his judgments 
 he is inclined to be prejudiced and influenced by the personal 
 element of friendship or animosity. His theoretical views are 
 rather conservative, a fact which is better illustrated in his atti- 
 tude toward the introduction of Norse myths into plastic arts. 
 
 This attitude is found expressed in Hammarskj old's last lec- 
 ture on the history of art. 2 The classical conception of the 
 universality of art is the predominating tone. A very injurious 
 prejudice, according to Hammarskjold, is the slavish imitation 
 of the antique in order to obtain the beautiful. 
 
 " And yet," says Hammarskjold, " on the other hand, I am just as 
 violently opposed to the idea of those who advocate such a severe 
 
 1 Ibid., p. 91. Hammarskjold does not state, however, how much he has 
 studied them. 
 
 2 Cf. below, p. 103 and note 3. These lectures were given in the spring 
 of 1814 and were repeated in the spring of the following year. 
 
62 
 
 nationalizing, that the commendable in Swedish art is restricted to 
 that which a Swede only can understand. This is the right way to 
 fall into mannerisms. Art is, on the contrary, like virtue, truth and 
 faith, the property of all humanity, and its purpose is precisely to 
 destroy all national and statistical boundaries and to unite the 
 various kinds of peoples into one single race. And it is just as 
 certain as the sun shines that the artist who has received the all- 
 power of genius can make a Zeus or an Apollo . . . without de- 
 stroying the given type . . . just as Swedish as a Thor or a 
 Blatter."* 
 
 Whether we agree with Hammarskjold in this particular or 
 not makes little difference here. We cannot deny the univer- 
 sality of plastic art, but whether a Swedish Zeus would be as 
 Swedish as a Thor or not is at least open to doubt. That a 
 national art based on Norse myths, was possible (see Chap. 
 Ill) was proved later. But the important point here is that 
 Hammarskjold warns diplomatically against exaggeration in 
 either direction and thus anticipates, in one way, the attitude of 
 Geijer in iSi/. 2 
 
 Hammarskj old's later interest in the national field does not 
 differ materially from his early interest. There is seldom any 
 of that consistent Atterbomian enthusiasm and the personal ele- 
 ment and prej udice are still in evidence. But in Hammarskj old's 
 work as an historian of Swedish literature, there is discernible 
 a greater friendliness toward the Goths and an effort for more 
 thorough scholarship. His "Swedish Literature" (Svenska 
 vitterheten), where he gives an account of the work that has 
 been done in Old Norse literature, 3 is, to be sure, prejudiced 
 and unscientific yet he is not blind to shortcomings in trans- 
 lations and poor codices, which shows an effort toward correct- 
 ness if not an actual accomplishment. 
 
 The articles on Swedish literature from 1800-1828, which 
 Hammarskjold wrote in German for the Leipzig Hermes in 
 
 1 Hammarskjold : " Utkast till de bildande konsternas historia." Stock- 
 holm, 1817, p. 441. 
 
 2 Geijer warned against exaggeration in the use of Norse myths in art 
 in " Betraktelser med afseende pa nordiska myternas anvandande i skon 
 konst." Cf. below, Chap. Ill, pp. i2off. 
 
 3 See second edition by P. A. Sonden, pp. 178^. 
 
63 
 
 1823-1824, are unusually interesting and illuminating for our 
 study of this phase of Hammarskj old's activity. He lashes P. 
 'A. Granberg for his "Jorund" as unmercifully as does Atter- 
 bom. He calls the criticism by the Swedish Academy, which 
 had honored Granberg for his tragedy, "trite," 1 and believes 
 that "Jorund" can serve as a model for the way a tragedy 
 should not be written. 2 The feeling against the Academicians, 
 then, still prevails in this Fosforist, even if, as we shall see later, 
 Granberg deserved some of the adverse criticism. Tegner he 
 calls rightly the most important author in Sweden, but thinks 
 he may be praised too much and admonishes readers to remem- 
 ber that he is a product of his time. 3 Later our historian speaks 
 very favorably of Iduna; he calls " Frithiof " by Tegner "ex- 
 cellent," recognizes the popularity of the Gothic organ, and 
 terms its poems " glorious." 4 Afzelius is a special favorite of 
 Hammarskjold. After speaking of his work in the Eddas, 
 Hammarskjold says: "He has collected and edited the old, 
 wonderful folk-romances with noble diligence and patience." 6 
 Charlotta d'Albedyhll's " Gefion " does not get the same enthusi- 
 astic reception from Hammarskjold as it did from Atterbom. 
 He admits that the form is beautiful, but declares that " the char- 
 acter of the little epic is neither heroic, nor romantic, gnomic, 
 religious, nor idyllic, but high-aristocratic, in order to eulogize 
 the family of the authoress by a mythical origin." 6 The Goth 
 Geijer gets the comparatively large space of four pages 7 in 
 Hammarskj old's necessarily brief treatment, but the critic is 
 interested mostly in Geijer's philosophy. The national " Agne" 
 by Ling becomes a " fatalistic drama," written in the antique 
 style, with a " large number of the most glorious songs in it," 
 but " Eylif den Gothiske " 8 written by the same author after 
 
 1 Hermes, Leipzig, 1823, No. XVII, p. 249. 
 
 2 Ibid., p. 250. 
 
 s Ibid., pp. 255-56. 
 
 4 Hermes for 1823, No. XX, p. 355. 
 
 5 Ibid., p. 305. 
 
 6 Ibid., p. 306. 
 
 7 Ibid., pp. 321-25. 
 
 8 Both " Agne " and " Eylif den Gothiske " are now published in Vol. 2 
 of Ling's Samlade arbeten. Cf. below, Chap. Ill, note 5, p. 103. 
 
64 
 
 the French style in Alexandrines, is " the worst." As a Roman- 
 ticist Hammarskjold hopes that Ling will soon finish his work on 
 the symbolism of the Eddas (Eddornas sinnebildslara) 1 and in 
 his next article he lauds the system, thoroughness and deeper 
 significance of the Eddas, which are now expounded in Ling's 
 work. 2 The comment on Count von Skjoldebrand's "Odin" 3 
 presupposes some knowledge of the original source. Ham- 
 marskjold has discovered that Skjoldebrand has followed the 
 historical Saxo more closely than the Eddas, hence the charac- 
 ters are more men than gods and excite greater sympathy in the 
 reader. On the other hand, this process and notice the Ro- 
 manticist here again has drawn the author " from the charm 
 of the wonderful." 4 
 
 Hammarskjold had an unmistakable admiration for popular 
 poetry and in his introduction to " Svenska vitterheten " he 
 praises Afzelius, Geijer and Atterbom, who published collec- 
 tions of folksongs after models in Germany, England and Den- 
 mark. 5 Here is sympathy, then, for the genuinely national. 
 But Hammarskjold did some actual work in this line also. Gei- 
 jer in a note to his article on "The Old Norse Folksong" 
 (Den gamla nordiska folkvisan, 1814) states that he has Ham- 
 marskjold to thank for several notes on popular poetry. 6 And 
 in Svensk Litter atur-Tidning for March 27, 1813 (No. 12), we 
 have an article by Hammarskjold himself on old Swedish folk- 
 songs. He dwells on their importance for the study of the 
 language and thought of the olden peoples, and for the develop- 
 ment of the romantic art of poetry in the Scandinavian coun- 
 tries. He gives characteristics and titles of manuscripts of 
 Swedish folksongs that have come under his observation. It is 
 of some consequence to note and this is the justification for 
 this paragraph that Hammarskjold urges a collection of these 
 
 1 Hermes for 1823, No. XX, pp. 330-31. 
 
 2 Hermes for 1824, No. XXII, pp. 201-2. Cf. below, Chap. Ill, p. 104. 
 "Eddornas sinnebildslara" was published in 1819. It remained a fragment. 
 
 3 See above, p. 43. 
 
 4 Hermes for 1824, No. XXII, p. 212. 
 
 5 Cf. second edition, published by Sonden, p. 17. 
 
 6 E. G. Geijer: Samlade skrifter, Stockholm, 1874-76, I, p. 149. 
 
65 
 
 folksongs a year before the Goths began the publication of them. 
 Hammarskjold writes : " It is about time that we follow the 
 example of our kinsmen, the Englishmen, Germans, and Danes, 
 and collect and publish these oldest relics of national poetry in 
 which the primitive individuality is expressed so powerfully and 
 often so beautifully." 
 
 From an historical and chronological standpoint there is no 
 member of the New Romantic Movement who can serve as a 
 better illustration for us than another charter member of V.V., 
 a friend of Hammarskjold, and later a leading contributor to 
 Poly fern, Clas Livijn. The attitude of this young, interesting 
 enthusiast toward the Norse saga is a natural one, and in many 
 ways typical of his contemporaries, even among his own literary 
 circle. It is the attitude of any would-be revolutionist toward 
 a new movement. At first, it is not felt as decidedly patriotic, 
 but as a poetic protest against French classicism and the Acade- 
 micians. Then, later, when this tendency had assumed a more 
 definitely national character, and was in danger of becoming 
 ridiculously national, the shafts were often turned against the 
 new Gothic mania. Not against the principles of the Gothic 
 movement, be it noted, for the Fosforists were in sympathy 
 with them, but against exaggerations in the practice of them. 
 This was not done by Atterbom, but it was done by several of 
 the other Romanticists. Hammarskjold, as we have just seen, 
 was opposed to an extreme nationalizing tendency, 1 and later 
 (see below, Chap. III.) Vitalis and Dahlgren poked fun at it. 
 This is the case with Livijn. We detect from the first a gen- 
 uine interest in the sagas, with ambitious plans for two dramas 
 and two operas based on them, but in the middle of the second 
 decade, when the Gothic Forbund began to assume an alarming 
 character, Livijn ridiculed its extreme tendencies and especially 
 its member Ling. 
 
 The period of Livijn's active interest in Old Norse material 
 covers about a decade, beginning in 1803. In an undated letter 
 
 1 Cf. above, pp. 61-62. Cf. also Sterner: Den nordiska mytens anvand- 
 ning i bildande konst. Stockholm, 1881, p. 38. In Svensk Utter atur-Tidning 
 for 1818, No. 49, Hammarskjold criticises severely recent plastic produc- 
 tions, both of the Old and the New School. 
 
66 
 
 from 1803, Livijn writes to Hammarskjold : " I have now made 
 the plan for a drama, ' Gyritha.' The theme is from Saxo 
 Grammaticus. I intend to send it in (to V.V.), although it 
 is yet uncertain, since I have not written anything upon it." 1 
 In a following undated letter he sends the plan of his intended 
 three-act play to Hammarskjold. The drama, however, was 
 never finished and only a part of the first act was ever written. 
 In another undated letter, undoubtedly from the middle of De- 
 cember, i8o3, 2 we learn that the first act was completed and 
 that Livijn himself was pleased with it, but says that "Gyritha" 
 has reverted to its darkness and will probably never receive a 
 place in the learned world through me. 3 In the same letter 
 we learn that Livijn is reading English and Danish authors and 
 is particularly interested in their Norse themes. He has not 
 seen any " happier imitation of the Old Goths " than Gray's 
 "The Bard" and "The Descent of Odin." Both, and par- 
 ticularly the former, possess a Pindaric loftiness and the strong, 
 unbending character of the Northman. O, how charming is 
 the bard's address to the king ! You could imagine the sound 
 of Ossian's harp calling down all misfortunes upon a wicked 
 king and celebrating in song the fallen heroes ! Ewald in the 
 Valkyrs of his "Balder" has left us an imitation of his 
 (Gray's) " Fatal Sisters," which is undoubtedly poorer than 
 Gray's. 4 
 
 A couple of years later, Novembers, 1805, Livijn has another 
 plan in mind. Again he confides in his friend Hammarskjold : 
 " I am pondering a great deal over an opera, where I could 
 introduce our Northern divinities, and where all ballets, changes, 
 etc., should be produced by visions " called forth by witch- 
 craft a la ' Macbeth.' 5 Here it is Norse mythology and Shake- 
 speare which hover in Livijn's mind simultaneously, and the 
 prospective author is seeking an harmonious union of Old 
 
 1 Hjarne : Dagen fore drabbningen, p. 49. Mortensen puts the date of 
 this letter December i, 1803. See Clas Livijns dramatiska forfattarskap, 
 p. 62, note i. 
 
 2 See Hjarne: Dagen fore drabbningen, p. 59. (See note.) 
 
 3 Ibid., p. 62. 
 
 4 Ibid., p. 62. 
 
 5 Ibid., p. 202. 
 
67 
 
 Norse content with Shakespearean method. In the beginning 
 of 1806 he seems to have found a subject for his intended 
 opera. He is to study all possible Gothic sagas, because he has 
 his "head full of plans for an opera"; " ' Balder's Death/ 
 rimeless, and in the same meter that you find among Ice- 
 landers. As far as possible I want it Gothic and not Quinaultic. 
 You know that the Goths sang in violent passion against one 
 another. On this point see any one of the sagas." 1 
 
 Livijn considered the old Icelandic sagas an essential part 
 of Swedish antiquity, in which respect he resembled Atterbom, 
 and so, in answer to a letter from Hammarskjold, 2 Livijn com- 
 mends his friend warmly for studying the old saga material: 
 "That you have studied the old Gothic sagas pleases me so 
 much the more, since that shall be my foremost study in time. 
 I find it indefensible that our literary practitioners neglect en- 
 tirely the ancient Swedish literature." 3 There could be no 
 saner or more national thought expressed anywhere than is ex- 
 pressed here in this champion of the Fosforists. A plan of 
 Livijn to study the "Gothic" language (here Icelandic, of 
 course) was soon to be realized, at least in part. His friend 
 Hammarskjold was an assistant at the Royal Library in Stock- 
 holm, and Livijn hoped through his help to gain access to the 
 treasures of the library and acquire enough critical knowl- 
 edge of Icelandic to be able to express his "thoughts clearly 
 and in Swedish concerning the poetry of the Goths." " I have 
 now commenced to study old Gothic," Livijn writes; "it is a 
 divine language, but I see that I cannot acquire the perfection 
 which is necessary to translate such products correctly, before 
 midsummer." 4 In other words, Livijn planned translations 
 from Icelandic poetry and expected to acquire the requisite 
 proficiency in the language in about two months. It was a bold 
 and commendable plan, even if not feasible. 
 
 As a Fosforist, Livijn took a sympathetic interest in Gothic 
 publications, was acquainted with past editions of the Eddas, 
 
 1 See undated letter to Hammarskjold, probably from February, 1806, 
 in Hjarne, pp. 22627. 
 
 2 Letter of March 2, 1806. 
 
 3 Hjarne: Dagen fore drabbningen, p. 233. 
 
 4 Ibid., p. 237. Letter written in April, 1806. 
 
68 
 
 and was very enthusiastic about the coming translations of the 
 Edda by Adlerbeth. He writes to Hammarskjold, February 
 23, 1811: 
 
 "You cannot imagine how pleased I am at Adl(erb)eth's enter- 
 prise, in which I wish him good luck with all my heart, because 
 I am certain that his work will be good. What I wish is that he 
 might have chosen Sturleson's Edda, and preferably the Uppsala 
 copy of it, on account of its Skalda-Kenninga, which as far as I 
 know do not exist anywhere else. The reason is that we possess 
 already both a rather good translation and the original of the 
 Saemund-Edda by the Arne-Magnussen Foundation. You will do 
 me a real favor if you let me know which one of the Eddas he 
 follows and if the original text is included. This work will cer- 
 tainly produce a kind of epoch in our literature, when it makes the 
 public acquainted with the literary products of our antiquity/' 1 
 
 Then, in this same letter, Livijn anticipates the danger which 
 might arise from an abuse of these literary products and ex- 
 presses the hope that Academicians like Markall (Wallmark) 
 and Struthio (Wallin) will not, for want of other originality, 
 concoct out of them a sort of Swedism which, " beyond a doubt, 
 would be more distasteful than our neighbors' Danism." 
 
 Livijn's estimate of Atterbom's " Skaldarmal " is a good 
 example of Gothism plus that prejudiced eulogy which one 
 Fosforist was wont sometimes to give another. The tone is 
 that of youthful Schwarmerei, expressed in a realistic, not to 
 say naturalistic, style : 
 
 "At last, after several attempts, I have obtained a copy of 
 Fosforos. " Skaldarmal " is above all commendation. You can 
 easily imagine what I feel from the description; I already know it 
 by heart; I walk back and forth on the floor, spit and snap my 
 fingers, and repeat one tirade after another in a loud voice." 2 
 
 " Skaldarmal " represented, then, for the present, both to Ham- 
 marskjold and to Livijn, the national poem, par excellence, 
 where Old Norse content and modern form were in harmony. 
 
 1 Frunck : " Bref," IV, pp. 242-43. 
 
 2 See letter to Hammarskjold of July 13, 1811. Frunck: "Bref," V, 
 p. 317. Livijn refers, of course, to the January-February number of Fos- 
 foros for 1811. 
 
69 
 
 A month later (August 14, 1811) he has re-read his copy of 
 Fosforos. He has found several poems which are "the product 
 of a true inspiration " and of these " Skaldarmal " is mentioned 
 first. He cannot praise it enough and believes the notes to 
 " Skaldarmal " excellent. Atterbom's real purpose as a poet 
 is not yet fully developed, though, Livijn believes, but "per- 
 haps it will pass over into a striving for that primitive Norse 
 spirit which is revealed in all Oehlenschlager's work." . . . 1 
 
 In the same letter we get ( I ) a personal estimate of the Edda, 
 (2) of Nyerup's edition of it, (3) additional commendation of 
 Adlerbeth's undertaking, (4) the doctrine of Gothism as a cure 
 for the contemporary insipidity in literature, (5) a warm wel- 
 come to Iduna, and, lastly, (6) some of Livijn's curious views 
 on the influence of Christianity in Sweden. Livijn writes : 
 
 " In my opinion the old Edda has a kind of dark and solemn tone, 
 combined with the simplicity which appears in Tieck's Volks- 
 marchen but Nyerup has made this tone familiar instead of simple, 
 and instead of being solemn it has a trite holiday-attire (helgdags- 
 platt). But, nevertheless, we owe Adlerbeth a large, yes, an 
 almost enormous debt of gratitude for his enterprise which will 
 certainly be worth while. All those who have been here (in 
 Kongslena) have read it (Adlerbeth's Edda), all with a kind of 
 astonishment, almost doubt, that anything of that kind could ever 
 be written. If anyone, equipped with spirit and power, should 
 arrive at this time and preach the old Sveogothism, I am certain 
 that many, particularly of the younger generation, would take 
 their position beneath the banner of power, against that dullness 
 which has been so indefensibly preached by the Academic Journal 
 (for Litteraturen och Teatern)." . . . 
 
 "The Lord is mighty! can be exclaimed with justification when 
 one sees Iduna and learns [the name of] the author." . . . 
 
 ; ' The Viking ' is a divine production, the first of its kind in 
 Swedish. I am not so satisfied with the translations; Vegtams 
 Kvitha, the only one I had the opportunity to compare with the 
 original, is, I believe, slavishly faithful (to the text)." 
 
 "You ought to be all the more certain that I like "The Last 
 Warrior" and "The Last Skald," since these strengthen my idea 
 that Christianity has removed power and energy from Sweden." 2 
 
 1 Letter to Hammarskjold. Frunck: " Bref," V, p. 335. 
 
 2 For all quotations above, see ibid., pp. 336-37. In answer to this last 
 6 
 
70 
 
 This outburst of youthful enthusiasm needs no discussion; it 
 cannot be taken very seriously, but it does serve as a striking 
 illustration of a mixture of radical Gothism and Rousseauism. 
 In 1811 Livijn has another plan for a Norse drama. He 
 writes to Hammarskjold, April 2: 
 
 " What do you think about me ? I intend to compete with Poly- 
 histrio, 1 and also produce an ' Odin.' The undertaking will, to be 
 sure, 'be rather difficult, but if I am successful it will procure for 
 me a double honor and decide the victory for us/' 2 
 
 Hammarskjold doubted the intrinsic unity of the subject 3 and 
 Livijn writes again, April 22, 1811 : 
 
 " You do not believe that I can possibly obtain unity in ' Odin ' ; 
 I have almost the same opinion, but even if I am to drive my 
 heroes together from Egypt, as Leopold (has done), they must 
 come together. . . . The contrast between the proud and arrogant 
 but civilized Roman and the proud and arrogant but uncivilized 
 barbarian will be the fundamental theme." 4 
 
 As was often the case, Livijn's creative interest in Old Norse 
 literature hardly went beyond the mere plan. It is a little diffi- 
 cult to decide just how much he actually accomplished in this 
 line ; some of his work was destroyed, what he did not destroy 
 was mostly fragmentary, and very little of what survived was 
 ever published. We have seen from his letters, however, that 
 his early creative interest in the saga always suggested some 
 dramatic scheme to his mind. It is quite certain, then, that 
 beyond his ingenious attack on Gothic extravaganzas later, 
 
 contention of Livijn, Hammarskjold writes: "If 'The Last Warrior' and 
 * The Last Skald ' have strengthened your conviction that Christianity has 
 injured our nation, then these poems must have produced an entirely dif- 
 ferent effect from the one intended by the author. . . . And besides, how 
 much Christianity is there not in Icelandic mythology?" See letter to 
 Livijn, September 12, 1811. Frunck : " Bref," V, p. 353. Hammarskjold 
 agrees, then, with Atterbom that the spirit of Christianity existed in its 
 embryonic state in Norse mythology. 
 
 1 The Fosforists' nickname for the Academician Gustaf af Leopold. 
 See Appendix. He had written a drama on Odin in the French style. See 
 Introduction, pp. 23-24. 
 
 2 Frunck : " Bref," IV, p. 268. 
 
 3 Cf. above, p. 67, note 3. 
 
 4 Frunck : " Bref," IV, pp. 283-84. 
 
71 
 
 Livijn's Norse plans revolved around, and were limited to, the 
 drama "Gyritha" (1803), the opera "Balder" (1806), "Odin" 
 (1811), and the trilogy "Visbur" (1813). And we must no- 
 tice in passing that the date of the first two is, in either case, 
 several years before the Goths appeared, as such. Fortunately 
 for us, the dramatic work of Livijn has lately been investigated 
 by Mortensen, 1 who has published the rough drafts of Livijn's 
 Norse dramas that still exist among his papers. From these 
 scanty remnants we can now obtain some idea of what Livijn 
 intended to do in this field. I shall limit myself here to a very 
 brief comment; for the details I refer to Mortensen's mono- 
 graph. 
 
 Nothing has been found of either " Balder's Death " or 
 " Odin." In all probability they never existed beyond the mere 
 titles. 2 But we do possess two small fragments of " Gyritha " 
 and " Visbur." The theme of the former, the first of Livijn's 
 dramatic attempts, is based on the saga found in Saxo, part I, 
 book 7. Halfdan, Prince of Scania, has fallen in love with the 
 proud and amazon-like princess Gyritha, the last of her race. 
 He must win her by fame and bravery in war and for this pur- 
 pose sets out for Russia, where he fights against the Swedish 
 King Alver. A report is circulated that Halfdan is dead, and 
 after many vicissitudes a Saxon, Sivard, is successful in win- 
 ning the hand of Gyritha. Halfdan is notified, arrives just as 
 the wedding is to be celebrated, kills the bridegroom and most 
 of the guests, and obtains Gyritha. Livijn takes this story, adds 
 in the French style a confidante, Afhilda, and a malicious rival 
 and she-devil, Ulfhilda, both of whom are taken from a novel 3 
 by the Dane Suhm, which is based on the same saga, and makes 
 a plan for a three-act drama. The unity of action is strictly ob- 
 served, the unity of time is indefinite, and that of place ignored. 
 The fragment, a trifle more than five scenes of the first act, is 
 written in rather commonplace prose, without dignity or eleva- 
 
 1 Mortensen : Clas Livijns dramatiska forfattarskap. Stockholm, 1911. 
 
 2 Cf. ibid., p. 119. Cf. also, p. 193. Mortensen suggests here the possi- 
 bility that in case of " Odin," Livijn intended to write a regular drama a 
 la Leopold to be a parody of the same. 
 
 3 " Gyrithe eller Danmarks Befrielse, Prisen For Kierlighed," 1774. 
 
72 
 
 tion, but has occasionally a certain power and interest. Ulf- 
 hilda is by far the strongest character in the fragment ; she is 
 a cunning intriguer, who, in strong, masculine language with 
 feminine ingenuity, and under the pretense of patriotism, plans 
 the abduction of Gyritha by Sivard to further her own love- 
 interests. She is a modern heroine as Livijn would have her. 
 We have here the beginning of a drama, half French, half 
 Romantic-historical. We can only regret that it was never 
 completed, for it would have served as an excellent transition- 
 type. 1 
 
 In 1813 Livijn entertained a gigantic plan to write an opera 
 "in the form of a trilogy on Visbur. Snorre Sturleson's 
 Ynglinga Saga (Chapters 16-18) tells the tragic tale of Vau- 
 lande, Visbur, and Domalde, grandfather, father and son, re- 
 spectively. The old fate-idea, based on crime, hovers over 
 the whole brief narrative by Snorre, though the main interest 
 undoubtedly centers about Visbur. Vaulande has forsaken his 
 wife Drifva and is finally strangled by a nightmare ; Domalde 
 was in time of famine sacrificed to the gods ; and upon Visbur 
 who, after desertion and remarriage, refuses to give up his 
 former wife's bridal gift, the curse of his race had been placed. 
 A part of the bridal gift, a neck-ring, was to be the death of the 
 best of his kin, and racial murder should always prevail in the 
 family. Using this saga and a Chronicon Finlandiae, Livijn 
 made a brief outline in prose of " Visbur." It was to have 
 three acts and was to be full of conjurations and witchcraft. 
 It was to end in a general slaughter and suicide and Odin him- 
 self was to appear in the last act as a ghost ; which gives Mor- 
 tensen a good reason for believing that the plan of "Visbur" 
 was modeled after Fouque's trilogy " Der Held des Nordens." 2 
 But our author never got beyond the fragmentary plan ; the 
 scheme was too colossal and, as Mortensen adds, 3 it was left 
 for Richard Wagner to write a trilogy on a primitive Germanic 
 theme. 
 
 1 Mortensen : Clas Livijns dramatiska forfattarskap, p. 75. For detailed 
 account of whole plan, fragment, and Suhm's influence, see pp. 62-75. 
 
 2 "Sigurd der Schlangentodter," Berlin, 1808: " Sigurd s Rache " ; " As- 
 lauga," Berlin, 1810. Cf. Mortensen, as above, pp. 244-45. 
 
 3 Mortensen : Op. cit., p. 243. 
 
73 
 
 However ardent Livijn's love for the saga element was, 
 he objected most strenuously to the abuse of it. When the 
 "old Norse power" and Norse mythology became the objects 
 of an empty, rhetorical idolatry, Livijn decided to give a signal 
 of warning. The method of warning was similar to the attack 
 made later upon Norse myths by the Academician Stjernstolpe j 1 
 the Norse divinities of both sexes pay a visit to Mt. Olympus 
 where they frighten everybody almost to death and put the 
 Olympians to flight. But Livijn's ingenious ridiculing of the 
 Gotho-mania was done in a friendly spirit and with the serious 
 intention of bettering conditions, as is shown by his sober re- 
 flections on the Norse cult at the end of his article. The warn- 
 ing, in the prose-form of a dream, appeared in No. 3 of the 
 short lived Life and Death (Lifvet och Doderi), 1816, and is 
 really a thrust at both mythologies. He finds the Olympians a 
 rather triste company. "The old man Jupiter (Jofur) was 
 recognized at once ; he had seen him hoisted up and down on 
 the opera, with flashing thunder-bolts in his hands. Minerva 
 is studying economy and finance, Apollo stood with his hands 
 in his pocket and pondered on the possibility of winning a prize 
 on the 2Oth of December, 2 and the arrows of Cupid seemed so- 
 dull that they could be used only to pluck the strings of the 
 lyre, etc. The whole company reminded one of yawning 
 guests at some state- feast." 3 But the Scandinavians arrive with 
 a frightful noise and start a grand fight with the Olympians.. 
 Thor howls like all the wolves of the North put together, and 
 when Brage sings, Apollo puts his fingers in his ears and flees. 
 The rest follow. The new gods are to be lords of all Swedish 
 poets hereafter, and to possess the sole right to appear in opera, 
 ode, or elegy. 
 
 It is noteworthy that Livijn's ideas concerning the employ- 
 ment of Norse myths were fundamentally the same as those of 
 Geijer concerning their use in the plastic arts. 4 He implies 
 that we must have sensuous form and definiteness in some way, 
 
 iCf. below, Chap. Ill, pp. 
 
 2 The classical Swedish Academy awarded its prizes on this date. 
 
 3 Mila Hallman: Clas Livijn, p. 87. 
 
 4 See " Betraktelser i afseende pa de nordiska myternas anvandande i 
 skon konst," 1817. Cf. below, Chap. Ill, pp. isoff. 
 
74 
 
 and we, who live in a new age when the gods in question are 
 no longer worshipped, may employ the names from Norse 
 myths only as poetical terms to give our ideas a certain sen- 
 suous definiteness. Nowadays the use of such terms, however, 
 is often nothing more than a mere substitution of Norse names 
 for Greek, and an affected pedantry is the result. On the 
 other hand, if the scene of action is localized in that remote 
 period when popular faith embraced Odin and Thor, and the 
 atmosphere and costume are generally Norse, the names of the 
 Old Norse gods are the most suitable. 1 This is, in brief, the 
 content of the serious part of Livijn's attack. It agrees, it 
 seems to me, with Geijer's ideas: to obviate all danger, do not 
 separate the Norse myths from their own age, and if you do, 
 beware of excess. 
 
 The climax of Livijn's ridicule appeared in No. 19 of the 
 above-mentioned Life and Death. It was a cruel parody on a 
 solemn poem by Ling, entitled " In Memory of the Countess 
 Hedvig Cronstedt" (Minne af grefvinnan H. C), into which 
 Ling had introduced the greater part of Norse mythology. 
 Livijn calls his poem "In Memory of the Unwieldy Norse 
 Power" (Minne af den obakliga nordiska kraften), writes it 
 in the same meter as his model, provides it with explanatory 
 notes as Ling had done, and like Ling wants his poem set to 
 music, and especially the explanatory notes. Ling's elegy 
 adapted itself unusually well to irony and Livijn's parody is a 
 masterpiece of its kind. The parody itself has true wit and 
 the notes are excruciatingly funny. It caused bad blood, how- 
 ever, and the author felt constrained to make the explanation 
 which appeared in the last number of Life and Death, in May, 
 1816. For further details and examples in parallel columns 
 of both model and parody I refer to Wirsen and Hallman, 2 
 both of whom characterize the parody as "cruel." Inciden- 
 tally, the character of the parody shows that Livijn must have 
 been pretty well acquainted with Norse mythology in order to 
 write it. 
 
 1 Cf. Wirsen : Clas Livijn, pp. 38-39. Contains quotations. 
 2Cf. Wirsen: Op. cit., pp. 39-41. Cf. Mila Hallman: Clas Livijn, pp. 
 88-91. 
 
75 
 
 It appears, then, that Atterbom was the only Fosforist ever 
 to finish an imaginative work based directly on Norse my- 
 thology. Hammarskjold objected to its use unless it was re- 
 modeled like " Skaldarmal " ; and Livijn's dramatic work, based 
 on individual Norse sagas, was fragmentary. Yet we must 
 not underestimate the importance of the zeal with which the 
 Forforists, almost to a man, sought to encourage the study 
 of Old Norse literature. This is the irrefutable testimony of 
 letters written by the various members of the new movement. 
 The correspondence of the minor members of the group brings 
 out the same widespread sympathy and enthusiasm as that of 
 the more prominent members. 
 
 C. A. Agardh (1785-1859), adjunct professor of botany 
 and economics at Lund University and a warm associate of 
 the New School, vents his feelings to Hammarskjold, Novem- 
 ber 2, 1810. He has read three numbers of Fosforos and 
 objects to the superabundance of Hellenism in them. But he 
 discovers one strophe in the Prolog which is particularly beau- 
 tiful. He writes: "How beautiful, on the other hand, is 
 Atterbom when he uses Gothic images, when he speaks of 
 Thor ; it is easier for us to believe that Thor still illumines his 
 sons than that Phoebus should do so ! "* That Agardh took 
 an interest in Ling's work is evidenced in the same letter, and 
 later he takes issue with Hammarskjold with respect to the 
 employment of Norse myths in poetry. Agardh believes that 
 Hammarskj old's objections to their use may all be refuted, 
 though it was not his (Agardh's) business to refute them. He 
 adds: "Ling and Tegner are agreed on the excellence of the 
 Gothic myth." 2 That Agardh kept in touch with Danish litera- 
 ture of the Old Norse style is seen in a letter to Hammar- 
 skjold of February 2, 1811. He is to send his friend some of 
 Oehlenschlager's works as well as "Norse Mythology" by 
 Grundtvig. But it is curious to note that Agardh also objects 
 to an exaggeration of the new tendency. He writes : " He 
 
 iFrunck: " Bref," III, p. 164. Cf. Prolog to Fosforos. Also note 4, 
 page 32 of this chapter. 
 
 2Frunck: "Bref," III, p. 175. Letter to Hammarskjold of December 
 6, 1810. 
 
76 
 
 (Oehlenschlager) has published a new volume of his poetry, 
 which does not seem to me to possess the value of the others. 
 He has fallen too much into the old tone of the North. He 
 has even imitated its faults." 1 
 
 Those members of the new movement who were neither 
 Goths nor Fosforists, technically, but who made use of the 
 sagas and Norse mythology for the purpose of poking fun at 
 the extravagances of the New School (see Chap. Ill) should 
 be mentioned here. The most important of these were Vitalis 
 (Erik Sjoberg) and Carl Fredrik Dahlgren. The character 
 of their humorous products themselves shows that they knew 
 something about Norse antiquity, and a study of their lives and 
 works reveals a Gothic activity of a positive character as well. 
 But this activity seems, for the most part, to be of a purely 
 general type. Especially is this the case of Vitalis. His Gothic 
 poems, if they may be called such, are patriotic and national, 
 but are not based on any definite saga-sources. They deal with 
 king and fatherland, with Swedish iron and mountains, and 
 with occasional reflections on the primitive ages. "The Son 
 of Nature" (Natursonen), as may be guessed from the title, 
 is Gothic only in so far as it is Rousseauic. 2 
 
 Dahlgren wrote several poems in a patriotic spirit, but his 
 chief importance for Gothism was as an organizer. It was he 
 who really founded the "Antiquarian Society" (Sallskapet 
 for forntida minnen) in Linkoping in 1823, and he did much 
 active work subsequently. He made speeches and gave books 
 to this body, whose object was to "quicken the feeling of na- 
 tional patriotism, pure morality, and hearty friendship." 3 Of 
 more specific value for Gothism was Dahlgren's connection 
 with the Manhems-Forbund. His biographer, Arwidson, writes 
 as follows : " In conjunction with C. J. L. Almquist, Dahlgren 
 founded in 1815 the so-called Manhems-Forbund. Its purpose 
 was to arouse in growing youth an interest in our antiquities and 
 love for our historical monuments ; in a word, to make the edu- 
 
 1 " Frunck : " Bref," IV, pp. 227-28. 
 
 2 Cf. Ostergren : Vitalis, p. 50. Ostergren believes " Natursonen " to 
 be an imitation in the Gothic genre. 
 
 s See Arwidson : Introduction to Vol. I of Dahlgren's Samlade arbeten, 
 Stockholm, 1847, p. xv. 
 
77 
 
 cation of the young as Swedish as possible, with the high ex- 
 amples of the forefathers as models for a new, powerful, and 
 patriotic generation. Consequently, it was for the young what 
 the Gothic society was for the old. Others may judge the pos- 
 sibility of attaining the desired end in this way ; but, in any case, 
 the effort was noble and magnanimous. At the meetings the 
 young men read selections from our old sagas to one another, 
 and lectures were held on the Norse myths and on praiseworthy 
 deeds from our historical chronicles. 1 On special occasions 
 Dahlgren himself delighted the members of the Forbund with 
 speeches, many of them sparkling with wit and the love of 
 life." 
 
 1 Ibid., pp. xiii-xiv. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 THE NON-ROMANTIC INTEREST IN THE NORSE SAGA 
 
 " Karleken till skaldekonst i allmanhet, och faderneslands-kansla 
 isynnerhet, hafva kommit mig att skrifva i meter, och att begagna 
 den hos oss for litet kanda och varderade, hogst interessanta 
 nordiska mythologien." 
 
 Charlotta d' Albedyhll : Slutanmarkning to " Gefion." 
 
 There was no enthusiasm among the Academicians for Old 
 Norse themes but, on the other hand, it would be an injustice 
 to accuse them of a constant and furious hostility. The old 
 myths had already been treated in the French style by some 
 Gustavians, notably by the king himself, Gustavus III., and by 
 Leopold; so that at the beginning of the national movement 
 Norse mythology was by no means unknown, even to the mem- 
 bers of the Old School. And so, in 1810, when the field of 
 Norse myths was being explored in Denmark, the Academic 
 Journal for Litteraturen och Theatern not only tolerated such 
 exploration but advocated a similar movement in Sweden. 
 No. 193, for August 20, 1810, contains an announcement of 
 Nyerup's Edda and gives the story of Suttung's mead. The 
 Danes, the reviewer thinks, should be given credit for their 
 interest in Old Norse history and myth, and Norse mythology 
 ought not to be as unknown to the Swedes as it is, since it has 
 already been used by "several German and Danish poets." 
 The excuse seems to be that one does not like to learn Ice- 
 landic. Again, the recension of the first number of Iduna in 
 the same Journal (numbers 195-98, 1811) contains an ex- 
 pressive regret : " The love for our antiquities and our history 
 has cooled considerably among us (in Sweden) if it has not 
 entirely died out." Later on, to be sure, when militant Gothism 
 was thought to be alarming, the Academic attitude changed ; but 
 in the beginning of the decade 1810-1820 there was an appre- 
 ciable sympathy for national material among the conservatives. 
 
 78 
 
79 
 
 The Swedish Academy itself was not opposed to literary 
 creations with Old Norse content provided they measured up 
 to the traditional standards of form and style. In 1812 the 
 Academy awarded its highest prize to Per Adolf Granberg 
 (1770-1841) for a so-called "lyrical tragedy in three acts" 
 on an Old Norse subject, entitled "Jorund." And, in his 
 presentation speech to the prize-winner, the director of the 
 Academy displays an idealistic view of the viking and sees great 
 possibilities in the theme at hand. 
 
 "It was from the skald that the warrior of antiquity expected 
 his most permanent reward; with his eye fixed upon the harp of 
 the bard, 1 the Gothic champion raised his sword, and, if a glorious 
 death snatched it from his armed hand, he knew that the memory 
 of the exploit would live through the ages in the eulogy of song. 
 You [Granberg] have, my lord, called forth a theme from the old 
 chronicles of Sweden which has the possibility of exciting high 
 impulses and public sacrifices/' 2 
 
 This complimentary and highly commendable sentiment would 
 have applied admirably to other themes from the sagas, and 
 was prophetic of what actually took place later, when Norse 
 themes were treated by other more Romantic authors ; but in 
 the specific case of "Jorund" the judgment of the Academy 
 was much too favorable. The work evidently fulfilled certain 
 formal requirements of the Academy, it possessed some really 
 good verse, and exhibited an occasional glimpse of genius, and 
 the author had been publicly honored by the Academy before. 3 
 Moreover, the theme of "Jorund" was new to contemporary 
 Academicians and was patriotic in its essence; and so as a bit 
 of original poetry, it captured the highest reward. 
 
 "Jorund" is an interesting concoction and Atterbom calls it 
 rightly " a peculiarly constituted arabesk." 4 It is not a tragedy 
 
 1 Neither the director nor Granberg himself made any distinction be- 
 tween " skald " and "bard." 
 
 2 A free translation. See Svenska Akademiens handlingar ifran ar 
 1796. Sjette delen. Stockholm, 1817, p. 311. 
 
 3 According to Nordisk Conversationslexikon, Granberg received no less 
 than five prizes from the Academy. He was a very productive writer in 
 several fields. He wrote historical works and his dramas " Svante Sture " 
 and " Marta Lejonhufvud " were played forty-two times between 1812-33. 
 
 ^Literara karakteristiker (Vol. 7 of Samlade skrifter), Orebro, 1870, 
 p. 105. 
 
80 
 
 in the modern sense at all but a lyrical melodrama, interspersed 
 with reports of deaths and the flowing of blood somewhere off 
 the stage. It is a bardiet a la Klopstock, steeped in artificial 
 sentimentality with little or no local color or action. The main 
 dialog is written in good blank verse, but, unfortunately, there 
 is very little of it and to his prefaced outline of the argument 
 the author adds apologetically, as it were, that perhaps this 
 meter is altogether too new. As a result, we have a great 
 variety of meter, distributed in the form of rimed duos, trios, 
 and choruses of either bards, maidens, or fighters, and even an 
 invisible choir is heard. The whole is a combination of Sturle- 
 son, Shakespeare, and Granberg. Sturleson provides the name 
 and certain historical characterizations, " Macbeth " a part of 
 the plan and the idea of an oracle, and Granberg, after distort- 
 ing the original saga almost beyond recognition, motivates the 
 "tragedy" by fate. The French confidante is not wanting 
 and we may say that the unities are observed. The scene is 
 laid in, or in the vicinity of, Uppsala, the principal characters 
 are few and the plot is simple. Granberg makes Hake, who 
 is said to have ruled three years, reign but one day over Swe- 
 den, for no other reason, apparently, than to accommodate 
 the action to the unity of time. From the dramatic viewpoint 
 the stage directions are the most meritorious part of the whole 
 bardiet, and at times suggest a setting of real viking beauty 
 and picturesqueness. Granberg is not blind to the contem- 
 porary ignorance of Norse mythology and saga and provides 
 brief explanatory foot-notes to his tragedy. 
 
 The Ynglinga Saga by Snorre Sturleson (Chapters 25-28) 
 contains the historical background of " Jorund." Hugleik was 
 a rich and stingy king who reigned over Sweden (Svithiod) 
 quietly instead of going out on viking expeditions. He was 
 always surrounded by harp-players, fiddlers, and magicians. 
 Hake, a mighty sea-king, with twelve champions, including 
 Starkad the Old, set out for Sweden, killed the inactive Hug- 
 leik and his two sons, and became ruler of the country for a 
 period of three years. In the meantime Jorund and Eric, sons 
 of Yngve, had grown up and won renown and Hake had sent 
 his own warriors away. Jorund and Eric made use of their 
 
81 
 
 opportunity ; they came to Sweden, were welcomed by the peo- 
 ple, and set out for Uppsala to recapture the throne for the 
 Yngve race. In the battle that follows Eric is slain and Jorund 
 is at first forced to flee, but Hake has been mortally wounded 
 in the fray; he is laid "almost dead, or dead," upon his ship, 
 the burning boat is sent out to sea, and Jorund returns to be- 
 come king of Sweden. Chapter 28 of the saga, which Gran- 
 berg disregards entirely, tells us further that Jorund was finally 
 hanged by King Gylog while on a plundering expedition to 
 Denmark. 
 
 Granberg states in his preface that he followed the opinions 
 of those also who applied Saxo's story to Sweden. But he 
 cannot have taken very much from the Danish historian. 
 There is no Jorund mentioned in Saxo Grammaticus. The 
 two champions, Geigad and Svipdag, are mentioned, however, 
 both in Saxo and in Sturleson (Ynglinga Saga, Chap. 25), 
 and Starkad the Old, who is mentioned in Sturleson in the 
 same chapter as being the greatest fighter at King Hake's court, 
 appears in Saxo, Book 6, as a very redoubtable Danish war- 
 rior. Granberg makes Starkad a native of Sweden who had 
 left the Swedish court because of dissatisfaction. 
 
 There were, in fact, many skalds and singing vikings, but 
 the typical Northern king or pirate was hardly a "lyrical" 
 character; he was a sturdy, unflinching man of action. And 
 so, when Jorund is made the hero of a lyrical tragedy we may 
 expect at once a radical modification of historical facts. This 
 is precisely what takes place. The Jorund of Sturleson is not 
 a tragic hero at all, unless we consider his inherent craving for 
 murder and plunder tragic. But this characteristic was com- 
 mon to any wide-range viking. Jorund is simply an ordinary 
 sea-rover and king, who finally had the sad, though not "tragic," 
 misfortune of being caught in his misdeeds. From a viking's 
 viewpoint Jorund never knew any tragic guilt and the danger 
 in which he lived was, undoubtedly, just what he wanted. The 
 production as a whole is very much weakened by the infusion 
 of an artificially created sentiment into the characters. They 
 are not living individuals and are given no opportunity for dra- 
 matic development. There is too much singing and not enough 
 
82 
 
 dialog, though what there is is good. Granberg makes Hug- 
 leik, Hake, and Jorund contemporaries in war; Starkad the 
 Old has become both " bard " and foster-father of Jorund ; 
 Hugleik, instead of being slain, makes peace with Hake and has 
 his eyes put out; Hugleik's daughter Hilda and her friend 
 Yrsa, neither of whom is mentioned by Sturleson in this con- 
 nection, 1 furnish material for the conventional love-scenes ; and 
 Starkad, as Granberg's instrument of fate, directs the show. 
 
 An appropriate name for the dramatic poem, according to 
 Granberg's plan, would be "The Unavoidable Triumph of 
 Jorund." It has now become a love story with love of woman 
 and love of fatherland, where the hero cannot help but capture 
 both. In the first act, Jorund, disguised as Halvar, is living an 
 inactive life at Hugleik's court, enjoying the love of the weak- 
 ling's daughter. But Jorund, as the son of Yngve, is destined 
 to rule over Sweden, and so Starkad, in the hero's inactivity, 
 employs the sea-king Hake to dethrone Hugleik and arouse the 
 hero to action. According to the oracle, the ruling king, as in 
 " Macbeth," must fall when the woods of Roslagen approach 
 Uppsala. Messengers arrive from Hake; he demands Hilda 
 and half of the kingdom and, upon receipt of the message that 
 the oracle is being fulfilled, Hugleik loses courage and shuts 
 himself up in his castle. Jorund now rushes forth and wishes 
 to lead the warriors against the enemy. 
 
 From this point on the whole panorama could have been 
 brought to a rapid close. Had Jorund been allowed to drive 
 away the intruders he would have been the logical candidate 
 for the throne, Hilda would have shared it with him, and the 
 audience would have been ready at once for the triumphal post- 
 lude. But no ! Starkad has promised Hake to reign one day, 
 a pleasure which is well deserved, to be sure, and so, for 
 the time being, he prevents the execution of the very thing he 
 set out to accomplish and the panorama is extended for two 
 acts more. 
 
 1 Sturleson does give in Chapters 32-33 of the Ynglinga Saga the story 
 of a foreign slave Yrsa who became queen in Sweden, but she was not the 
 contemporary of Jorund. Sturleson does not mention any women at all 
 in connection with the story of Jorund, but we are told (Chap. 29) that 
 Jorund had a son Ane who became king after his father. 
 
83 
 
 In the second act Jorund and his sweetheart are led around 
 alternately by Starkad, Hilda being disguised as a soldier. 
 Hilda must not reveal her identity to anyone until permitted 
 to do so by Starkad. When she refuses to join the victorious 
 Hake he is told that she has fallen in battle, whereupon Hake 
 takes Yrsa and commands her to assume the name of Hilda, 
 so that the people may believe that he is united in marriage to 
 the Ynglinga race. Invisible beings are conjured up to arouse 
 Jorund's jealousy by representing a union of Hake and Hilda. 
 The shades of his ancestors pass in review and remind him of 
 his duty to his fatherland. Deeply moved and in despair Jo- 
 rund makes the resolution to suffocate his love and disperse 
 the foe. 
 
 The last act deals further with Jorund's victory over Hake, 
 sung by the bards. As a test of his sense of honor, the hero 
 is given, and rather cleverly, the choice between the throne and 
 Hilda. Of course, as in a French tragedy, honor and patriot- 
 ism must come first, 1 but Jorund stands the trial and Hilda 
 proves herself equal to the severe and dramatic test of love. 
 Then honor and love are reconciled, her disguise is removed, 
 Hake has retreated and as King of the North burns himself 
 on a pyre of trophies upon his ship, and Jorund is now ready 
 to receive the homage of the Swedish people. 
 
 Much could have been made of that dramatic meeting between 
 Jorund and Hilda, III, 4, where the latter in soldier's garb is 
 ready to die at the hand of her lover in order to be mourned by 
 him, but all we have now is a brief and rather insipid quartett- 
 song which, naturally, cannot begin to do justice to the situa- 
 tion. There are other scenes also with excellent dramatic pos- 
 sibilities, as, for instance, in II, 4, between Yrsa, Hake, and 
 Starkad. But here, too, the dialog is too concentrated, events 
 are told too abruptly, important decisions made too suddenly and 
 without sufficient exposition of the inner struggles of the char- 
 acters. The much desired dramatic concentration and viking 
 
 i Cf . I, 4, Hilda to Jorund : 
 
 Nej, Jorund, allt for aran vaga 
 om dina pligter fordra det ; 
 Din alskarinnas bild forgat, 
 och for ditt rykte glom din laga. 
 
84 
 
 directness are carried to the extreme, and before we realize what 
 is happening the action is over and someone begins to sing. Had 
 Granberg called his poem a "bardiet," any adverse criticism 
 of this sort would have been unwarranted, but as a " tragedy," 
 without even a well defined tragic danger, it is, I think, 
 vulnerable. 
 
 That the Fosforists had nothing good to say about Granberg's 
 work, 1 was due, in part, to the fact that he leaned toward the 
 Old School. Atterbom calls " Jorund " " a formless mass," and 
 advises the author not to write another verse. 2 It is called a 
 "tragedy," says Atterbom, because someone dies and called 
 " lyrical " because a part is sung. 3 The manliness of the orig- 
 inal is gone, there is monotony of rime, 4 and Atterbom asks 
 whether the original fate of the hero would not seem more prob- 
 able now after reading Granberg's description of him. But the 
 rationalists did not have the same opinion the Academy 
 certainly did not and as late as 1823 Martina v. Schwerin 
 could speak of that "glimpse of talent," which was found in 
 " Jorund." 5 
 
 But something good may be said even of "Jorund." It has 
 no well-developed local color, as we have seen, and the sprink- 
 ling of Norse mythology is little more than mere names, but, 
 nevertheless, there is a tendency to depict viking scenes and 
 characteristics. I have already made the observation that the 
 Old Norse directness of speech is too well illustrated; fight, 
 fire, fate, feast and song compose the fabric of the whole bar- 
 diet. The ancestors' fondness for riddles is illustrated in the 
 first scene and the participation of women in battle and their 
 utter disdain for danger and death are brought out in the first 
 
 1 Cf. above, Chap. I, pp. 44 and 63, concerning views of Hammarskjold 
 and Atterbom. 
 
 2 Svensk Litteratur-Tidning for 1814 (Nos. 20-21), columns 326-27. 
 
 3 Ibid., column 315, and note. 
 
 4 Atterbom believes that " dygder " and " bygder " must rime " certainly 
 a million times " in Granberg's poetry. 
 
 5 See letter to Tegner of December 7, 1823. Esaias Tegner's papper, 
 p. 194. The occasion for the remark was the appearance of "The Death 
 of Karl Knutsson " (Karl Knutssons dod), a tragedy in three acts by 
 Granberg which did not have "that glimpse of talent" displayed in 
 " Jorund." 
 
85 
 
 scene of Act II. 1 Of course we feel that there is no real danger 
 that Granberg's women would either kill anybody else, or die 
 themselves, but the traditional characteristic is at least indi- 
 cated. To have one's body burned, as Hake does on his ship, 
 was a common viking phenomenon, and the scene in I, 5, repre- 
 sents a council-place in the open air with its primitive judge's 
 seat. 
 
 We find many phrases in " Jorund " which, though unnatural, 
 are meant to be strong and to express a high degree of emo- 
 tion; and the language is, of course, always polished and cor- 
 rect. Some lines, if taken by themselves, are really powerful 
 and contain proverbial wisdom. The chief in I, 6, says : 
 
 "Den starke fordrar; blott den svage hoppas." 2 
 
 The following patriotic and idealistic quotation has both good 
 content and form. Starkad as bard is singing to Hugleik: 
 
 " Nar fordom en Konung blef hyllad i Norden 
 han svor att bli vardig det valde han fatt, 
 och . . . trogen sitt lofte . . . vid gransen af jorden 
 han satte en grans for sin ryktbarhet blott. 
 
 Ej mjuk var hans badd och ej kraslig var fodan, 
 ej flockar af gycklare fyllde hans gard. 
 Hans noje var fejden, och . . . vunnen af modan . . . 
 hans hvila de sarade kamparnes vard." 3 
 
 Granberg's "Jorund" is primarily non-Romantic. But, 
 aside from the subject matter itself, there are other traces 
 possibly made unconsciously of the new contemporary tend- 
 encies. Hilda (I, 4) is tormented by "a dreadful presenti- 
 
 1 Cf. An aga vi de spjut, som vara modrar burit, 
 
 bevisom dessa man, som namn af kampar fatt, 
 att vara faders dygd, hvars dyrkan de besvurit, 
 i arf till deras dottrar gatt. 
 
 2 The strong man demands ; only the weakling hopes. 
 
 3 Formerly, when homage was paid to a king in the North, he vowed 
 to be worthy of the power he had received, and, loyal to his vow, set the 
 limits of the world only as the limits for his fame. His bed was not soft, 
 his food was not dainty, and flocks of jugglers did not fill his court. His 
 joy was fighting and, won by toil, his rest was to care for wounded warriors. 
 
 7 
 
86 
 
 ment" (en gruflig aning), as so many of the Romanticists them- 
 selves were. The scene in II, 6, is a typical Romantic scene. 
 We have " a wild region between high mountains " and the 
 whole illumined by the omnipresent moon. Hilda, as a warrior, 
 is wandering about alone, aimlessly, as it were, directed by an 
 unseen power, and in the greatest emotion : 
 
 "Hvart irra mina fjat? Till dessa vilda fjall 
 
 af hvilken okand makt de foras ! 
 Allt ar sa odsligt tyst ! blott vilddjurs laten horas, 
 besvarade af klippans hall." 1 
 
 Then, too, the conjurations, the cloudiness, the thunder, the 
 flames, the invisible choir, the night, and the procession upon 
 passing clouds of ghosts of ancestral kings (in scenes 7 and 8 
 of Act II), produce the effect of a Romantic atmosphere. 
 Even Hake in III, I, is tormented by "a secret anxiety" (en 
 hemlig oro) . He fears nothing, but, like a Romantic dreamer, 
 he does not know what the trouble is and cannot enjoy life. 
 His royal power is great but even the gods cannot satisfy his 
 thirsting soul. He longs for an inexpressible something which 
 is far away, he knows not where : 
 
 "Jag vunnit hvad mitt hjerta efterstrafvat; 
 men ar jag nojd? Ack nej, min van! 
 Den sallhets drom, som for min tanke svafvat, 
 for mig ar lika fjarran an." 2 
 
 "Jorund" should be remembered for its historical impor- 
 tance, for three reasons : It was based on a saga, it was written 
 by a rationalist, and appeared at the beginning of the Romantic 
 period, when the Fosforists were conducting their attack upon 
 the Academy and all its followers. 
 
 We now come to another poetic production which should be 
 remembered for similar reasons. When Granberg was receiv- 
 ing official and ostentatious recognition for his work, the treat- 
 
 1 Whither do my foot-steps go ? By what unseen power directed to 
 these wild mountains ? Everything is so desolately quiet ! Only the cry 
 of wild beasts re-echoing from the cliff. 
 
 2 I have won what my heart strove for ; but am I satisfied ? Oh, no, 
 my friend ! That dream of bliss which has hovered before my soul is still 
 just as far away. 
 
87 
 
 ment of another theme from Norse saga literature was just 
 being completed. It was an epic poem in hexameters, based on 
 Sturleson's mythico-historical Gefion, by the aristocratic but 
 unassuming Eleonora Charlotta d'Albedyhll, nee Wrangel 
 (1770-1835). She was a rather independent poetess and 
 neutral-minded, as far as close affiliation with any definite 
 school was concerned. She inclined more, however, toward 
 conservative views and kept up a lively correspondence with 
 the Academician editor Wallmark. In the concluding note 
 to her poem she gives her motive for writing and publishing 
 her epic : 
 
 "This little attempt, with claim to nothing except the forgive- 
 ness of the reader, was written between 1810 and 1812 and was 
 intended merely as a pastime for a few friends and for my own 
 special pleasure. My opinion has been that to the epic belonged, 
 essentially, that meter (i. e. the classical hexameter) which I have 
 chosen; but that may possibly be a mistake which I hope will be 
 kindly pardoned. Finally, it is as a result of my friends' encourage- 
 ment, and at their request, that I have had this insignificant work 
 printed. Love for poetry in general, and patriotism in particular, 
 has induced me to write in meter, and to employ that interesting 
 Norse mythology which is too little known and valued by us." 
 
 " Gefion, a Poem in Four Cantos," appeared finally in 1814, 
 and was dedicated in glowing terms to the elected crown prince 
 of Sweden. The brief dedication contains at once some im- 
 portant thoughts which later are developed in the epic itself 
 and shows unbounded enthusiasm for the foreign-born prince. 
 He is the peace-maker who will save the Northern iron from 
 an everlasting blood-bath, he is the patron of agriculture, a 
 "great man, born and bred in the luxuriant territory of the 
 South." Then the poetess, with an assumed air of modesty 
 and an implied enthusiasm for the South, pronounces her 
 Northern poem " as destitute of flowers as the territory which 
 produced the authoress." 
 
 " Gefion " is based on a part of the fifth chapter of the 
 Ynglinga Saga. When the emigrating historical Odin had estab- 
 lished himself, temporarily, in Germany, he dispatched the god- 
 dess of chastity, Gefion, northward to King Gylfe of Sweden, 
 
 or . 
 UN1VF RS'T, 
 
88 
 
 "who presented her with a piece of tillable land. She then went 
 to Jotunheim (the home of the giants) and had four sons by a 
 giant; these she gave the form of oxen, hitched them to a plow, 
 and dragged the land out into the sea and westwards towards 
 Odinso (Odin's isle, Fyen,) to a place which is now called See- 
 land; there she lived afterwards. She married Skjold, the son of 
 Odin; they lived in Lider (Leire). Where the plowed land lay, 
 there is left water or sea which is called Lagen (Icl. logr, the sea, 
 now called Lake Malar). The fjords in the Lagen correspond to 
 the capes on Seeland." 
 
 In the epic this mythical-historical tale is greatly altered. 
 The historical element, as such, disappears entirely and the 
 whole is made purely mythical and allegorical. 1 Gefion has 
 become a modern Ceres, as Atterbom has observed, and she 
 comes directly from the home of the gods (Godheim) to the 
 wild inhabitants of the North. She is now Odin's daughter 
 and sister of Skjold; appears in divine splendor in all Scandi- 
 navian countries, in Norway, Sweden, and Denmark, in the 
 order named ; and has only three sons, Nore, Sverker, and Dan, 
 symbolic of the three Scandinavian lands. She finally ascends 
 to heaven in the presence of the settlers of Seeland at a place 
 which later became Lei j re, then Copenhagen, the seat of the 
 Danish kings. Fru d'Albedyhll makes an historical assump- 
 tion, also, the veracity of which is at least questionable. Gefion 
 teaches a Norwegian, Thuler, the use of fire, and teaches Gylfe 
 the art of plowing. This assumption would give Sweden a 
 priority in agriculture which is wholly unwarranted. 
 
 The first canto of the epic deals with deliberations of the 
 Norse gods in Asgard on the future welfare of Scandinavia. 
 The problem is how to improve conditions in the " icy North " 
 by teaching its inhabitants the better use of their fields and 
 minerals. Gefion is sent down to earth to carry out this mis- 
 sion. In the second canto, the bow-man Thuler ascends the 
 Dofre mountain in Norway, on the summit of which he intends 
 to pray for food and strength. Gefion appears in a cloud and 
 joins him, they descend the mountain together, and, at the foot 
 
 1 Cf. the account of Atterbom's recension of " Gefion " above, in Chap. 
 I, pp. 44ff. For the recension itself see " Literara karakteristiker," Orebro, 
 1870, pp. 115-35- 
 
89 
 
 of the same, the trembling youth entertains his divine guest 
 as best he can. Thereupon she calls forth fire from the earth, 
 extracts iron from a stone near by, and teaches Thuler how to 
 form it and use it. In "heavenly ecstacy" he embraces the god- 
 dess ; Thuler's hut becomes a temple, and in the vision that fol- 
 lows he sees " three divine children," is told that the place upon 
 which they stand is to be the future capital of Norway, and 
 then the goddess disappears. In the third canto, Gefion comes 
 to Gylfe in Sweden, where " the warriors lived on fish and 
 game but lacked bread." The "majestic mermaid," with her 
 " three small elves," arrives by water, and the arts of plowing, 
 sowing, reaping, grinding, baking, and brewing are taught. 
 Gefion spurns divinely Gylfe's offer of marriage, calls the land 
 upon which she stands hers, changes her sons into oxen, and 
 has the land pulled away. The poetess says : " Lake Logaren 
 (Malar) still yearns for the hour when it may be re-united 
 to the island." The last canto treats first of the deposition of 
 the piece of land in the sea, then of the settling of this new 
 island, and, lastly, of the ascension of Gefion to Asgard in the 
 presence of the settlers. 
 
 A closer examination of the basic material in the epic dis- 
 closes a very generous employment of Norse mythology in 
 general. " Gefion " illustrates exceedingly well how deeply the 
 Gothic tendency had become rooted outside Gothic circles, for, 
 if we are to believe the statement of the authoress, the epic was 
 begun before the Gothic Society was founded. Granberg's 
 " Jorund " did not call for a very elaborate knowledge of Norse 
 myths ; it was based simply on an episode in an heroic saga and, 
 judging from his tragedy, there is no evidence that Granberg 
 went very deeply into the study of Norse antiquity. But with 
 " Gefion " it is different. The whole framework shows a long 
 step forward and reveals a tolerably complete knowledge of 
 the Old Norse literature that was available in Sweden in 1810- 
 1814. Both the Eddas and the Heimskringla are well known 
 to the authoress, and we see in the appended notes that she 
 knew what was being done in Denmark also in this line. 1 In 
 the first canto especially all the important Norse divinities are 
 
 i Reference is made, for instance, to Baggesen's " Poesiens oprindelse." 
 
90 
 
 introduced as well as some minor ones, their characteristics 
 and dwelling-places indicated, and their environment and phys- 
 ical attributes described. This is done in part by brief and 
 accurate explanatory notes at the end of the epic, and in part 
 by expressions woven into the epic. References are made to 
 episodes in the lives of the Scandinavian gods, such as Vgla's 
 prophecy of Balder's death, and the final fulfilment of it at 
 the instigation of Loke. A reference to the favorite story of 
 the origin of poetry, the story of Suttung's mead, as told in the 
 Tales of Brage (BragarceSur I) finds a place in the first canto 
 of " Gefion." 
 
 The whole epic of " Gefion," comprising forty pages, is a 
 mixture of modernity, classicism, and a sublime, almost Chris- 
 tianized, heathenism. The home of the Asa-gods and their 
 high-sounding deliberations would do honor to any divinities. 
 They are idealized; they move on a high, etherial plane, and 
 are either stripped entirely of all intrinsic crudeness, or their 
 crudeness is artistically concealed. The human and objective 
 gods are made more subjective, divine, and majestic, and 
 Gefion ascends to heaven much as Christ did. The classical 
 hexameter lends a certain questionable dignity to the poem, but 
 there is hardly enough of it in this case to make it monotonous. 
 There are many references to local political conditions ; in fact, 
 " Gefion " is a vehicle for the glorification of the royal house 
 and the ancestry of the authoress. 1 Furthermore, it is a vehicle 
 for the exposition of Northern nature. Though the narrative 
 itself is necessarily brief and concentrated, the descriptions, 
 whether of nature or of characters, are comprehensive and 
 highly colored. Fru d'Albedyhll has a well-developed sense of 
 the picturesque. The Scandinavian flora, fish, fowl, minerals, 
 and climate receive constant attention with a goodly coloring 
 of azure, purple, silver, and gold. If we add to the above that 
 the epic has a prophetic and a didactic element, and shows in- 
 fluence of the spirit of Rousseau and Montesquieu, we obtain 
 some idea of the poetic conglomerate " Gefion." 
 
 The comparatively new idea that the history of a people must 
 be studied in the light of its geographical environment is strik- 
 
 i Cf. above, p. 63, for Hammarskj old's criticism of " Gefion." 
 
91 
 
 ingly illustrated in the fourth canto, 11. 60-65. Here the au- 
 thoress touches briefly upon the topography and boundaries of 
 the Scandinavian countries and indicates clearly their effect 
 upon the character and political condition of the people. Den- 
 mark, for instance, is a level, fertile land ; hence its inhabitants 
 prefer " peaceful trades " and safety. But " the mountains of 
 Norway and Sweden, on the other hand, have for a long time 
 produced vikings. The temperament of a people is like that 
 of the lands : one is protected by forests ; the Baltic Sea (Erida- 
 nus) itself makes secure the freedom of the other." 
 
 Charlotta d'AlbedymTs conception of the viking age is char- 
 acteristically Gothic. She implies that the modern era is cor- 
 rupt by stating that the mythological age was incorrupt. It 
 is the same Rousseauish spirit that permeated the minds of all 
 the genuine Goths. The viking, to the authoress, was a god- 
 fearing, reliable citizen, whose faith, though pagan, had not 
 been shattered by rationalism. The present era is a " soulless 
 clockwork," wisdom has vanished, and nature is dead. The 
 sentiments of the poetess are lucidly expressed in the first canto 
 (11. 155-61). She is describing some results of the delibera- 
 tions of the gods and this gives her occasion for a brief 
 reflection : 
 
 Sa rattvisan ar stor och vordad i gudarnes samfund: 
 
 Sa holl Gothen sitt ord i de oforderfvade tider, 
 
 Da Allfader annu han trodde, och skydde ett Narstrond; 
 
 Innan klyftiga vislingar, med nymodiga pafund, 
 
 Bortforklarat det herrliga Allt till ett Intet, ett sjallost 
 
 Urverk, dodat naturens lif, och visheten biltog 
 
 Flytt fran en jord, der laga begar med dess namn sig besmycka. 1 
 
 We have stated that "Gefion" was allegorical. The three 
 sons of the heavenly messenger Gefion represent the three 
 Scandinavian countries. If we carry this symbolism a step 
 
 i Thus justice is revered in the society of the gods : thus the Goth kept 
 his word in those incorrupt times when he still believed in Allfather and 
 feared Narstrond (flood of sulphur in Muspelheim) ; before shrewd wise- 
 lings, with new-fashioned fancies, explaining away the glorious All to a 
 Nothing, to a soulless clockwork, killed the life of Nature, and caused 
 wisdom to be exiled from an earth where low desires adorn themselves with 
 its name. 
 
92 
 
 further, we detect beneath the surface of the mythological 
 fabric the didactic and the prophetic element, and both are often 
 closely intertwined. The didactic element consists now of gen- 
 eral truths, as the authoress sees them, and now of special 
 teachings, applicable to conditions in Scandinavia. For in- 
 stance, Gefion says in the first canto (11. 199-200) : 
 
 "Obedience is the duty of woman on earth, in Asa-home also; 
 the mildness of meekness is power, and patience the strength of 
 weakness." 
 
 Now take a specific application. From the strictly Swedish 
 viewpoint, the teaching of patriotism in "Gefion" appears to 
 be cosmopolitan, paradoxical as that may seem. The poetess 
 prefers to look at the whole North as a unity. It is not a 
 narrow-minded patriotism for Sweden alone which is -discern- 
 ible through these hexameters ; it is a broad-minded sympathy 
 for all the Scandinavian countries. " Gefion " breathes an 
 ardent hope for prosperity in Norway and Denmark as well as 
 in Sweden, and its fundamental tone is a plea for love, unity, 
 and peace throughout the North. Gefion was sent down to 
 earth to bring " abundance, comfort, and industry " to the whole 
 North. " May my song," says the poetess (canto I, 11. 11-12), 
 "please the three-fold North, when I proclaim the three- fold 
 power of Gefion in the poem." It is tolerably certain that the 
 authoress has some form of a political union of the Scandi- 
 navian countries in mind, when she speaks in canto 4 of the 
 three crowns in the coat-of-arms upon the " Northern shield." 
 The prophetic element in "Gefion" may be said to have three 
 parts : pure invention for the glorification of the Swedish nobility, 
 the foretelling of events which the poetess already at the time 
 of writing knew to be historical facts, and the hopeful pene- 
 tration into the future, i. e., after 1814. To illustrate the last 
 two : iron is to become the treasure of the North, but the North 
 does not realize its inestimable value; a prophecy, the fulfil- 
 ment of which, during the last century, has proved of far 
 greater consequence than the authoress could ever have imag- 
 ined. But mark the didacticism again. This iron, " presented 
 by Frigga to that righteous people who lived in woods and 
 
93 
 
 upon the mountains," may not be discolored by human blood, 
 lest rust corrode it. Well did Charlotta d'Albedyhll know that 
 during the last centuries Scandinavian iron had often been 
 stained by human blood. But, on the other hand, if we look 
 ahead with the poetess upon the nineteenth century we see with 
 satisfaction that her wish has been realized ; for there has been 
 no war in Sweden since " Gefion " was published, now just a 
 century ago. We may well say that the original mission of 
 Gefion, as described by Charlotta d'Albedyhll in 11. 191-96 of 
 the first canto, has been satisfactorily fulfilled: 
 
 "Thules frusnade jord skall plojas af idoga hander, 
 Fruktbara fait fran hojderna ses och mognade skordar: 
 Jernet, Nordens klenod, ej alltid skall fargas af blodet, 
 Rosten i faran det skall afslipa, och glansa likt silfver; 
 Norden skall vaxa i makt, och trenne kroner den pryda : 
 Detta blifver ditt verk, o Gefion vanast bland dottrar! " x 
 
 A word more about the descriptive coloring, and the fre- 
 quency with which it occurs. At times the descriptive words 
 have an almost Romantic tinge. In the very first canto (1. 36) 
 Freya flees to her team from her "rosy bed" (rosenbadd), 
 even Frigga's sandals are gold (1. 56), her voice rings out like 
 a "silver-tone" (silfverton, 1. 65), and Gefion disappears like 
 a "cloud of purple" (purpursky, 1. 216). In the following 
 canto the sky is a "beaming purple" (stralande purpur, 1. 74), 
 and the children of Gefion cling to their mother's skirt " with 
 rounded hands of a lily-color" (rundade hander af liljfarg, 
 1. 178). Again, in the third canto, the horizon is "striped 
 with gold, azure and purple" (1. 50), the sons of Gefion are 
 here "gold-beaming alike" (gullglansande lika, 1. 72), Gefion 
 sweetens the brew for Gylfe with " honey- fragrant flowers " 
 (honungsdoftande blommor, 1. 126), and then the half in- 
 toxicated king looks upon the "blue-eyed goddess with a 
 delirious yearning" (yrande tranad, 1. 132). Forsete's palace 
 
 1 The frozen earth of Thule (the North) shall be plowed by industrious 
 hands. Fertile fields and ripe harvests are seen from the heights. Iron, 
 the treasure of the North, shall not always be stained by blood; it shall 
 scour off the rust in the furrow and it shall shine like silver. The North 
 shall grow in power, and three crowns adorn it. Let this be your mission, 
 Oh, Gefion, fairest of daughters ! 
 
94 
 
 in the last canto is, of course, gold and silver. Gefion's 
 brother Skjold has a purple cloak (1. 23), from the shoulders 
 of Gefion's children there appear " gold-gleaming wings " 
 (gullskimrande vingar, 1. 136), upon the sky there flashes up 
 a northern light, "blushing as the rose" (rosenrodnande, 1. 
 171), and, finally (1. 187), we find a "silver-winged" (silfver- 
 vingad) shield. As an example of a rich coloring with a Fos- 
 foristic phraseology, the following description of Freya is 
 worth quoting: 
 
 Freya, bekransad och skon, fran sin slanda leende uppstod: 
 Bar i hvar hand en svallande ros ; en hvit i den hogra, 
 Och in den vensta en rod; pa brostet glimmade Brising, 
 Hojande halsens blandande sno och rundningens svanglans; 
 Kring gullsnorade fotterna latt flog luftiga dragten. 1 
 
 The beautiful and detailed descriptions of Norse nature in 
 " Gefion " constitute a very significant part of the epic. How 
 true and realistic these are, and how disproportionately long in 
 comparison with the total length of the poem, is seen in the 
 following characteristic selection. It is a picture of the icy 
 Dofre mountain in Norway, with its fowl and flora, and is 
 inserted at the beginning of the second canto (II, 19-36) : 
 
 Dofres valdiga fjall, betackt af sno och kristaller, 
 Hvilka till massor hojts af vinterns langsamma stranghet, 
 Borjade smaningom re'n beskinas af varmande stralar. 
 Val, i gestalt af ett vattenfall, som i forssandet stelnat, 
 Haftades isen annu, bergfast, vid den hotande klippan; 
 Men for solens eldiga blick gaf vika hans hardhet. 
 Droppvis got han sig ned, forvandlad och tinad, till f jallets 
 Vidt omgransande fot, i djupet, och okade backen, 
 Som med moda sokte sig vag bland barren och skraf-is, 
 Senaste hostens gulnade lof och splittrade grenar. 
 Gran ens spetsiga topp skot fram sma fjallade forskott, 
 Bjorkens hangande ris betyngdes af knoppar med brunrod 
 
 i Freya, crowned with a wreath and beautiful, arose from her distaff ; 
 carried in each hand a swelling rose ; a white one in the right, and a red 
 one in the left; upon her breast glimmered Brising (her neck-lace), height- 
 ening (the beauty of) the blinding snow of her neck and the swan-splendor 
 of her bosom ; around gold-laced feet flew lightly the airy garb. Canto I, 
 11. 81-84. 
 
95 
 
 Farg, och fornadens nedarsta del man skadade gronska, 
 Da dess yttersta spets hoprullad hangde och torkad. 
 Af och an for gladan, och stracker sin flackiga vinge, 
 Orren spelande yfs och tjadern slar tungt ner pa granen, 
 Breder en ornlik vinge sa stolt, och hackar med nabben, 
 Ruskar hufvedet se'n, och slar flerfaldiga flocken. 1 
 
 In so far as "Gefion" preserves the original saga material 
 we may call it Romantic. Then, too, the love for brilliant col- 
 oring and an occasional turn of phrase reveals a certain sensi- 
 tiveness to the new literary disturbances. But beyond this 
 "Gefion" must be characterized, like "Jorund," as primarily 
 non-Romantic. The choice of meter, the elevated tone, and 
 the prevailing objectivity stamp the poem as a rationalistic 
 product. The naive charm of the primitive saga is suppressed 
 entirely. The goddess, who is so human in the original myth, 
 becomes enraged in a very rational way when Gylfe tries to 
 embrace her, and, in revenge, she takes the piece of land by 
 violence instead of being presented with it as a token of love 
 and admiration. In other words, the motivation of the main 
 action has become extremely selfish. It is motivated by a shal- 
 low, impulsive anger the justification of which is at least very 
 doubtful 2 instead of by kindness and the unselfish desire of 
 reward. 
 
 1 The huge mountains of Dofre, covered with snow and crystals, which 
 had been increased to masses by the persistent severity of the winter, 
 began already, to be illumined gradually by warming sun-beams. To be 
 sure, the ice, in the form of a waterfall which had solidified in the run- 
 ning, still clung tenaciously to the threatening cliff ; but its hardness gave 
 way to the fiery glance of the sun. Transformed and melted, it trickled 
 down into the depths, drop by drop, to the far-extending foot (of the 
 mountain), and swelled the brook which made its way with difficulty 
 through the pine-needles and brittle ice, through the yellow leaves and 
 splintered branches of the last autumn. The pointed top of the spruce 
 pushed out scaly shoots, the hanging foliage of the white birch was made 
 heavy by buds of a brownish-red color, and the lowest part of the twig 
 began to show green, while its extreme point hung like a scroll and with- 
 ered. The kite flies back and forth, and stretches its mottled wing; the 
 black cock, playing, spreads his plumage ; and the wood-grouse beats 
 heavily down upon the spruce, spreads an eagle-like wing so proudly, pecks 
 with his beak, shakes his head afterwards, and gives his characteristic, 
 varied call. 
 
 2 Tegner doubted very much whether a human goddess would be so ter- 
 ribly offended at the king's intended caresses. The principal moment of 
 
96 
 
 The authoress submitted her epic to Tegner for criticism and 
 his views are contained in a letter to her, dated July 15, I8I3. 1 
 Tegner omits purposely "what is beautiful in the poem" and 
 devotes his attention to what he considers "less successful." 
 He doubts the suitability of the hexameter for a Gothic theme ; 2 
 the hexameter should be limited to translations from, and imi- 
 tations of, the antique, such as Voss' "Luise" and Goethe's 
 "Hermann und Dorothea." The hexameter is, after all, out 
 of harmony with Old Norse content ; it is, in this case, a " Ro- 
 man tunic on a Northern goddess." For the Gothic languages 
 the sagas and older German poems, for example, the "Lied 
 der Nibelungen," furnish suitable verse-forms. The critic has 
 another objection. For Gefion to give instruction in the art of 
 brewing (canto 3) is unnecessary and out of place, he believes; 
 it is out of harmony with the tone of the rest of the poem. 
 The plan of the whole, also, lacks that well-rounded develop- 
 ment and completeness which is a paramount merit. For in- 
 stance, it is unnatural to think that any barbarian like Thuler 
 should be ignorant of the use of fire. Again, nothing new 
 takes place on Seeland, for Gefion really teaches agriculture in 
 both Sweden and Denmark. Tegner proposes the following 
 plan: the exposition of the gradual development of the State 
 in the North out of a condition of barbarism. This would in- 
 volve three important stages: the age of hunting and fishing, 
 the age of stock-raising, and the age of agriculture. The 
 scenes of these three stages could be laid in Norway, Sweden, 
 and Denmark, respectively, and be depicted in three separate 
 songs, much as the poetess had already done. The myth about 
 the oxen would then be appropriate in the second canto. All 
 this might not be absolutely correct, historically, but that would 
 make little difference from a poetic viewpoint. 
 
 action thereby receives " an aspect of accidentally and chance," says 
 Tegner, " which can hardly be reconciled with the general laws of art. 
 Because it seems to follow, that, if Gylfe had had a colder temperament 
 and had been less intoxicated, Seeland would have been lying in Uppland 
 (in Sweden) to this day." See letter to E. C. d'Abedyhll of July 5, 1813. 
 In "Skrifter" Jubelfestupplaga, V, pp. 91-92. For whole letter see pp. 88-93. 
 
 1 See preceding note. 
 
 2 In " Gefion " the hexameter was not always perfect either and needed 
 a thorough revision. Even in their final form some lines are difficult to read. 
 
97 
 
 What effect these suggestions had upon the mind of the 
 authoress we cannot tell. But the fact is that the epic ap- 
 peared in its original form, with some verses revised, perhaps, 
 and the plan remained unaltered. And so we must accept the 
 epic as it stands, and for what it is worth. It is an interesting 
 bit of readable poetic experimentation, with Old Norse content 
 and classical form. Most of the hexameters are good, nothing 
 is felt as commonplace, many passages are really beautiful, and 
 the time of composition and publication gives the poem a cer- 
 tain historical value. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 THE THEORETICAL PROBLEM OF INTRODUCING NORSE MYTHOL- / 
 OGY INTO SWEDISH ART AND POETRY 
 
 " Der griechieschen Mythologie steht, wenigstens in romantischer 
 Erhabenheit weit naher als die indische, die nordische, ein Reich 
 voll Eispallaste, Eisseen, Eisberge; ihr Menschengeschlecht ein 
 Eichenwald im Sturm." 
 
 Jean Paul Friedrich Richter : Review of Fouque's 
 " Sigurd der Schlangentodter." 
 
 What would have happened if " Frithiof's Saga " had ap- 
 peared at the beginning of the Romantic period in Sweden 
 instead of toward the end? Would it have deflected all the 
 new tendencies into the national channel and destroyed the 
 symbolic, philosophical movement? Would it have silenced 
 neutral skepticism and conservative opposition to the anti- 
 French system of literary expression? Nobody can tell with 
 any degree of precision, but it is tolerably certain that, if a 
 poet of Tegner's caliber had treated some phase of Norse my- 
 thology at an earlier date, the objections to its use in art and 
 poetry would have been much reduced, if not entirely elimi- 
 nated. As it was, no one had been able to prove, in a practical, 
 convincing way, that the indigenous sagas and myths had any 
 real artistic value, and the mere fact that they were indigenous 
 was not sufficient. The prej udice against anything new, whether 
 national or not, was shamelessly strong and the burden of 
 proof, naturally, lay with the reformers. Atterbom in his 
 " Skaldarmal " could not expect any revolutionary success ; as 
 we have seen, it was a commendable and important poem, his- 
 torically, but it was no phenomenal masterpiece and the author 
 had already fallen into disrepute by his Fosforistic obscur- 
 antism and had a marked prejudice against him. His direct 
 Norse influence on the Old School, therefore, could not be very 
 effective. Geijer, whose national poems (on the viking, the 
 
 98 
 
99 
 
 primitive farmer, the last warrior, and the last skald) had ap- 
 peared in the first number of Iduna, was eulogized by Fos- 
 forists, neutrals, and conservatives alike, but he never employed 
 Scandinavian myths, per se, at all, as a basis for his poetry. 
 Geijer was too objective and had too keen an historical sense, 
 it seems, to venture very far into an unexplored mythological 
 field. Ling was the only man who took up the subject com- 
 prehensively, but he went to the other extreme, so that even the 
 Goth Geijer became alarmed, and the beginning of Ling's gi- 
 gantic epic, "The Asas" (Asarne), of which eight songs 
 appeared in 1816, left the question of ultimate success a matter 
 of conjecture. 
 
 It may, then, not seem so strange that, during the second 
 decade especially, there continued to prevail a certain luke- 
 warmness or skepticism about the adaptability of Norse my- 
 thology to poetic themes, even among some members of the 
 New School. Natural disasters, such as the loss of Finland, 
 were equally unable to create a general, unalloyed faith in 
 national myths, and the problem of their suitableness for the 
 plastic arts was a still more serious matter. The main results 
 of this agitation were a series of lectures on Norse mythology 
 and art by Ling, a treatise on the adaptability of the new myths 
 to plastic art by Geijer, a parody and a satire on the Gothic 
 tendencies in art by the disciples of the Old School, and some 
 light, inoffensive satire by Vitalis. 
 
 Sweden was not the only country to sound, by theoretical 
 means, the practicability of introducing Norse divinities into 
 art. Both Germany and Denmark preceded Sweden in this 
 respect. But wherever the problem is agitated the method of 
 approach is the same, namely to compare the new mythology 
 with other poetic systems, using Greek mythology as a standard. 
 
 Herder adopts this method and in his " Iduna, oder der Apfel 
 der Verjiingung," he expresses in dialog form his own views 
 on the subject. Norse mythology may not be adopted in art 
 or poetry at the expense of the Greek, which is the most refined 
 in the world, and, moreover, plastic art and a philosophy of 
 art never thrived (war nie zu Hause) under a Northern sky. 1 
 
 i Sammtliche Werke (Suphan edition), Vol. 18, p. 501. All references 
 are to this edition. 
 
100 
 
 That all the Germans were not of the same opinion, however, 
 is seen in Herder's second treatise on Norse mythology, "Zu- 
 tritt der nordischen Mythologie zur neueren Dichtkunst." 
 After speaking of the work of Klopstock and Gerstenberg on 
 Northern themes, he adds : " Soon there arose a party who not 
 only placed this (Norse) mythology above the Greek, but in 
 comparison with the former almost ridiculed the latter." 1 In 
 1807 Grater publicly suggested the employment of Norse myths 
 in art, but the continental wars temporarily frustrated his 
 plans. His letters on the subject, however, appeared in Danish 
 translation in Copenhagen in i82i. 2 From 1812-1816, in 
 Idunna und Hermode, Grater proposed to furnish a series of 
 copper engravings on characters and scenes in Norse mythology 
 to serve as a guide for students in plastic art. 3 Grater received 
 much encouragement in his proposals from other German and 
 Danish authors. 
 
 In Denmark the a priori reasoning for and against the recog- 
 nition of the Norse myths in art or poetry was unusually vio- 
 lent and raged for several years. There were two factions: 
 one pleaded sensibly for an appropriate use of the national 
 myth, and the other sought to disqualify it entirely. There 
 was no attempt on the part of the radicals, however, as far as 
 I know, to discredit the Greek mythology by ridicule, as Herder 
 tells us was the case in Germany, or as Romanticists were 
 forced to do in Sweden. The history of this controversy is 
 well known, especially in Scandinavia, and I need only refer 
 here to an important aspect and conclusion for the sake of its 
 bearing on the controversy in Sweden. 
 
 In 1800 the University of Copenhagen submitted the follow- 
 ing questions for consideration. " Would it be beneficial for 
 the polite literature of the North if the ancient Northern my- 
 thology were introduced and accepted in place of the Greek? "* 
 Three young enthusiasts responded by written treatises, Oehlen- 
 schlager, J. M oiler, and L. L. Platou, all of whom later became 
 
 iWerke: 24, p. 312. Cf. above, Chap. I, p. 15. 
 
 2 Cf. Hjarne : Gotiska forbundet, p. 69. 
 
 3 Cf . Blanck: Den nordiska renassansen, p. 182. 
 
 4 Cf. Arentzen: Baggesen og Oehlenschlager, I, p. i97ff. 
 
101 
 
 professors. Oehlenschlager, whose paper received an accessit 
 from the university, found a wealth of epic material in the 
 Norse myths and believed that the older the period from which 
 the poet took his material the better it was for him. 1 The North- 
 ern myths were neither unfruitful (fattig) nor coarse (raa) 
 and all the competitors agreed that Scandinavian mythology 
 might well be introduced into art, though not at the expense of 
 the Greek or Roman. 2 This view is substantially the same, 
 then, as that of Herder. In the interim, the battle in Denmark 
 was constantly growing in intensity. In 1812 Moller published 
 an article on the adaptability of the Norse myth to the fine arts. 
 As an extreme type of the conservatives we may mention the 
 Danish professor Thorkel Baden. Baden believed, as did the 
 German Schlozer, 3 that the Edda was nothing but an invention 
 of Christian monks and not a collection of original, ancient 
 poetry. 4 Professor Baden doubted whether the Norse myths 
 had ever been a living belief of a people or that they could be 
 employed successfully in art. 
 
 Just as the Romanticists in Sweden sought to establish an 
 independent, national poetry, they (and more especially the 
 " Goths ") sought also to pave the way for an original, national 
 school of art, based on Norse mythology. It was a determined 
 assault upon the old ramparts, even in this case, with no respect 
 for la w or authority. But to the ultra-conservatives, who stripped 
 the characters of the new myths of all human traits and ignored 
 their position in the more historical saga, the resuscitated divin- 
 ities became formless monsters. And then the exposed gods 
 were submitted, from the beginning, to the same searching test 
 as in other countries, that is, to a comparison with the idealized 
 classical divinities. The fact that the new gods were Norse, 
 as I have just said, was of little consequence to the skeptical 
 mind ; patriotism did not serve to render a lenient verdict and 
 the old academic school of art insisted upon an exclusively 
 classical raison d'etre. 
 
 1 Cf. ibid., p. 199. 
 
 2 Cf. Hjarne : Gotiska forbundet, p. 69. 
 
 3 Presumably August Ludwig v. Schlozer (1735-1809). He published 
 "Allgemeine nordische Geschichte," Halle, 1772, sBde. 
 
 *Cf. Hjarne: as above, p. 63. Ling replies to this contention in his 
 " Sinnebildslara." 
 
 8 
 
102 
 
 As early as 1798 A. E. Afzelius expressed the conviction that 
 Norse mythology was better suited for Swedish customs than 
 the myths of Greece and Rome. 1 But in 1811 the Academic 
 organ, Journal for Litteraturen och Theaiern, edited by Wall- 
 mark, takes a different stand. In a review of the first number 
 of Iduna, 2 the reviewer laments, indeed, the frigid attitude 
 toward " our ancient monuments and history," and on the 
 whole, gives a favorable criticism of the new periodical, but 
 reveals a slight preference for classical mythology. The Norse 
 myths deserve to be known and used both from an historical 
 and esthetic standpoint, but they cannot replace the Greek or 
 Roman. 3 We have, then, from the first, as in Denmark and 
 Germany, two opposite tendencies, although, as we shall see, 
 no important Swedish critic of art existed, whether Goth, neu- 
 tral, or Academician, who ever expected or intended actually to 
 replace the Greek system. 
 
 From 1799 to 1804 Per Henrik Ling studied in Copenhagen. 
 He attended the private gymnastic institute of Franz Nachti- 
 gall, plunged into grammars and dictionaries at the Royal Li- 
 brary, and became acquainted with the works of Ewald, Bag- 
 gesen, and the young Oehlenschlager. He learned to know the 
 ancient Northern literature and culture, which began at once 
 to have a tremendous effect on the future epic poet and teacher 
 of gymnastics. From 1802 to 1804 Ling attended the lectures of 
 Henrik Steffens, who sought to interpret the deep meaning of 
 the golden, mythological age; an age when the universe itself 
 was looked upon as a spiritual organism, " when sacred sagas 
 interpreted the future history of the earth, and profound sym- 
 bols (myths) reflected the metamorphoses of nature." 4 It was 
 an age of harmony, plastic art, and epic poetry. Ling returned 
 to Sweden in 1804, became teacher of fencing at Lund the fol- 
 lowing spring, and soon after that began to formulate plans for 
 a wholesale introduction of Norse mythology and saga into 
 Swedish poetry and art. 
 
 1 See above : Introduction, p. 24. Cf . also Blanck : Den nordiska rennas- 
 sansen, p. 299. 
 
 2 Numbers 195-98. 
 
 3 No. 198. 
 
 *Cf. Westerblad: P. H. Ling, p. 17. Contents from Steffens: Inled- 
 ning til philosophiske forelaesninger. Kjob., 1803. 
 
103 
 
 From a letter by Carl Adolf Agardh to Hammarskjold, dated 
 August 6, iSio, 1 we learn that the latter was engaged in writing 
 a sort of history of Swedish art for Ling's benefit. Evidently 
 Ling had already in mind something like his future lectures on 
 the use of Scandinavian mythology in art, and desired to obtain 
 a characterization of the most important Swedish artists up to 
 that time. Ling asked Agardh to thank Hammarskjold "a 
 thousand fold " and to write him not to trouble himself about 
 the less important geniuses. In the spring of 1814, however, 
 Hammarskjold himself made public use of his material and 
 delivered fifteen lectures in Stockholm upon the history of art. 
 They were repeated in the spring of the following year. They 
 have no particular significance for us, for most of the lectures 
 dealt with foreign artists, 2 and only the last lecture was devoted 
 to Swedish art. Yet Hammarskjold should be remembered as 
 a pioneer in this field, and as a Fosforist unknowingly helping 
 a Goth of the most extreme type to prepare the way for new 
 motifs and a national art. Hammarskj old's lectures were pub- 
 lished later and reviewed in Svensk Litter atur-Tidning, i8i8. 3 
 
 No one was more ardent to introduce the new mythology than 
 Ling, and from 1814 to 1817 he delivered in Stockholm, under 
 the auspices of the newly organized " Society for the Study of 
 Art," his meritorious lectures on the " Employment of Norse 
 Myths in Fine Art." 4 Ling had already tested, or was testing, 
 the new saga element both in epic and dramatic form; 5 he 
 looked to Norse paganism for his ideal ; the power, the depth, 
 
 1 Frunck: Bref rorande den nya skolans historia, II, p. 116. 
 
 2 Oriental, Greek, Roman, Italian, Flemish, German, Spanish, English, 
 and Danish. 
 
 3 " De bildande konsternas historia," reviewed in numbers 8, 9, 12 and 
 13. Hammarskjold is criticized here for haste and serious mistakes. Judg- 
 ing from the above mentioned letter by Agardh to Hammarskjold, we must 
 conclude that Hammarskjold attempted to cover the field too minutely, 
 found the task more difficult than he expected for the time he had at his 
 disposal, and so failed to grasp all the fundamentals. 
 
 * The lectures were first given in a hall at the Institute of Gymnastics 
 and then, in 1816, in the so-called " lilla Beursalen." Cf. Westerblad : 
 Ling, p. 81, and note 3. 
 
 s The first draft of the epic " Gylf e " appeared in 1810, the tragedy 
 "Agne" in 1812, the historical tragedy " Eylif den Gothiske," of early 
 conception, 1814. 
 
104 
 
 and the grandeur of the native mythology appealed to him 
 with an irresistible force. In patriotic spirit and love for 
 Swedish antiquity he was a Rudbeckian; in practice, a reli- 
 giously devout student of all Norse mythology. The science 
 of gymnastics gave him an insight into the harmony of the 
 human body, and he now yearned to see his ideal type personi- 
 fied in art in terms of Odin, Thor, or Frigga. J. Adlerbeth 
 writes to Tegner from Stockholm, the nth of April, 1815 i 1 
 " From the end of January to Easter, Ling lectured here on 
 Norse mythology to a very large audience," and Adlerbeth, 
 who attended the lectures, characterizes them as being of 
 "really great merit." 
 
 A complete record of Ling's original lectures has never been 
 found, but a good general idea of their contents and value may 
 be obtained from Ling's " Symbolism of the Eddas" (Ed- 
 dornas sinnebildslara) published in iSig. 2 According to Ling 
 himself 3 this work was to consist, ultimately, of four parts 
 and the last was to contain a mythological dictionary and a sup- 
 plement for the guidance of painters and sculptors. Only the 
 first part ever appeared complete in print, however, and only 
 detached parts of the supplement (Bihang) for artists. But 
 the introduction to the first part and what remains of the sup- 
 plement are sufficient for our purpose. 
 
 Ling uses the comparative method like Herder and Oehlen- 
 schlager. With some historical sense he shows how the geo- 
 graphical location and climate turned the Old Norse method of 
 artistic expression into lyric form rather than into painting or 
 sculpture, as was possible in Greece. Ling does not expect, 
 any more than his predecessors, that the Northern myths will 
 expel the Southern ; 4 but they were from the beginning incor- 
 
 1 Esaias Tegners papper, p. 68. , 
 
 2 Ling's theoretical views on Norse myths are scattered all through his 
 works and often specifically stated in his elaborate notes to his Asa-epic. 
 From these the contents of his lectures can easily be synthesized. We 
 possess a few of Adlerbeth's notes on Ling's lectures, but, apparently, they 
 cover only a period of about a week, from the thirteenth to the twenty- 
 second of November, 1816. Cf. Westerblad : Ling, p. 83, and note z. The 
 " Sinnebildslara " is favorably reviewed in Svensk Litteratur-Tidning for 
 1820, Nos. 35-36. 
 
 3 See Samlade arbeten, II, pp. 332-33. References are to this work. 
 * Ibid., p. 330. 
 
105 
 
 porated with the skaldic tongue of his forefathers and should 
 therefore be revived. Both Greek and Norse myths contain 
 poetic creations which it would be difficult to represent faith- 
 fully in plastic art. 1 The Odyssey and the Aeneid, as well as 
 the sagas, contain monsters. Giants with dragons' tails, centaurs, 
 satyrs, or Cyclopes are as little adapted for the chisel as " our 
 formless trolls." Our Norse ancestors never offended the law 
 of beauty but no artist sought to perfect it. 2 The Greek has 
 a larger number of "beautiful symbols" from social life and 
 sensual pleasure, but the Norse far outstrips the former in 
 the number of those with moral and religious attributes. 3 The 
 Norse myth is serious, gloomy, and mysterious; that of the 
 Greek mild and charming.* 
 
 Ling's " Edda-Symbolism," as the name implies, bears an un- 
 mistakable Romantic stamp. He revels in the Norse myths 
 like a child in a fairy-story. To grasp their full meaning one 
 must reflect upon these myths with the fervency of a child. 5 
 The language and spirit throughout is that of a Sturmer-und- 
 Dranger who is determined to make his point. Flashes of 
 genius, forceful expressions, and a wonderful acuteness in his 
 arguments, give his plea a logical and convincing character. In 
 many respects his method and patriotism remind one of Hein- 
 rich von Kleist. Kleist had no sympathy for the Rheinbund, 
 whose members he considered traitors to the fatherland ; simi- 
 larly, the Asa-bard becomes almost fanatic in his assertions 
 about his countrymen's indifference to national material. That 
 citizen who is " cold to native traditions and doubts the possi- 
 bility of restoring his country's honor, is already in danger of 
 becoming a traitor to his fatherland." 6 " The cosmopolitan is 
 the most lukewarm and weakest of all beings." 7 It aught to be 
 the duty of every mother not to make her offspring an " ape," 
 that is an imitator of foreigners. 8 The Norse myths are the 
 beginning of Scandinavian history and the great personalities 
 in its sagas represent the "Urbild" of the nation's power. 
 
 IP. 325. s P. 331. 
 
 2 P. 325. 6 P. 330. 
 
 3 P. 327. 7 P. 329. 
 
 4 P. 322. 8 P. 330. 
 
106 
 
 More than that, the Norse myths contain the very fundamental 
 germs (grundfron) of a revealed religion and every one of its 
 "pagan thinkers" felt (anade) the "eternal truths of Revela- 
 tion." 1 Symbols and Ling means those in the Edda especially 
 are the real language of religion, and the myths represent our 
 ancestors' crude investigations in religion and philosophy. The 
 Romantic art of poetry is a true, inherent element of the 
 Norse myths. The Scandinavian gods and goddesses are 
 nature-symbols 2 observe the influence of the Romantic nature- 
 philosophy in no wise antagonistic to Christianity, and may 
 therefore be employed with propriety by artists of Christian 
 faith. Rousseauism also plays a part in Ling's interpreta- 
 tion of the Edda-myths. The myths of a people become 
 "broadened, or more correctly speaking corrupted, the more 
 the number of its poets and the political power of the people 
 increase; for then this religious, philosophical art of poetry 
 assumes a more historical character, and actual events expel, 
 to a large degree, the meaning of the symbols which its thinkers 
 and skalds have introduced." 3 
 
 The fragmentary supplement for artists, as printed, contains 
 but 34 pages, 4 including four on Old Norse dress and armor. 
 It is a careful compilation of the mental and physical character- 
 istics of the various Scandinavian divinities, with their impor- 
 tant attributes, all based on the Edda. Naturally much atten- 
 tion is paid to facial expression as a mirror of character, dig- 
 nity, and office. Many of Ling's suggestions are to be taken 
 merely as suggestions; originality is of paramount significance 
 in art and the details of the execution, therefore, are left to the 
 discretion of the artist. 5 As much as possible the artist should 
 avoid all direct imitation of the Southerners, 6 yet Ling himself 
 borrows suggestions from Greek masters. 7 He recognizes that 
 
 !P. 331. 3 Pp. 324-25. 
 
 2 P. 326. 4 Pp. 441-74, inclusive. 
 
 s Cf. p. 457, suggestions relating to the goddess Sif. Also p. 450, relat- 
 ing to Brage, and p. 459, to Freja. 
 
 e P. 458. 
 
 7 Cf. p. 457, where Ling suggests a definite style of hair for each of the 
 goddesses, "as the former Greek masters had adopted for the Greek 
 divinities." 
 
107 
 
 the problems confronting the painter and the sculptor are dif- 
 ferent; a fish-net as an attribute of Ran can easily be repre- 
 sented by the former but hardly by the latter. 1 Ling admits 
 than an eight-legged horse like Odin's Sleipner can " scarcely " 
 be represented as standing by the side of Hermod. 2 It must be 
 admitted that Ling shows a decided preference for Norse my- 
 thology, even if he never intended to drive out other poetic sys- 
 tems. 3 Our Scandinavian ancestors, according to Ling, had a 
 " positive " and " pure " feeling for the beautiful. Not in one 
 single instance (i. e. as evidenced in the sources) did they for- 
 get the laws of beauty. " Their divinities are all represented 
 according to the most perfect form, i. e., the human form; they 
 have never, like the Egyptians, Hindus, Chinese, or even the 
 Greeks in the beginning, represented their gods in the shape of 
 multiplex beasts, with manifold arms, heads, eyes, etc.; and 
 they have never even permitted themselves to represent the god 
 of evil, Loke, in any more horrible manner than the other gods 
 or goddesses." 4 Only that which belonged exclusively to the 
 lower world, such as the children of Loke, was represented as 
 horrible, and its giants and trolls were made monstrous, because 
 they belonged to " formless nature." The highest god or All- 
 father was never conceived by " our ancestors " in sensual form 
 and, therefore, " cannot be represented by the artist in connec- 
 tion with the Eddaic nature-divinities. 5 
 
 A couple of concrete examples from the supplement will 
 illustrate Ling's suggestions for painters and sculptors. Brage, 
 the god of mead and poetry, should be a " middle-aged man with 
 long beard ; for he is called ' the long-beard.' " " His face 
 should express wisdom and feeling, but not bravery or courage. 
 Let his mouth be ready to speak." He possessed a horse and a 
 sword, but it is desirable that his sword (the symbol of satire) 
 
 ip. 461. 
 
 P.4S*. 
 
 3 Lydia Wahlstrom in " Den svenska odlingens storman," V, p. 80, calls 
 Ling's preference for Norse myths "tremendous" (ofantlig), and bases 
 her claim on Ling's comparative estimates of the Greek and Norse myths, 
 as viewed from an ethical and religious standpoint. 
 
 4 Ling : Samlade arbeten, II, pp. 443-44. 
 s Cf. p. 446. 
 
108 
 
 be placed at his feet. In one hand he should hold the Brage- 
 cup and rest the other on his harp, " which should be larger 
 than the one given Apollo, and not constructed in the same way." 
 " From the sagas we know that these instruments were so large 
 that even children could be concealed in them." This form, 
 too, could hardly be suitable for Brage and the artist himself 
 should select a suitable one. Brage should be draped, but with- 
 out a helmet. 1 " Nanna, the wife of Balder, ought to be rep- 
 resented as clothed. The left breast ought to be more exposed 
 perhaps, and maybe her hand placed over it, provided this does 
 not give her a super-theatrical aspect. The myth says: 'her 
 heart broke/ I presume that the artist ought to direct his at- 
 tention to her as the goddess of tender affection (Omhetens 
 gudinna). Her face should be young, beautiful, but suffering; 
 and her mouth as if smiling beneath her pain. About her waist 
 she should have the girdle which was burned with her ; and on 
 her finger the golden ornament which she sent to Frigga from 
 Hel." 2 
 
 The lectures by Ling had an immediate and "particularly 
 encouraging" result, the more so because the lecturer associ- 
 ated with several young artists, some of whom lived in the same 
 house that sheltered his gymnastic institute. 3 Of these Bengt 
 Erland Fogelberg, the sculptor, was an actual pupil of Ling 4 
 and was directly influenced by him. In the spring of 1817 an 
 anonymous donor (now known to be the envoye Baron G. U. 
 Silfverhjelm), an attendant upon Ling's lectures, gave the sum 
 of 50 ducats to the Gothic Society as prize for either a Swed- 
 ish or Norwegian artist who should draw and develop some 
 motif from Norse mythology, either in architecture, sculpture, 
 design, or painting. This offer was discussed by the Society 
 on the roth of June, 1817, and competitors for this prize were 
 advised by the Society to study the Eddas diligently, both the 
 poetic and prose Eddas, as being " the richest and most reliable 
 
 1 Cf. p. 450, for Brage. 
 
 2 P. 456. 
 
 3 Cf. Wahlstrom : Den svenska odlingens storman, V, p. 83. Westerblad 
 (Ling, p. 82) mentions Fogelberg, Sandberg, and Wahlbom who lived in 
 the same house that sheltered the Institute. 
 
 *Cf. Hjarne: Gotiska forbundet, p. 55. 
 
109 
 
 source of information about the Norse myths." 1 Prespective 
 competitors were recommended also to study Ling's " Gylfe " 
 and " The Asas " 2 for inspiration and ideas. 3 Themes were 
 suggested by the Society for various branches of art, viz. : for 
 plastic art: the supreme Odin on his throne Lidskalf looking 
 down upon the world and seeing all that takes place ; or Thor 
 riding in his chariot, fighting the giants. Someone suggested 
 as a theme for architecture, Valhalla, the dwelling place of Odin 
 and the heroes fallen in battle. As Ling had advocated in his 
 supplement, the artists were allowed a great deal of freedom, 
 for, above all, independence was desired. The announcement 
 of this competition was printed in Inrikes Tidningar, June 18, 
 iSi/, 4 and several candidates responded, 5 among them Fogel- 
 berg. According to contemporary evidence, Hjalmar Morner, 
 who had just been reading Ling's poetry, was called upon to deco- 
 rate the salon of one Rosendal, and chose to picture the entry of 
 Odin and his Asas into Scandinavia. 6 As late as 1850, when 
 Bernh. von Beskow, himself a former student of painting, wrote 
 his biography of Ling, artists, in response to a demand for com- 
 petitive work from " Gothic " mythology, " probably," received 
 more ideas from the poetry of the Asa-bard than from any other 
 poet. Because no one portrayed "these antique images so 
 
 ilbid., pp. ssff. 
 
 2 In the edition of 1814, the political allegory "Gylfe" in Norse dress 
 contained fifteen songs. It will be remembered that eight songs of "The 
 Asas" had appeared in 1816. Cf. above, p. 99; also note 2, p. 104. 
 
 3 Cf. Hjarne, Gotiska forbundet, p. 149. 
 
 4 Printed in Hjarne : Gotiska forbundet, pp. 146-49. 
 s Cf. Wahlstrom : Ling, p. 83. 
 
 6 Berh. v. Beskow : Life of Ling in Vol. I of Ling's Samlade arbeten, 
 dated in Stockholm, April 22, 1859. Cf. p. xxiv. Beskow on this page 
 mentions the names of several artists who were influenced by Ling. 
 Beskow was 21 years old in 1817 and was wide-awake to all contemporary 
 affairs. Cf. note on Beskow in Appendix. Hj. Morner was admitted into 
 the Gothic Society February 16, 1829, and instead of " within three months " 
 giving a speech on his Gothic namesake, as others were supposed to do, 
 he submitted eleven sketches representing myths about Odin, and about 
 the coming and settling of the Asas in Sweden. Cf. Hjarne : Gotiska 
 forbundet, p. 18. Nicander says of Hjalmar Morner: 
 
 " Din samtid kunde ej Ditt snille krona . . . 
 
 Hvad gor det ? Konstens mal du hunnit bar ; " 
 Cf. Nicander: Samlade arbeten, Tredje upplagan. Forra delen, p. 479. 
 
110 
 
 completely, with such true conviction, and such pious childlike 
 faith as he." 1 
 
 But Ling's offensive and defensive tributes to the newly re- 
 vived divinities did not meet with the same approval every- 
 where; in fact, the general attitude was probably against him. 
 His efforts met with an enthusiastic welcome by the new 
 "Society for the Study of Art" (Sallskap for konststudium) 
 which took up the cause of Gothism as against classicism. But 
 the Praeses of the old "Academy of Free Arts" (Fria Kon- 
 sternas Akademi) had publicly condemned the new subjects in 
 the province of art as being "coarse "and "monstrous products 
 of the most ancient northern peoples' imagination." Only 
 those who attended Ling's lectures really knew their sensible 
 contents, for they did not appear in print until two years 
 later. Others judged Ling entirely by his poetic creations, 
 which showed a marked tendency to exaggeration. Conse- 
 quently, there arose a feeling of apprehension, lest the influence 
 of the dangerous Goth might fill the Swedish studios with 
 Norse monstrosities. The classicists were reminded with hor- 
 ror of the Rudbeckian age when Scandinavian antiquity became 
 the object of ridicule, and before the decade was over it be- 
 came, for the second time, the target for warning and satire. 
 What was the character of these warnings and satires? 
 
 On November 8, 1817, there appeared in Linkopingsbladet 
 a rather harmless but witty and amusing parody 2 on the an- 
 nouncement for the Norse prize competition. Here is an 
 example from a suggestion for architecture: The Dwelling of 
 the Blessed with Odin in Valhalla: 
 
 "In Odin's chamber there must be his throne, benches around 
 the walls for the Blessed, the fire-place in the middle of the room, 
 and nearby a place where the Blessed at meals may cast the bones 
 after they have gnawed off the meat. Outhouses and especially 
 larders and cellars, must be large enough and the ale-brewery 
 spacious. A place must be marked out where the heroes may 
 exercise/' 3 
 
 1 Cf. Beskow : Life of Ling, as above, p. xxiv. 
 
 2 Printed in Hjarne : Gotiska forbundet, pp. 149-52. 
 
 3 Ibid., pp. 14950. 
 
Ill 
 
 The parody suggests as a theme for sculptors : Ragnar Lodbrok 
 in the serpents' den, 1 and contains an extremely clever and 
 effectively developed comparison with the famous Laocoon- 
 group. The comparative method, then, had even crept into the 
 field of ridicule, a method which was adopted later in the more 
 biting and triumphant satire of the Academician Journal. 
 
 An interesting and important phase of the outsider's concep- 
 tion of the New School is brought out in one part of this 
 parody. It shows that the characteristics of both the new 
 tendencies were considered present, to a greater or less degree, 
 in one of these literary factions; that is, that the difference 
 between a Goth and a Fosforist was merely relative. This 
 parody, directed primarily against the Goths, becomes a satire 
 on the whole Romantic group, and especially on that phase of 
 it which is attributed to the Fosforists. The part referred to 
 is a satire on a so-called " historical painting." 2 The title and 
 introduction may remind the reader of Franz Sternbald repro- 
 ducing music on his canvas : 
 
 St. David hangs his mittens on the sunbeams. " Painting as 
 an art has its origin in Christianity; it is at the same time a 
 Romantic art. Therefore the theme for its exposition may not be 
 taken from ordinary life. The world of heroes is not musical 
 enough for it; its subjects are to be sought where a pious faith 
 elevates the observer from the world of reality to the world of 
 imagination and ravishingly snatches him from the insipidly pos- 
 sible to the forboded supernatural." 
 
 then follows a witty attack on Fosforistic pot-pourris of color, 
 mysticism, harmony, " innerlighet," obscurity in style and lan- 
 guage, and all intended for the Goths. 
 
 In connection with the problem of art and parodies or satires 
 on the same, we are able to corroborate a conclusion in Chapter 
 I, that the Fosforists had distinct Gothic tendencies. One 
 proof of this is Vitalis's ridicule of the Fosforists, in the third 
 decade, which includes some pleasant and inoffensive but keen 
 satire on their fondness for Norse antiquity. It is a parallel 
 
 i It will be remembered that Ragnar Lodbrok was put to death by vipers 
 while on an expedition to Northumberland, England, about 794. 
 2Hjarne: Gotiska forbundet, pp. 150-51. 
 
112 
 
 of the case presented in the preceding paragraph, but in this 
 instance the target is Fosforism, and Gothism is included in it. 
 Vitalis's humorous polemic against the New School was called 
 " The Fosforists in Olympia." It was never completed and is 
 now lost. The fragment, however, was finally published in 
 Ostgota Correspondent en, for 1839, by Henrik Palmaer, who 
 knew Vitalis's plans. For our account we are indebted to For- 
 selius, 1 a friend of Atterbom and Palmblad. It appears that 
 the original plan was in dramatic form and was to contain 15 
 acts, for "all the foolishness of the Fosforists could not be 
 included in 5 acts." In the second act Queen Edda appears. 
 "The magic Brynhild form" aspires to Amadis's (Atterbom's) 
 love, but Eos-Sophia (German philosophy) comes forth, shows 
 a copy of Fosforos, and pretends that she alone has the legiti- 
 mate claim to this honor. 2 A mortal combat ensues between 
 the two goddesses. Eos-Sophia is pierced by the lance of 
 Edda, but the latter is also wounded and dies, being afterward 
 christened in a wept sonnet. In the fifth act Bacchus and 
 Apollo are conversing on the walls of Olympus. Bacchus 
 asks : " What sort of gnats are those I see coming? " " Those 
 are not gnats," answers Apollo, "those are Fosforists," and 
 interprets the assumed humming of the gnats to be the singing 
 of the Fosforists. As the latter approach a few words can be 
 distinguished such as " ancient groves," " viking-seats," etc. 
 
 Even in his poetry Vitalis liked to poke fun at the characters 
 in Norse mythology and those interested in the viking age. In 
 his collected works we find two poems in rimed couplets, 
 dated 1824, called "The Rune Frey " and "The Rune Naud," 
 respectively, 3 their titles being intended to ridicule Nicander's 
 plan of publishing an edition de luxe of his cycle of poems 
 
 1 See Forselius : Introduction to Vitalis's Samlade skrifter. Stockholm, 
 1873, pp. liiff. 
 
 2 It may be Vitalis's opinion that Atterbom's fondness for Norse an- 
 tiquity was merely a predilection d'artiste, and we have to admit, of course, 
 that German models were uppermost in his mind, yet Vitalis's proposed 
 comedy presupposes some sort of an interest in the Norse myths. 
 
 3 Runan Frey. Fornforskaren. Printed in Samlade skrifter, pp. 23 iff. 
 Runan Naud. Nordens gudar. Printed in Samlade skrifter, pp. 
 
113 
 
 called "The Runes." 1 "The Rune Frey" had a sub-title, 
 "The Antiquarian" (p. 112, note 3), and satirized the Gothic 
 tendencies to dig into every mound or " mole-hill," and then if 
 you found anything to describe your discovery in Iduna. The 
 antiquarian in this poem sees a number of stones standing in a 
 row; to him they immediately become remnants of ancient 
 viking judgment-seats (domarestenar) ; a hoary man with 
 "silvery hair" appears who represents the spirit of bygone 
 days and is questioned boldly and solemnly concerning these 
 stones. The expectant interlocutor gets the following prosaic 
 reply from the old man : 
 
 Min gunstige herre ! 
 
 Pa denna plats, i min ungdoms dar, 
 
 En liten badstuga uppbygd var. 2 
 
 Although " The Rune Naud," per se, has no more connection 
 with art than " The Rune Frey," the contents do strike nearer 
 home and are aimed directly at the old Norse gods and their 
 introduction into poetry. Incidentally, Vitalis himself betrays 
 at least a superficial knowledge of the mythology he attempts 
 to ridicule, even if he proudly confesses ignorance about some 
 of the minor divinities. 3 Vitalis amuses himself in this poem 
 and others as well by comparing his own private affairs to 
 those of the Scandinavian gods. Brage had a wife, but he 
 (Vitalis) has none; yet he is glad that he has no gold in his 
 mouth like Heimdall, for then his creditors would come with a 
 
 1 Nicander wrote a series of sixteen poems of a national character and 
 at the head of each poem he had some rune inscribed. He planned a vain 
 edition of his " Runes " in his own handwriting with a picture of himself 
 in student's uniform inserted under the rune " Naud," which has as title 
 "Norna-Gest as Youth" (Norna-Gest Som Yngling). Cf. Nicander: Sam- 
 lade arbeten, Stockholm, 1862, Vol. I, p. 212. Vitalis, who believed his 
 friend had "lost his mind," writes April 3, 1824, that if Nicander's book 
 appeared he would write and inscribe sixteen runes with sixteen carica- 
 tures, including his own portrait as "youth with night-cap and poetic 
 coat." See Introduction to Vitalis's works by Forselius, pp. xliiff. Nican- 
 der's edition of 1825, though an edition de luxe, did not have the author's 
 picture and Vitalis's plan also stranded. The only " runes " he inscribed 
 were the two mentioned above. Cf. Chap. V. 
 
 2 " My dear sir, upon this spot, in my younger days, there used to stand 
 a little bath-house." 
 
 3 As for example: Ali, Voli, Uller, or Forsete. 
 
114 
 
 surgeon and tear them out. The exact nature of Vitalis's light 
 satire on the Norse gods is best illustrated by examples. I 
 have selected the first, second, and seventh stanzas. 
 
 I fall det roar edar, ja och i annat fall, 
 
 Jag alia gamla Asar for er upprakna skall. 
 
 De upp ur grafven komma, med buller och med bang, 
 
 Allt for att figurera uti de Goters sang. 
 
 Bland dem ar Oden ypperst; han blott ett oga bar; 
 Pa kallarn Urdarbrunnen det andra pantsatt ar. 
 Slarfaktig i affarer ar visst den Ase bald, 
 Han el jest langt for detta lost det ur Mimers vald. 
 
 Och blastens gud ar Niord, som skjildes vid sin fru, 
 Kanske han annu lefver; nog blaser det annu, 
 Den guden hade fotter sa, vackra och sa sma. 
 Hur han sag ut i synen, har jag ej reda pa. 1 
 
 1 " In case it amuses you, yes, even if it does not, I shall enumerate all 
 the Asas for you. They come up out of their graves with noise and bluster, 
 just to figure in the songs of the Goths." " Among them Odin is the most 
 important ; he possesses only one eye : the other one is pawned in the 
 tavern Urdarbrunnen (the fountain of time). The bold Asa must be care- 
 less in business otherwise he would have redeemed it long ago from the 
 power of Mimer." "And the god of wind is Niord who was separated 
 from his wife. Perhaps he is still alive; certainly it still blows. That god 
 had such small and pretty feet. How he looked in the face, I don't know." 
 Another author, less important for our 'purpose, touched on the Gothic 
 tendency in a light, humorous vein. C. F. Dahlgren (cf. Appendix, art. 
 Dahlgren) recognized the saga element as an Old Norse part of the Fos- 
 foristic program, and his " The Last Fosforist " (see Samlade arbeten, 
 Stockholm, 1847-52, Vol. I, pp. i42ff.) contains some harmless references 
 to mythologies in general as well as to Icelandic literature in particular. 
 For instance, the Fosforist's coat in this poem is " stitched together of a 
 thousand pieces from India, Iceland, Rome, and Greece." One stanza runs 
 as follows : 
 
 Nu ar att saga An Bacchus an Brage 
 
 Om mythologi'n An Zeus och an Thor 
 
 Att den bor man aga An Phoibus, an Frode 
 
 I poesi'n An Balder hin gode 
 
 Och omsom man tage Och an hans bror. 
 
 " now there is this to be said about mythology, that one ought to use it in 
 poetry. And you may take, alternately; now Bacchus, now Brage; now 
 Zeus, now Thor, now Phoebus, now Frode ; now Balder the Good, and now 
 his Brother." 
 
115 
 
 The best satire directed against the Norse myths was a long 
 poem by J. M. Stjernstolpe, which appeared in Allmdnna Jour- 
 nalen in I82O. 1 It was called "The Mythologies, or the Dis- 
 pute of the Gods" ( My tologierna eller gudatvisten) and deals, 
 in a comparative way, with the assumed characteristics of both 
 the Northern and Southern systems. Naturally, the Greek 
 mythology is taken as the esthetic standard. The plan is in- 
 genious and the contents are positively funny. The gods of 
 Valhalla are sent on a visit to the Olympian deities and held up 
 to scorn and derision. Iceland is taken as the home of the 
 Scandinavian visitors, who appear on Mt. Olympus in all their 
 primitive grotesqueness, accompanied by a full zoological reti- 
 nue of cats, ravens, goats and serpents. 2 On the arrival of 
 the strangers a great commotion arises in Olympic circles and 
 the goddesses, especially, suffer immense physical discomfort. 3 
 Were Odin and his Asas to dethrone Zeus? Iceland is larger 
 than your famous Crete, says Momus to Zeus. 4 But, on the 
 other hand, chronological priority is claimed for the classic 
 myths and Zeus admonishes the strangers as follows : 
 
 1 Numbers 31 and 32 for the 8th and 9th of February. Remember that 
 the editor of Allmdnna Journalen was P. A. Wallmark, the publicist, par 
 excellence, of the Old School. As early as August 18, 1813 (No. 56) there 
 had appeared in Allmdnna Journalen a " slightly altered " version of the 
 ancient saga of " Orwar Odder," to show the " dangers of flight " and the 
 advantages of courage and bravery. It can hardly be anything but a thrust 
 at the Goths and Fosforists. The first verse runs as follows : 
 
 *' En hjalte det fanns har i Norden en gang, 
 Den storste, som nansin beskrifvits i sang, 
 
 Tolf alnar lang, 
 Och Orwar Odder ban hetat. 
 Som Viking han farit all verlden omkring 
 Och honom det timat mang underlig ting, 
 Som annu blott Sagorna vetat." 
 
 Orwar Odd is finally killed in " flight " by an arrow. 
 
 2 It will be remembered that cats, ravens, and he-goats were the animals 
 attributed of Freya, Odin, and Thor, respectively. The serpent refers to 
 the so-called Midgard-Serpent, son of Loke and Angerboda, a brother of 
 Hel and the Fenris-Wolf. With his enormous tail he encircles the whole 
 earth. 
 
 3 Venus is thrown into convulsions at the venomous glance of the 
 Midgard-Serpent and Juno gets the stomach-ache. Cf. Hjarne: Gotiska 
 forbundet, p. 159. 
 
 4 Ibid., p. 153. 
 
116 
 
 Dock Asar bora veta : 
 Langt forr an nagon af Er var, 
 Min blixt kring himlen ljungat bar, 
 Mitt namn kring verlden spordes. 1 
 
 For about four months Stjernstolpe enjoyed a certain feeling 
 of victory at the success of his poem, but, on June 21, 1820, 
 there appeared an answer in Anmarkarne, called "The Mythol- 
 ogies, or the Dispute of the Gods. The Second Day/' 2 The 
 author was a " young " man, but otherwise a complete stranger, 
 says Adlerbeth. 3 His poem was a "worthy refutation" of 
 Stjernstolpe's anti-Gothic satire. In fact, Adlerbeth goes so 
 far as to claim a defeat for the gods of Greece and Rome as 
 well. " The real value of the poem," asserts Adlerbeth, " lies 
 in the fact that the riders on the wooden beasts (tramarrar) 
 of French literature have been defeated by their own weapon, 
 ridicule. The latter was the last available implement for at- 
 tacking the ancient Norse myths which they (the worshipers 
 of French literature) were unable to destroy by any serious 
 deductions." And I believe Adlerbeth to have been right. 
 The stranger poet had detected a fundamental difference in the 
 two mythologies which Stjernstolpe either overlooked or ig- 
 nored. Stjernstolpe had unfairly compared the crude but nat- 
 ural Scandinavian gods with the idealized Greek deities repre- 
 sented in modern art and poetry. In the public refutation, 
 therefore, the Olympic gods are stripped of their artistic embel- 
 lishments, introduced in their most primitive form and dress, 
 and sent on a return visit to the earth. Mercury suggests that 
 they take this trip in their original, " genuinely divine splendor." 4 
 As soon as unmasked, the Greek travelers present a sad spec- 
 
 1 Ibid., p. 162. " But Asas ought to know that long before any of you 
 existed, my lightning flashed through the sky, my name was known around 
 the world." 
 
 2 Mytologierna, eller gudatvisten. Andra dagen. Both Stjernstolpe's 
 poem as well as the answer to it are printed in Hjarne : Gotiska forbundet, 
 pp. 152-83, accompanied by explanatory notes. Hjarne's reprint is more 
 easily available to most students and my references are, therefore, to this 
 edition. 
 
 3 See letter to Tegner, dated July 14, 1820. Esaias Tegner's papper, 
 PP. 130-31. 
 
 * Hjarne: Gotiska forbundet, p. 170. 
 
117 
 
 tacle, indeed. The Norse visitors at Olympia were natural, 
 though grotesque ; but the Olympians become unnatural, form- 
 less monsters, and Jupiter (or Zeus, for the Greek and Roman 
 names are used interchangeably) appears with hawk's head and 
 horns. 1 Then the anonymous poet adopts a more specifically 
 comparative method and makes such observations as these: 
 Norse mythology has no character with ram's legs like Pan or 
 Silenus ; it has no one who is lame like Vulcan, and no maiden 
 with a hundred breasts like the Ephesian Diana. "Awful 
 stories " are found in each and every Greek god's biography, 
 intrigues are frequent, and but few are of legitimate birth. 2 
 The Olympian group gets no further than Eleusis before they 
 encounter an enormous herd of pigs. The ass, who under- 
 stands them without an interpreter, leads the conversation for 
 the Olympians and immediately thereafter Jupiter and his reti- 
 nue return home disgusted. 3 
 
 As early as 1810-1811 the date can be determined approxi- 
 mately by references to European politics the Academician 
 chief, Leopold, attacked in a poem that national tendency which, 
 as even the anti-Fosforistic Malmstrom admits, 4 was common 
 to both Fosforists and Goths. Leopold's satirical poem, of 
 some historical significance and full of sparkling wit, was called 
 "The New Colony, or the Revolution in the Art of Song" 
 (Den nya kolonien eller revolutionen i sangkonsten), 5 and was 
 directed against the current eulogies of a former "golden" 6 
 
 iThe old images of Jupiter were sometimes represented like those of 
 the Egyptian Osiris, his son, with a hawk-like head, or like Ammon, who 
 appeared to Hercules in the form of a ram. Cf . Lempriere : Classical Dic- 
 tionary, articles Osiris and Ammon. 
 
 2 Hjarne: Gotiska forbundet, p. 175. 
 
 3 Eleusis had a temple to Ceres, and sows were beasts of sacrifice " at 
 the lesser mysteries." According to one tradition (Hyginus: Poet. Astron., 
 ii, 23) a speaking ass is mentioned in the myth of Dyonysus. Dyonysus 
 was carried across a lake by an ass on his way to the oracle of Dodona. 
 Cf. Diet, of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, edited by W. 
 Smith, London, 1844, Vol. I, p. 1047. 
 
 ^Grunddragen af svenska vitterhetens historia, III, p. 263. Accord- 
 ing to the poem in question, the national tendency of the Fosforists must 
 have been detected by Leopold before the Gothic School existed, as such. 
 
 5 See Leopold: Poetiska arbeten, Uppsala, 1873, Vol. I, p. 83, or Malm- 
 Strom : Svenska vitterhetens historia, III, pp. 263ff., where the whole poem 
 is quoted. 
 
 6 Malmstrom : ibid., p. 265. 
 9 
 
118 
 
 age. The poem describes the arrangement of a Sangerkrieg 
 between the nightingale (the Old School) and the recently 
 arrived owl (the New School). "It is about time," says Leo- 
 pold sharply and sarcastically, " to reinstate, at last, the song of 
 genuine power, which as early as a thousand years ago, was 
 sung by the owls on the mountains of Norway." 1 In the con- 
 test nobody would listen to the nightingale and the owl wins, 
 cheered by the whole owl-nation, three hundred voices strong. 
 But every mortal is frightened away, the nightingales resign, 
 and, finally, the owls themselves are gradually driven off. 2 But 
 Leopold's theoretical views on the employment of Norse my- 
 thology in poetry are stated more definitely and severely in his 
 prose treatise on " Ancient Gothic Poetry and the New Taste 
 for this Kind of Literature" (Om den gamla gotiska dikten 
 och den nya smaken for detta slags vitterhet), written about 
 1822 or i823. 3 What the Gustavian leader believed to hold 
 true in poetry would naturally hold true, all the more, in the 
 plastic arts. On the face of it, this article might seem at first 
 to be a mere warning against exaggeration, for Leopold admits 
 that a taste for Gothic poetry may be commendable 4 and he 
 himself had treated a Gothic theme in " Oden," but that the 
 sagas or Eddas could ever be favorably compared with the 
 ancient classical sources is deemed impossible. Leopold's con- 
 ception, like that of Stjernstolpe, is one of prejudice and unal- 
 loyed preference for the " thousand vivid poetic images of the 
 Greek genius," 5 which in his opinion have become absolutely 
 indispensable to poetic expression in European culture. Norse 
 antiquity to Leopold becomes the "darkest and most unciv- 
 ilized age," 6 its " old, rough-hewn poetic figures " should be 
 kept at a "necessary" and appropriate distance, i. e., in the 
 
 1 Malmstrom : ibid., p. 265. 
 
 2 Ibid., pp. 266-67. 
 
 s Leopold in his treatise speaks of "twelve years of lessons in art," 
 using "art" in a broad sense to signify the poetry of the New School. 
 Now, if Leopold refers to the Fosforists, as such, it would place the date 
 about 1822, if to the Gothic School, per se, 1823. Cf. Malmstrom: Svenska 
 vitterhetens historia, III, p. 377, where this part is quoted. 
 
 4 Malmstrom. Svenska vitterhetens historia, III, p. 376. 
 
 s Ibid., p. 383. 
 
 6 Ibid., pp. 377-78. 
 
119 
 
 " coarser and wilder culture of their own age." 1 Gothic an- 
 tiquity does possess "a more uncivilized sensuality which is 
 adapted for poetic treatment by a talented artist, and is, in 
 itself, good for a change or contrast"; but it ought not to be 
 constantly repeated, least of all with the idea of extruding " the 
 real literature of our own age." 2 Leopold makes an unquali- 
 fied denial that Gothic antiquity could serve as one of the large, 
 important sources for true poetry. 3 A Norse motif has the 
 advantage of stimulating attention, for it is only sparsely 
 known, and Leopold himself confesses he has read the old 
 kampasagas with pleasure, 4 but the literary form of the manli- 
 ness and power therein is " undeniably lower " than that of the 
 present age when depicted by a master hand in this " higher 
 splendor." 5 That there could be any successful compromise 
 of ancient Norse content with modern form did not occur to 
 the lukewarm, biased chief. He did not see that his main 
 source of prejudice was more the lack of genius to develop the 
 Norse material, than the material itself, and so Leopold was 
 constantly comparing masters of the Old School with dilettants 
 of the New. That a constant use of the Northern motifs might 
 lead to a " tedious uniformity " 6 was true, as had been exem- 
 plified in the poetic works of Ling. 
 
 Malmstrom, literary critic and partisan of Leopold, takes 
 the same classical view ; he prefers Greek to Norse mythology 
 and believes that every impartial judge must give the same 
 verdict. " The characters of Norse mythology," says Malm- 
 strom, "are with few exceptions, rather sublime than beautiful 
 and consequently are not so well adapted for plastic art, and 
 least of all for sculpture." 7 Malmstrom proceeds on the same 
 principle as Stjernstolpe of comparing the highly idealized 
 Greek forms with the undeveloped Scandinavian forms. 
 
 I have tried in the last few pages to illustrate the Academi- 
 cian or anti-Romantic opposition to the introduction of Scan- 
 
 1 Ibid., p. 384. 4 Ibid., p. 385. 
 
 2 Ibid., p. 378. s Ibid., p. 385. 
 s Ibid., p. 378. 6 Ibid., p. 385. 
 
 7 Ibid., p. 379. Malmstrom did not have the opportunity to see the 
 recently erected Gefion-fountain in Copenhagen. Gefion was originally, as 
 we have seen, a mythological female character of the Asa-tribe. 
 
120 
 
 dinavian myths into Swedish art and poetry. It now becomes 
 necessary to retrace our steps to the year 1817. 
 
 The approaching prize-competition with Norse motifs, together 
 with Ling's lectures and poetry, even caused some concern to 
 a leader of the Gothic Society, Geijer. Exaggeration might 
 defeat its own purpose, and Geijer decided to warn against ex- 
 travagance. The result was the publication in the seventh 
 number of Iduna, 1817, of "Reflections Concerning the Em- 
 ployment of the Norse Myths in Fine Art" (Betraktelser i 
 afseende pa de nordiska myternas anvandande i skon konst). 1 
 It was a landmark of its time and is still well known by stu- 
 dents of Geijer. It caused a considerable sensation and even 
 displeasure and was undoubtedly responsible for Ling's resig- 
 nation from the Gothic Society. 2 Geijer's " Reflections," their 
 debt to Winckelmann, Lessing, and Herder, as well as their 
 contemporary influence, have recently been quite fully dis- 
 cussed by Adrian Molin in his " Geijer-Studier " 3 and to his 
 work I refer for details. It is only necessary here to indicate 
 the main thread of the argument and to add a few personal 
 observations. The whole attitude of the Swedish historian is 
 very classical in its conception of art. 4 He holds that sculp- 
 ture is the least national of the plastic arts ; its aim is the uni- 
 versal, and, therefore, Norse mythology is little adapted for a 
 national art. The emphasis is laid on physical definiteness 
 (sinnlig bestamdhet), and, since it is a "thousand years too 
 late" to determine definite physical form, the only solution is 
 
 1 The treatise is found in Geijer's Samlade skrifter (Stockholm, 1874-76, 
 8 vols.), Vol. I, pp. i75ff. 
 
 2 Cf. letter from Adlerbeth to Tegner, dated January 6, 1818. Ur Esaias 
 Tegners papper, p. 93. Ling would never admit that Geijer's article had 
 anything to do with his resignation. Adlerbeth, in his letter to Tegner, 
 favors Geijer in this matter and calls Ling's probable attitude toward a 
 different view "most unreasonable." Cf. also Molin: Geijer-Studier, pp. 
 264-65, and note 2. Geijer, in his article, had referred, rather personally, 
 to blunders in Gothic poetry which provoked some ill feeling in the mind 
 of the super-patriotic Ling. 
 
 3 Goteborg, 1906, pp. 244ff. 
 
 * Cf. Blanck : Den nordiska renassansen, p. 432. Molin, however, has 
 
 detected an influence of Romantic thought a la Fichte, as evidenced by 
 
 conceptions of the social and political affairs of the time. See " Geijer- 
 Studier," pp. 256-57. 
 
121 
 
 to introduce the spirit (det ursprungliga) of the ancient myth 
 into the recognized standard form already existing. But with 
 poetry and painting it is different. Although Norse mythology 
 is deficient in " external harmonious perfection," 1 it does pos- 
 sess an inner poetic and philosophical meaning which furnishes 
 a profitable field for the poet or painter. The deities of Norse 
 mythology were, for the most part, characters of action, definite 
 enough for our thought but not for the eye, and they must be 
 represented in their living relation to humanity and may not 
 be isolated from their time or race. 2 Now, as characters of 
 action they assume human form, such as they have in the sagas, 
 and it is primarily in connection with the heroic saga that the 
 Norse mythological characters may be represented in art. If 
 the motifs are chosen from the Norse myths at all, they had 
 better be developed on canvas rather than in marble. 
 
 Geijer's treatise was a well-written and conscientious expo- 
 sition of his views, and it undoubtedly had some checking influ- 
 ence on the overheated artists of a purely national trend. 
 Molin states, for instance, that the Gothic Society adopted 
 some suggestions from it for its announcements of future prize- 
 competitions in art. 3 But time proved that much of Geijer's 
 apprehension was unfounded. He overlooked the fact that a 
 physical definiteness was the result of artistic activity and that, 
 other things being equal, it was just as possible for characters 
 from Norse myths to acquire a definite form as for those of 
 Greek mythology. Geijer commits much the same fallacy as 
 Stjernstolpe in his " Dispute of the Gods," three years later, 4 
 that of comparing the developed with the undeveloped. Molin 
 
 1 Cf. Molin: Geijer-Studier, p. 251. 
 
 2 This seems to me to be closely analogous to Leopold's views. Leo- 
 pold believed that Old Norse culture must be considered, per se, as some- 
 thing foreign and antiquated. Any genuine representation of Gothic an- 
 tiquity, even in poetry, must be treated as a picture of itself, that is, of 
 its own time, and must be considered too antiquated to re-introduce in 
 any living sense. Granting their premises, and I think we must, we will 
 have to admit that both Geijer and Leopold are right in this respect. Cf. 
 Malmstrom : Svenska vitterhetens historia, III, p. 378, where this part of 
 Leopold's article is quoted. 
 
 3 Molin: Geijer-Studier, p. 266. 
 4Cf. above, pp. nsff. 
 
122 
 
 still contends with Geijer, however, that, so far as sculpture 
 is concerned, such a development could only take place, as in 
 the case of the Greek, " before the myth became a myth," that 
 is, while it was still a living, religious conception of the people. 1 
 The creations of Fogelberg seem to be an exception to the rule, 
 according to Molin. 2 But the very exception proves that such 
 a development is possible when undertaken by a real genius. 
 
 Tegner, it seems to me, gives the best common-sense solution 
 of the problem. 3 He pointed out that originally the forms in 
 Greek mythology were as crude and indefinite as those in ques- 
 tion, and had they been limited to mere poetic treatment they 
 would not have been any more definite than the Scandinavian 
 ones. 4 And not only that, but where can you draw the line be- 
 tween saga and myth ? There is no sharp line of demarcation, 
 and if you concede that the heroic saga may be employed in art, 
 how can you consistently bar the myth? Human art has no 
 better type for either heaven or earth than the human type. 
 Divinity is merely an idealized human form, as far as plastic 
 art is concerned. Granting this, Geijer's treatise loses some of 
 its force. It was a question that could not be answered by any 
 theoretical or philosophical deductions ; it was a practical prob- 
 lem and the sole method of solving it was by actual attempt. 5 
 Tegner writes to Leopold, February 7, 1822 : 6 " It is true that 
 the so-called Gothic poetry has up to this time been a failure 
 in Sweden ; but if we, who have failed, were only really honest, 
 we would admit that Thor, Odin, and Frey and all the old 
 fighters are absolutely innocent in the matter." In other 
 words, it depended upon the poet or artist whether the Norse 
 myths could be made worth while, a view which Tegner him- 
 self proved sufficiently, as far as poetry was concerned. Tegner, 
 also, did not like Geijer's plain reference to Ling's poetic mis- 
 
 1 Molin: Geijer-Studier, p. 264. 
 
 2 Ibid., p. 266. 
 
 3 Cf. Geijer-Studier, p. 264, for Molin's criticism of Tegner's opinion 
 in this matter. 
 
 *Cf. letter by Tegner to Adlerbeth of July 5, 1818, for criticism by 
 Tegner of Geijer's article. Jubelfestupplaga, V, pp. i54ff. 
 
 s Cf. letter by Tegner to Adlerbeth of December 21, 1817. Jubelfestup- 
 plaga, V, pp. 1 3 iff. 
 
 6 Jubelfestupplaga, V, p. 243. 
 
123 
 
 takes. Nobody was more conscious of the mistakes than Ling 
 himself, and one ought to use some indulgence towards a 
 product (referring to "Gylfe") upon which so much serious- 
 ness, genius, and art had been spent. 1 
 
 Even in plastic art there was no such danger in Ling's preach- 
 ings as was at first supposed. In fact, I am unable to detect 
 any essential difference of viewpoint, even between Geijer and 
 Ling. It was a relative difference rather than a fundamental 
 one, a fact which is clearly brought out in " Symbolism of 
 the Eddas " which we have already discussed. 2 Like Tegner, 
 Ling leaves much to the artist, and it was never his inten- 
 tion to offend the sense of beauty by recommending indefi- 
 nite monsters to be done in marble or on canvas. Fully recog- 
 nizing the experimental stage of a national art, he proceeded 
 cautiously to give hints to prospective painters and sculptors, 
 in order to establish gradually a definite physical form for his 
 beloved Scandinavian characters. I doubt very much whether 
 Ling ever expected to see a perfected Norse type immediately. 
 He was on the right track ; the Scandinavian gods were already 
 partially idealized in his mind, like the Greek gods in the mind 
 of the Greek artist, and he never thought of advocating any- 
 thing but the perfected human form for divinities. 3 But the 
 human form is the form of the heroic saga as advocated by 
 Geijer, so where is the dangerous radicalism or cause for 
 alarm? Ling himself asserted that the highest god or All- 
 father, who was not conceived by our ancestors in sensual, that 
 is, human form, could not be represented in plastic art like the 
 other nature-divinities. 4 
 
 The efforts of Ling and his disciples were crowned with 
 more practical success than was ever anticipated in the first 
 public exhibition of the new art, held in the Kirstein House, 
 
 1 See letter by Tegner of July 5, 1818. (See p. 122, note 4). 
 
 2 To be sure, the "Symbolism" did not appear in print until 1819, two 
 years after Geijer's article, but it was an independent resume of Ling's 
 own lectures, held from 1814-17, and could never have been influenced by 
 Geijer. 
 
 3 Cf. Ling: Samlade arbeten, II, pp. 443-44. Cf. also above, p. 107. 
 * Ling : Samlade arbeten, II, p. 446. 
 
124 
 
 in Stockholm, beginning the I9th day of May, iSiS. 1 All 
 artists were invited to participate. Attempts had been made to 
 frustrate the plans for the new exhibition but to no avail. The 
 catalog of one thousand copies went into a new edition and the 
 time of the exhibition was prolonged by request. The innova- 
 tion was a financial success also. Even royalty patronized the 
 exhibition and His Majesty the King ordered Fogelberg's 
 models of the Norse gods to be executed in marble for himself. 
 In the " Addenda," in the eleventh number of Iduna, 2 we have 
 the names of the winners and the amount of the prizes in the 
 Norse art-competitions from 1818 to 1822, as well as the name 
 and character of the artistic production in each case. For in- 
 stance: Alex. Malmquist is awarded a prize of 20 ducats for 
 an oil-painting of " Brage and Idun," and P. Berggren a similar 
 amount for a representation of " Odin at the Spring of Mimer." 
 No one rejoiced more over the success of the exhibition than 
 Tegner. He writes to Adlerbeth, August 20, i8i8: 3 "It makes 
 me rejoice heartily that the Gothic Society's exhibition was 
 such a success." He hopes it is demonstrated that the reawak- 
 ened feeling for ancient Norse is not an insane idea or merely 
 a passing mania, " but that it can and ought to express itself in 
 permanent creations, either in song or marble, and thus lay the 
 foundation for an independent, national art." 4 
 
 i See " Berattelse angaende den af Gotiska Forbundet anstallda konst- 
 expositionen 1818." In Iduna, Vol. XI, pp. Ssff. Vedel is scarcely correct 
 when he characterizes (see " Svensk romantik," p. 260) the result of this 
 exposition as " not gratifying." 
 
 2 " Tillagg, rorande de af Gotiska Forbundet anstallda taflingar i be- 
 handling af nordiska myther i bildande konst, samt konstexpositionen 
 1818," pp. 97-99- 
 
 3 See Jubelfestupplaga, V, p. 160. 
 
 4 Tegner recognizes, as seen in this letter, that plastic art is universal 
 in its essence, as Geijer had urged, and that European culture which 
 " more or less grinds off all nationality " would have to be taken into 
 account, even if it did not seriously hamper the development of a na- 
 tional art. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 ERIK JOHAN STAGNELIUS : THE OLD NORSE ELEMENT AS A 
 VEHICLE FOR ROMANTICISM 
 
 At sangen invigd re'n som barn jag var, 
 Min sjal fortrogen med naturens under. 
 I grottors skymning, rosenlundars skot, 
 Der silfverkallor, musikaliskt runno 
 Och naktergalen omma toner gjot, 
 Da etherns lampor 6'fver jorden brunno, 
 Bland vana trollmor der, med kransadt har 
 Och kinden smekt af milda vestanvader, 
 Hur lyckligt floto mina barndomsar ! 
 
 Kwaser in " Gunlog." 
 
 The most thorough Romanticist in Sweden was the young 
 and suffering Stagnelius. Both his life and work point him out 
 as the natural exponent of what is deepest and most typical in 
 Romanticism. He did not have to affiliate himself with any 
 new school to be called Romantic. He did not have to take 
 part in any polemics to advertise his theories. Stagnelius was 
 something more than an obscure theorist; he was primarily a 
 creator. He loved to produce and what he produced came 
 spontaneously, without undue effort or adherence to any set 
 literary dogma. He was always independent. He educated him- 
 self by persistent browsing in his father's library, wrote inde- 
 pendently, lived alone, and finally died alone at the age of thirty. 1 
 He was an original, self-taught savant, to whom both the Nor- 
 thern and Southern mythologies were equally familiar. We 
 may call him a Romantic genius. Mystical yearning, personal 
 suffering, deep pathos, " singing eloquence," and characteristic 
 coloring are nowhere better exemplified than in the poetry of 
 Stagnelius. No one understood better than he the deeper sig- 
 nificance of myth and religion, and the constant strife between 
 
 i Cf. Appendix : Note on Stagnelius. 
 
 125 
 
126 
 
 matter and spirit, as pictured both in myth and religion, is a 
 favorite theme of our poet. Sensuousness, in a carnal sense 
 generally, is a striking quality of much of Stagnelius's poetry. 
 Woman is the crown of nature and at the same time the most 
 dangerous phenomenon in the universe ; not even the gods can 
 escape her artful cunning. 
 
 These are some of the characteristics noticeable in Stagne- 
 lius's treatment of Gothic themes. In other words the saga ele- 
 ment becomes a vehicle for the Romantic, the didactic, and the 
 autobiographical. But the vehicle itself is as important as the 
 rest, and one is a spontaneous supplement of the other. There 
 seems to be no militant effort to emphasize either one, and yet 
 both are sufficiently prominent. Stagnelius's Gothicism is found 
 in conjunction with Romanticism, then, in a more restricted 
 sense, and Hellenism. These three the poet weaves together 
 into a lyrical fabric of the most dazzling colors and pleasing 
 melodies. 
 
 The saga element, though not intentionally obtrusive, is con- 
 spicuous in the very titles of Stagnelius's poems. " Gunlog," 
 " Wisbur," and " Svegder " are recognized immediately as fa- 
 miliar names from the prose Edda and the Heimskringla. 
 " Sigurd Ring " calls up the semi-historical exploits of a mighty 
 pagan king, and " Blenda " reminds us of a period in Swedish 
 history when harsh viking measures were not yet forgotten. 
 Of these five works " Gunlog" is a fragmentary epic ; "Blenda" 
 is an epic, technically finished but intrinsically incomplete; 
 " Svegder " is a dramatic fragment ; and " Wisbur " and " Sig- 
 urd Ring " are short tragedies in the Greek style with choruses. 
 In all of these we observe both a general enthusiasm for the 
 saga age and an effort to interpret specific myths or characters. 
 A favorite Romantic theme, like the origin of poetry in " Gun- 
 log," gives the author opportunity for a more lengthy discourse, 
 and here we must study the author himself in terms of Norse 
 mythology. But the Norse element is never a mere rhetorical 
 ornamentation, a superficial jumble of names; it is always a 
 thoroughly digested part of a poetic nutriment. It is a back- 
 ground blending harmoniously with the poet's modern reflec- 
 tions and feelings. 
 
127 
 
 All of the above-mentioned productions were written during 
 the last eleven years of the author's life, but none of them were 
 published until after the author's death in 1823. In taking up 
 his Gothic themes more in detail one need not pay much atten- 
 tion to chronology in composition, and but little is known about 
 it with certainty. We shall consider " Blenda " first. 
 
 " Blenda " is a " Romantic Poem in Five Cantos " and is writ- 
 ten in rimed, iambic verse of varying length. It is based on an 
 old saga-like tradition, of which one form goes back to heathen- 
 dom and the other, the one which Stagnelius used, goes back to 
 a later narrative. 1 In it the patriotic Blenda, at the head of a 
 band of Swedish women, attacks and slays the common enemy, 
 the Dane. The scene is laid in the district of Warend in the 
 province of Smaland, and the enemy comes from Skane in the 
 extreme southern part of Sweden, which then belonged to Den- 
 mark. In Stagnelius, also, the scene is laid right after the 
 introduction of Christianity, and Blenda has become a demonic 
 Judith who, for personal reasons, takes a horrible revenge on 
 the Danes. With the Venus-girdle as an allurement, the amor- 
 ous swains are enticed into camp and cruelly murdered. 
 
 Since the poet does not localize his action in the real saga 
 age, the viking element becomes epic and general in character. 
 Some events are given in terms of specific Norse myths, and 
 comparative references are made to them occasionally, but 
 otherwise it is merely a general glorification of the manly vik- 
 ing exploits and character. It is the effeminateness of the 
 modern age and the sturdiness of the past that are contrasted, 
 much as in Nicander and Beskow later. But Stagnelius makes 
 a very ingenious plan. An unflinching bravery, like that of the 
 heathen forefathers, is at first extolled, then aroused in the le- 
 thargic Christian warriors, who sail away at once across the Bal- 
 tic to fight the pagans in Livonia. A curious put plausible 
 plan: by pagan methods the pagans themselves are to be con- 
 verted to Christianity. 
 
 The eulogy of the saga age is found in the beginning of the 
 first canto, in Alle's rousing speech to his warriors. These 
 
 i Cf. Introduction by Hammarskjold to Stagnelius's " Samlade skrifter," 
 Stockholm, 1836, p. 32. 
 
128 
 
 have spent nineteen years in drinking, eating, hunting, and 
 courting the favor of women. But their heathen ancestors did 
 otherwise. In the early spring as soon as the snow had melted, 
 they set out over the sea " to conquer or die," while " many a 
 lonely maid stood waving a farewell with swan-white kerchief 
 in hand." During the whole summer the viking roved about 
 the world. He sunk fleets and broke down strongholds, rich 
 coasts were burned and " the water-sprite blushed with blood." 
 Scarcely had the leaves begun to fall, when the viking boats 
 came back laden with plunder. The faithful maiden welcomed 
 her champion, the lighted torches illumined the castle, and the 
 drinking-horn and string-instrument contributed to the celebra- 
 tion. These were happy times for lovers; "there were no 
 limits, no laws for men whose right arm was their only god," 
 and no priest could condemn them. But since the "white 
 Christ " came into the land, all has changed : the weapons rust, 
 the ship decays, and ancestral manliness is buried forever in the 
 ancestral funeral-mounds. The road to exploits and strength 
 is closed and life has become one eternal monotony. But the 
 viking methods must return, even if "the age of the saga is 
 past and the heavenly kingdom has driven out the glorious Val- 
 halla." Again swords are to flash and cloven hearts bleed, 
 though no sacrifices glow on Odin's altar. 
 
 Thus Alle continues. Then he makes a specific appeal for 
 vikingism to his oldest son Adolf who has fallen in love with 
 Blenda. Alle does not blame his son for entertaining a passion 
 for a woman, but he must win his beloved in a manly way. In 
 olden times bravery often went hand in hand with love, but suc- 
 cess in love could follow only as a reward of bravery and the 
 heathen maiden often girded on her lover's sword. 1 The vik- 
 
 i Cf. the following strophe (29) from " Sang till qvinnorna i Norden " 
 by Stagnelius : 
 
 O skona tid ! i Sagans ljud 
 Blott annu lefvande pa jorden, 
 Da ynglingen i hoga Norden 
 Till hjelte valdes af sin brud ! 
 Hans dygder inga skranker funno, 
 Och modet kande ingen grans. 
 O skona tid ! da karlekens 
 Och arans eld forente brunno ! 
 
129 
 
 ing was not tormented by weak emotions; he rushed through 
 arrows, swords, and fire to win his prize. "The beauties at 
 that time sat in high ladies'-bowers, surrounded by dragons and 
 firm walls and could be won only by deeds and perfect manhood. 
 Thus Ragnar Lodbrok won the hand of Her rod's daughter. 
 And so, only when Adolf returns a victor from war, may he 
 think of love. The joy will then be double. 
 
 In the third canto Stagnelius introduces another link which 
 connects the modern epic with the pagan tradition. It is the 
 inexorable Norse fate and the fulfilment of a prophecy. Eight 
 generations back a Northern sibyl, "a century-old maid with 
 wrinkled face and locks of snow," had appeared at Blenda's 
 ancestral castle. To the beautiful Gerd a daughter had just 
 been born, but the brave and stern Grim had demanded of the 
 gods a son. Incensed, he determined to cast the child before 
 the ravens upon the heath, and the death of the daughter seemed 
 assured, when the sibyl appeared, drew forth a dagger, and 
 rebuked the angry parent in the following prophetic terms: 
 "With this dagger, a woman of this race shall save Sweden 
 and conquer Jutland." The daughter was allowed to live, and 
 the pagan instrument had then been handed down from mother 
 to the oldest daughter for seven generations until now, finally, 
 it was delivered into the hands of Blenda by her father. A 
 miraculous power we may call it fate connected with a cer- 
 tain mechanical instrument from heathen times, was now to do 
 its work through the agency of a Christian maid. A curious 
 but beautiful and broad-minded thought : Norse paganism and 
 Christianity in unison, and the latter the glorious fulfilment of 
 the former. 
 
 Stagnelius tried his hand at humor in " Blenda," but was not 
 particularly successful. His expressions of humor are too 
 realistic, often indelicate and in bad taste. Atterbom called 
 " Blenda " a " half -wanton Wieland epopee," due to the au- 
 thor's early studies of " Idris " and " Oberon." 1 
 
 The plan of " Blenda " was probably earlier than that of any 
 other work of Stagnelius, but it was not finished until about 
 
 i See " Literara karakteristiker." Senare bandet, Orebro, 1870. Recen- 
 sion of Stagnelius's works, pp. 51-52. 
 
130 
 
 I8I6. 1 The first product to be finished if we may use that 
 term in speaking of a fragment was the epic " Gunlog," the 
 greater part of which was written in 1812. Here the satirical 
 element was present in the original source but in Stagnelius's 
 epic it is much suppressed. The rough, grotesque, and grossly 
 satirical gives way to a lyrico-epic " height and dignity." The 
 pleasant Romantic elements are more prominent. Everything 
 is colored in purple, rose, or silver, and bathed in moonlight 
 in a "gloomy pine- forest." It is less clear and more subjective 
 than "Blenda" but the style and form 2 are better. First a 
 word about the original source. 
 
 "The Tales of Brage" (Bragaroeftur, Chapters 3-4) in the 
 Snorre Edda give us two distinct parts of the original myth: 
 (i) the origin of Suttung's mead, and (2) Odin's capture of 
 it, signifying the origin of poetry and how it became the prop- 
 erty of the gods. The divine Asas and the Wanes had a war 
 with each other. They came together to make peace and spat 
 their spittle 3 into one vessel, and out of this they created 
 Kwasir, who was so wise that he could give advice in all things. 
 Kwasir was killed through treachery by the dwarfs, Fjalar and 
 Galar. His blood was collected in two pitchers and a kettle, 
 mixed with honey, and a mead prepared from it, and he who 
 drank thereof became a poet and a sage. Once the same 
 dwarfs caused the death of the giant Gilling and the mead was 
 given as indemnity to Gilling's son, Suttung, for the death of 
 his father. Suttung had the mead brought into the mountain 
 Hnitbjorg, where it was guarded by his daughter Gunnlod 
 (Gunlog). This is the end of the first part. Then Odin, under 
 the name of Bolwerk, comes to Suttung's brother, Baugi. He 
 brings about the death of his nine servants and offers to take 
 their place in return for a drink of Kwasir's (i. e., Suttung's) 
 mead. Odin stays through the summer but in the winter he 
 demands his reward. Suttung refuses Odin and Baugi the 
 
 1 It was probably written immediately before " Wladimir den Store," 
 which appeared in 1817. 
 
 2 It is written in easy-flowing, regular rimed pentameters with alternat- 
 ing masculine and feminine rimes. 
 
 3 The spittle of the Asas and Wanes represents the spiritual and the 
 formal in poetry, respectively. 
 
131 
 
 coveted draught; and so Bolwerk (Odin) takes an auge, 
 bores a hole through the Hnitbjorg mountain, changes himself 
 to a serpent, and crawls through to Gunnlod. He spends three 
 nights with her, gets three draughts of the mead, and empties 
 all three vessels. He then returns as he had come, assumes 
 the shape of an eagle and flies away. He is pursued by Sut- 
 tung, likewise in eagle form, but Odin arrives home in time to 
 eject the mead into vessels stationed in the yard for the pur- 
 pose, and Suttung has to be satisfied with a few drippings from 
 behind. From now on the poet-making drink is the property 
 of the gods alone. 
 
 We can easily see how a thorough Romanticist would revel 
 in such a theme. Beneath the external crudeness of the Norse 
 myth we have the profound meaning; the divine ownership of 
 poetry. It was this theme which appealed to the young Stag- 
 nelius, as it did to so many German Romanticists. The poet 
 was on a par with the gods and his art was a divine art and of 
 divine origin. Consequently the humorous element in " Gun- 
 log" is less developed, the crudeness is to a large extent re- 
 moved, and the details of the original are altered 1 to suit the 
 main purpose : the apotheosis of poetry. Then also it becomes 
 the struggle between the powers of light and darkness, i. e., 
 between the Asas and the dwarfs, and the former must conquer. 
 Wickedness is punished, for the norns are ever watchful, and 
 specific violence against the sons of poetry is eventually 
 avenged. " Gunlog" eulogizes also the magic power of music. 
 Music is the art, par excellence, and how Romantic this is, 
 which can soothe the restless soul and arouse the warriors to 
 action. Stagnelius's epic has become the carrier for expres- 
 sions of tender moods and melancholy, for elegiac effusions, 
 for didacticism, and for highly colored descriptions. Much 
 emphasis is laid upon the history of the creation according to 
 the Norse myth and references are made to semi-historical 
 facts and viking customs. 
 
 The epic " Gunlog " comprises four complete cantos with 
 fragments of a fifth and sixth. The first canto deals with 
 Kwasir's divine calling as a poet, his war against the Asas. 
 
 i For instance, Stagnelius uses only one vessel to collect Kwasir's blood. 
 
132 
 
 Kwasir has been brought up by Northern fairies " near sacred 
 springs in the quiet grove." At seventeen he goes out to sing 
 of the glory of the gods; to spread life and pleasure through 
 the almighty power of song and music ; and to sing of weapons 
 and of the golden age when all was innocent. 1 He arrives at 
 Asa-gard where he "shines like a star." Here he tells of Odin's 
 beneficial immigration into the North and either sings mildly 
 of death, or the strings of his harp " roar forth the thunder of 
 war " and arouse the desire for murder. In the interim, Sut- 
 tung, who reigns in the extreme North at Hnitbjorg, hears 
 that foreign vessels have arrived on the shore of Manhem with 
 new gods and religious services and decides to fight them. 
 Clubs and bows and arrows are to be used " after the custom 
 of the forefathers," " shields are cleaned with sand and bear- 
 fat," and the edges of steel sharpened on smooth rocks. 
 
 In the second canto Kwasir arrives at Suttung's court, his 
 countenance beaming with " divine enchantment." With him 
 is the warrior Brage who comes as a special messenger from 
 Odin to sue for the hand of Suttung's daughter, Gunlog. The 
 skald sings of his youth, 2 his divine gift, and of the creation of 
 the world. But Suttung is enraged, he is only temporarily 
 pacified by the magic power of Kwasir's music and determines 
 "to drink intoxication out of the Asas' skulls," much as the 
 forefathers were wont to do. 3 
 
 The third canto is a beautiful and sublime mingling of the 
 Romantic and the Gothic. Here we find gods and dwarfs, 
 dreams, pathos, miracles, caves, and moonlight. Brage and 
 Kwasir descend into a cave on a mountain to rest. Kwasir 
 dreams. He realizes he will not live much longer, and so 
 comes out upon a cliff near a lonely shore and sings his best 
 songs. He tells of the dwarfs and of their partial destruction 
 by Asa-Thor. And, alas! two dwarfs who had their forge 
 beneath the mountain were annoyed by Kwasir's harp "the 
 breast where dwells the hunger for gold" is immune to the 
 magic power of song and fraternal sympathy and capture the 
 
 1 Cf. Ja, sail var jorden innan Lokes brott 
 
 Och Hoders blindhet hunnit Balder falla, 11. 81-82. 
 
 2 Cf. quotation at beginning of chapter. 
 
 3 Cf. lines 248-49. 
 
133 
 
 minstrel. He is bound naked to a marble pillar and murdered. 
 But the divine norn is present. She removes the corpse to 
 save the skald from disgrace, his sacred blood is changed by 
 a miracle to a golden yellow mead, and, together with the harp, 
 is deposited in the lowest part of the grotto. 
 
 In the fourth canto the dwarfs are executed for not having 
 a suit of armor ready which they were forging for Suttung, 
 and thus the death of the skald is, in a sense, already avenged. 
 Suttung makes further preparations to reconquer Manhem 
 from the new gods. The army eats bear-steak prepared in 
 copper kettles, and a mead is prepared from honey and hops. 
 Then the dwarfs' grotto is plundered. Hjalmar, a character 
 invented by the poet, is led by fate to Kwasir's blood or mead. 
 He had before the making of a poet; now he becomes a real 
 skald. His vision includes new worlds, his feelings melt 
 together into a symphony, and everything becomes purple and 
 gold. Through the winds of the night, among the tall pines 
 and in a silvery moonlight the heavenly tones issue forth from 
 his harp. The gates of heaven are now truly open to him. 
 Suttung hears the harp and, angered, pursues the skald, but 
 the latter is protected by the norn. It is now that Suttung 
 procures the wonderful mead and decides to entrust it to the 
 care of his daughter Gunlog. She is to be the custodian of it 
 at the castle of Hnitbjorg until her father's victorious return 
 from the war with Odin. In the meantime Brage has disap- 
 peared the poet does not make it clear when and returns to 
 Odin with the tidings, while Suttung goes to sleep listening to 
 Hjalmar's harp. Then Thor is given command of the Asa- 
 troops, for love and longing has deprived Odin of the necessary 
 energy to carry armor. Thus the poet : 
 
 Sa stammer karlek hjeltars styrka ner, 
 Sa afven Gudar trana for begaren. 1 
 
 The favorite thought of Stagnelius, that woman is the cause 
 of the downfall of both men and gods, is well illustrated in the 
 fragment of the fifth and sixth cantos. The wise Mimer 
 
 i Thus love takes away the strength of heroes ; thus even the gods yearn 
 for desires (i. e., the passion of love). 
 
 10 
 
134 
 
 points out that the Asas will never conquer Jothem unless they 
 obtain Kwasir's golden harp to arouse the men to courage. 
 How is this to be done? Freya's maid Lofne is selected to 
 entice Hjalmar by womanly cunning which can do anything in 
 the world. Hjalmar resists the temptation for a while, but 
 finally yields passionately, Lofne obtains the harp, and arrives 
 at Odin's castle with it. The last part of the fragment deals 
 with Odin's visit to Gunlog. It is extremely passionate, naive, 
 and suggestive. In the morning after his nocturnal sojourn, 
 Odin drinks the mead, embraces his sweetheart again, assumes 
 the form of an eagle (as in the original source), and flies away. 
 In Asa-gard he ejects the mead into a beaker which "rings 
 melodiously at every drop." Brage, who has been waiting for 
 him, drinks it and now feels a higher divinity burning in his 
 heart. His glance is directed toward the canopy of the stars 
 and he is crowned king of skalds. The Jota-army is crushed 
 and driven into the far North where they live as Lapps. Hjal- 
 mar gets a place among the skalds and Gunlog becomes the 
 wife of Odin. 
 
 It is clear from the above analysis that in " Gunlog " Stag- 
 nelius was most interested in the purely poetic, the personal, 
 the feminine, and the Romantic. He molds the myth to suit 
 his will. In the next work to be considered we shall notice a 
 somewhat different attitude. 
 
 In no production has the poet followed the original source 
 as closely as in "Wisbur." In this short five-act tragedy our 
 attention is focused upon the original narrative, as given by 
 Snorre Sturleson in the Ynglinga Saga. Fate, which played 
 a secondary part in " Blenda " and " Gunlog," becomes the 
 principal motive in "Wisbur." A curse like that upon And- 
 vari's treasure in the Volsunga Saga rests upon our hero. It 
 is the necessary expiation of old sins and the unavoidable repe- 
 tition of the same which gives the tragic setting. It is a logical 
 Hellenic-Gothic sequence of sin, curse, blood, and tears. Then 
 Stagnelius weaves into his fabric the danger of ambition, the 
 superiority of lowliness to greatness and honor, and emphasizes 
 again the power and character of woman. 
 
 It will be remembered that Li vijn had in mind a trilogy on the 
 
135 
 
 saga of Wisbur (Visbur), but it was never written. The main 
 facts of the original form of the saga have, therefore, been 
 given already. 1 We shall see that the story in the drama coin- 
 cides on the whole with the original. 
 
 The enchantress Huld gives us the past history of the fatal 
 chain, now worn by Hildur. The golden chain had once been 
 the property of Odin's wife. It was made by the dwarf Sindre, 
 it had the property of producing nothing but strife and war, 
 and had been stolen by Loki for the destruction and enticement 
 of all the gods' children. It was promised by Vaulande, 
 Wisbur's father, to Drifva in Finland, but Vaulande was faith- 
 less, and died as a consequence, through his former sweetheart's 
 revenge. 
 
 Now the situation becomes analogous in Wisbur's own case. 
 His first wife Oda has been deserted. He has two sons, Gissler 
 (Gisel) and Auder (Audur), by her and the chain and throne 
 should belong to them. Oda appears at Wisbur's court at 
 Uppsala to claim her just dues. A large feast is being pre- 
 pared to which all are invited, including the two sons. The 
 gods do not seem propitious but Wisbur goes blindly on. Oda's 
 request is refused, and Wisbur declares honestly and directly 
 that he does not love his former wife any more. Whereupon 
 Oda becomes a raging animal, a ferocious Penthesilea, who 
 would gladly " drink blood as she drinks the frothing mead." 
 After a consultation with Vanlander's (Vaulande's) spirit, the 
 reigning couple are made acquainted with the pending catas- 
 trophe. Soon crowds appear, surround the castle, and capture 
 it. Hildur, in despair, chokes herself with the cursed chain, 
 Wisbur falls on his sword. Auder comes on the stage with 
 the coveted jewel, and now Oda is ready to die. 
 
 In the original the chain is mentioned only in connection with 
 Wisbur (in Chap. 17 of the Ynglinga Saga), and the former 
 history of the neck-ring is not mentioned at all. Stagnelius 
 supplies the name, also, of Wisbur's second wife ; the saga tells 
 us merely that he "took to himself another wife." Likewise 
 the details of the catastrophe have been altered to suit the dra- 
 
 1 Cf. Chap. I, p. 72, where the original narrative is given. 
 
136 
 
 matic situation ; but the fundamental motivation of the original 
 source has been preserved. 
 
 " Wisbur " is a marvelous harmony of Gothicism and Hel- 
 lenism. Of course, it is primarily a lyrical reading drama; and 
 for this reason the choruses are very prominent and contain 
 perhaps the most beautiful poetry in the tragedy. Here the 
 Hellenic-antique, however, overshadows the Scandinavian- 
 antique. And what wonderful harmony here of form and con- 
 tent ! Oda makes her awful, revengeful resolutions in ominous 
 dactylic tetrameters j 1 when Wisbur's castle is surrounded, the 
 chorus gives us the details in rapid dimeters, alternating with 
 tetrameters; 2 the combat between father and son is told in 
 exciting iambic tetrameters; 3 and a temporary calm after the 
 storm is indicated by alternating tetrameters, and trimeters 
 of the dactylic foot. 4 The main argument is written in the 
 modern blank verse with little action and, like the author's 
 other works, with much coloring of rose, lily, purple and silver. 
 The mild sighs, moonlight and mystical yearning of a Romantic 
 atmosphere are not wanting. 
 
 Stagnelius has put some thoughts into the minds of the char- 
 acters Wisbur and Hildur which may well have an autobio- 
 graphical application, especially when we know of the poet's 
 own mental and physical suffering. 
 
 Hildur, in the first act we may well call it a mere scene 
 says : " It is easy to die but cruel to tremble eternally." No 
 doubt the poet felt the truth of this assertion. Again, in the 
 fourth act, after Hildur has announced the decreed doom to 
 come, Wisbur answers with a grim humor : 
 
 1 Cf. Ormar fran Nastrand ! sliten mitt brost ! 
 
 Spruten ert gift i mitt rasande hjerta! 
 
 2 Cf. Ack! losslappt ar fejden; 
 
 En rasande tiger, 
 
 Snart frassar den grymme pa likstrodda torg. 
 
 3 Cf. Det vilda hafvets raseri 
 
 Och stormens vrede tyglen I 
 Kan menskan blott ej hugnad bli? 
 * Cf. Stjernorna blanka sa mildt i azuren 
 
 Blommorna sofva i dalen. 
 Lugn ar den eviga, hulda naturen, 
 Andas blott njutning och val. 
 
137 
 
 Med doden alltsa endast? Goda Hildur! 
 
 Visst skall jag do; jag visste det forut. 
 
 Den hoga Oden fore mig ju dodde, 
 
 Han, Valhalls konung, alia diars hufvud, 
 
 Den rika Niord, akerbrukets Gud, 
 
 Och Yngve Frey, den gyllne tidens drott, 
 
 Och Fjolner, Svegder, och min far Vanlander. 
 
 Ej annat ode kan jag vanta mig. 1 
 
 Incidentally we get, at the same time, a good sprinkling of 
 names from Norse mythology. 
 
 " Sigurd Ring," another short tragedy in pentameters, is very 
 much like "Wisbur." The formal characteristics are the same; 
 the unities are observed, the characters few, and choruses extol 
 the heroes and heroine. There is little action; most of it is 
 epic and lyrical. It has dramatic episodes of touching inten- 
 sity, but it is too brief for a stage play. It has the usual 
 amount of Romantic epithets and mystical longing, and evinces 
 the most stirring pathos. No Gothic work of Stagnelius 
 perhaps none of his works depicts such intensity of feeling, 
 it seems to me, as " Sigurd Ring." And the almost imper- 
 ceptible blending of realism and lyricism in the tragedy proves 
 unmistakably that the author is a poet of genius. 
 
 Again, " das Ewig-weibliche " plays an important role. In 
 fact, it seems as if the poet at times were more interested in the 
 heroine than in the hero. The tragedy could just as well have 
 been called " Hilma," the name of the heroine, as " Sigurd 
 Ring." How Stagnelius delights in the glorification of wom- 
 anly beauty! Beauty is god-like, and the terms used in de- 
 scribing that of woman are frequently and naturally com- 
 pounds of "snow" and "lily." As in "Wisbur," there is a 
 personal note, an evidence of the poet's own suffering. In 
 Act III, for instance, there is much about hope, patience, and 
 a silent resignation to whatever fate may have in store for us. 
 
 1 [And so you come to announce] Death only ? Why, my good Hildur ! 
 Of course I am to die ; I knew that before. Why, the high Odin before 
 me died, he, the king of Valhalla, the chief of all the gods. The rich 
 Niord, the god of agriculture ; and Yngve Frey, the king of the Golden 
 Age; and Fjolner, Svegder, and my father Vanlander; no other fate may 
 I expect. 
 
138 
 
 The Old Norse element in " Sigurd Ring " is different from 
 that in "Wisbur." In the former the original source is more 
 truly historical and the emphasis, therefore, laid more upon 
 viking characteristics than upon pure Norse myths. The vik- 
 ing qualities are idealized and accounts of them clothed in 
 elevated language. The Northern pirate's directness of speech 
 and uprightness is well illustrated. A promise once made is 
 always kept. A death on the battlefield, either self-inflicted 
 or at the hand of another, is the ideal death for an heroic 
 viking, and the blue dwelling-place of the water-sprite is a 
 charming grave for a Norse woman. And this has divine 
 sanction. That Alf dies on the battlefield with Sigurd's sword, 
 wielded by Sigurd himself, is not only desired by Alf, but de- 
 creed and fulfilled by the fate of the gods. In addition to the 
 strictly viking element, also, we have much of the poet's reflec- 
 tion in " Sigurd Ring," expressed in terms of Norse myths. 
 In illustrating the tremendous power of love (in Act II), Stag- 
 nelius introduces again and this time he follows the original 
 myth more closely the story of Suttung's mead. That is, he 
 uses that part of Norse mythology which best suits his Ro- 
 mantic temperament. 
 
 Sigurd Ring was one of the last kings of the mythological 
 age of the North. He made himself the ruler of all Scandi- 
 navia by the defeat of Harald Hildetand at the memorable 
 battle of Bravallahed in Smaland, Sweden, 730 A. D. This 
 was the last battle in which Odin himself is said to have ap- 
 peared on earth, and most of the nobles and heroes of the 
 whole North met in combat. 1 The victory of Sigurd Ring 
 over Harald Hildetand is mentioned in Saxo Grammaticus in 
 the eighth book. 
 
 The scene of the original story of Stagnelius's tragedy, ac- 
 cording to Hammarskjold, 2 is laid in Norway, and Alf -sol 
 (Hilma) is the daughter of a sub-king of Norway. Here Si- 
 gurd, king of Svithiod (Sweden), sues for the hand of Alf-sol 
 but is refused by the father and brothers on the ground of old 
 
 1 Cf. Paul C. Binding: The Scandinavian Races, New York, 1875, pp. 4;ff. 
 
 2 Cf. Introduction to Stagnelius's " Samlade skrifter," Stockholm, 1836, 
 PP. 36-37. 
 
139 
 
 age. Then, as had been the viking custom, Sigurd resorts to 
 force. But since Sigurd is a mighty and feared warrior, the 
 brothers anticipate the outcome of the encounter by giving their 
 sister poison before the fray opens. When Sigurd finds her 
 dead he dies himself, " as he had lived, among the billows and 
 flames." 1 
 
 Stagnelius localizes his tragedy in Denmark in the province 
 of Jutland, and the action which we see takes place in a colon- 
 nade-hall in Alf 's castle. The name of the heroine is Hilma ; 
 Alf is her brother and guardian and under-king of Jutland; 
 Ragnar is a hero and Hilma's accepted lover ; and Sigurd, as in 
 history, is an old man and king of Sweden, Norway and Den- 
 mark. The tragic conflict, as in the original, is between gen- 
 uine love and earthly power. It is duty, sworn friendship, and 
 honor against splendor, high position, and faithlessness. Hilma 
 does not care for happiness in the ordinary sense ; she wants a 
 heart, and is, naturally, willing to die for her love. 
 
 The plot is very simple. Sigurd, who has always been vic- 
 torious in battle, demands the hand of Hilma from her brother. 
 The old king is straightway rejected, for Alf refuses to break 
 his word that Ragnar shall possess her love. The refusal 
 means war, and war under the circumstances means the defeat 
 and probable death of Hilma's protectors. And so Hilma 
 takes the poison prepared for her, and in the presence of her 
 lover, Alf and Ragnar are both slain in the battle that follows, 
 Sigurd himself commits suicide, and the bodies of Sigurd and 
 Hilma are burned on the same funeral pyre upon the monarch's 
 ship. 
 
 That Stagnelius had the power to create a scene of dramatic 
 beauty is proved in the fourth act. Sigurd is just returning 
 with the blood of Alf and Ragnar upon his conscience. He 
 has sent thousands to Valhalla before without the slightest 
 feeling of compunction, but the last deed worries him. In the 
 meantime the body of Hilma has been prepared for the last 
 
 i For his own source, Hammarskjold refers in his Introduction to 
 "Sveriges historia for ungdom," by M. Bruzelius. I have not seen this 
 work myself. 
 
140 
 
 rites and is lying in state. Gerda, the fostermother, tells 
 Sigurd, who knows nothing of Hilma's death, that his bride is 
 waiting for him in wedding array, calm, silent, and smiling. 
 The subsequent scene, when Sigurd discovers the real state of 
 affairs, and the heroic lamentations of the old viking king at 
 Hilma's bier produce a dramatic situation of immense power. 
 
 The poet's own hopeful and serene view of the life to come 
 finds a suitable expression in " Sigurd Ring " in terms of 
 Norse mythology. The tone is that of a -deep religiosity and 
 faith in a better eternal life. The chorus in the last act sings 
 first of the final destruction of the world. Then, last of all, it 
 sings of the eternal bliss to come, when evil is no more ; when 
 Balder and Nanna return from the subjugated kingdom of 
 Hel ; and when the Asas discover anew in the green grass the 
 divine runes of Allfather. 
 
 That Stagnelius knew his Norse mythology and understood 
 its profound meaning perfectly, is nowhere better illustrated 
 than in the interesting, seven-page dramatic fragment " Sveg- 
 der." In the original source the poet found the very essence 
 of the moral and religious struggles of mankind. He found 
 his own agonizing, Faustian struggle of two souls, diametrically 
 opposed to one another, dwelling in the same breast. Here 
 was the golden opportunity to dwell on the everlasting war 
 between matter and spirit. Here the poet found a vehicle for 
 symbolism and philosophy; here, again, woman becomes the 
 only conqueror of gods ; and back of it all are the blind, incom- 
 prehensible judgments of fate. 
 
 The narrative of the original Svegder (Svegde) 1 is found in 
 the fifteenth chapter of the Ynglinga Saga by Sturleson. It 
 deals with an Uppsala king's journey to the Black Sea to find 
 Odin the Old. On the way he is enticed into a mountain by 
 dwarfs and never returns. According to Sturleson, it was 
 Svegder's second effort to reach Gudhem, i. e., "god-home," 
 the home of Odin. " Once more Svegde set out to reach Gud- 
 hem. In the eastern part of Sweden (Svithiod) there is a 
 large village by the name of Stone (Sten), where there is a 
 rock as large as a big house. In the evening after sunset, when 
 
 1 He was the grandfather of Wisbur, whom we have treated above. 
 
141 
 
 Svegde was returning from the drinking-bout to his sleeping 
 chamber, he looked at the rock and saw that a dwarf sat beneath 
 it. Svegde and his men were very much intoxicated and ran 
 against the rock. The dwarf stood in the door, calling to 
 Svegde, and bade him come in, if he wished to find Odin. 
 Svegde hastened to come inside the rock, which closed imme- 
 diately, and Svegde never came back." 
 
 Of the original dramatis personae only one character (the 
 dwarf) appears in Stagnelius's fragment. But the poet has 
 introduced three others: Nore, a giant; Sindre, a dwarf, serv- 
 ant, and watchman in the employ of Nore; and Hild, Nore's 
 daughter, who is to entice Svegder. The hero himself does not 
 appear, but we are acquainted with everything there is to know 
 about him. He is the fifth grandson of Fridulf, who formerly 
 established altars to the glory of Odin, and represents the 
 power of light. Opposed to him are the dwarfs and the giant 
 Nore, who represent the servants of darkness. From this list 
 of characters the main theme may be imagined without further 
 comment. 
 
 The dwarf has just completed a chain, the making of which 
 has been entrusted to him by the King of the Mountain, Nore. 
 The different links of the chain furnish material for philosoph- 
 ical reflections on the judgments of fate. 1 Nore tells the 
 dwarf to keep the "new Gleipner " (the chain) which has been 
 forged by the powers of revenge for destructive purposes 
 against Odin's children. Then follows a brief history of the 
 creation and of the original strife between the gods and the 
 giants. Nore summons the sons of Ymer (here, the dwarfs), 
 reveals to them their origin, and inspires in them a hope of 
 future joy. The giants and dwarfs are brothers, and upon 
 their altars the people were wont to worship, until Odin came 
 and defeated the King of Materia, i. e., Ymer. All giants and 
 dwarfs drowned in the blood of Ymer except Bergelmer, with 
 wife, children, and slaves, who escaped. Through these the 
 race carried on an eternal war against the powers of light. 
 
 1 Cf . Schiller's " Das Lied von der Glocke " ; the different stages in the 
 casting of the bell and the accompanying reflections represent the different 
 stages in the growth of an individual. 
 
142 
 
 They often forged weapons of murder for man and " by means 
 of the alluring food of gold brought them into vice and de- 
 struction." This condition continued until Fridulf's son came 
 and established altars to the glory of the God of Light and 
 frightened the dwarfs back into the rivers and mountains. 
 That is, Odin was recognized as the victor, although the divine 
 power of darkness was still worshipped. 
 
 It is hardly necessary to observe that in the introductory 
 epic material of the fragment we have nothing but Chris- 
 tian ideals in the garb of Norse mythology. Odin is virtually 
 none other than Christ himself, or better, perhaps, the personi- 
 fication of what we call Christian ideals. This becomes still 
 more evident as Nore's narrative goes on. According to a 
 " ridiculous " saga, which originated in the " sacred palm-abode 
 of India," Odin was to allow himself to be born of an earthly 
 woman to redeem man. And now Svegder, who believes Odin 
 to be his ancestor, has set out for the land of palms, olives, and 
 sycamores to visit the God who has just been born of woman. 
 In other words, Svegder is undertaking a pilgrimage across the 
 Baltic to the Orient, which the poet supposes to be the cradle 
 of both the Old Norse and the Christian religions. 
 
 Then commences the real dramatic action which is very brief. 
 Nore knows about Svegder's journey and has sent Hild to 
 entice him. His servant, Sindre, is watching upon the top of 
 the mountain for the approach of the victim. Sindre arrives 
 on the scene and announces the arrival of Svegder with a band 
 of warriors. Then Hild enters ; evidently she has already laid 
 the snare, and she sets forth how a situation of that kind must 
 always be met. The only means for darkness to overcome 
 light is " the haven of a maiden." A glance, a voice, will " dis- 
 arm the whole power of the sun and allure the regents of the 
 stars down from their thrones to an effeminate rest on a bed 
 of flowers." 
 
 Here the fragment ends, and there is very little more that 
 can be said about it. It is another illustration of a Romanti- 
 cist's unsuccessful attempt to dramatize a saga theme. But 
 this much must be said : there is a wealth of meaning hidden 
 in the original source and it would have proved interesting to 
 
143 
 
 see how Stagnelius really intended to formulate the drama as 
 a whole. 
 
 Dramatically, " Svegder " was not a success, even as far as 
 it went ; and probably could not have been, if completed. The 
 internal meaning was more suitable for an epic than a drama, 
 and there was not enough material in the original for a com- 
 plex, well-developed plot. It was merely an episode and the 
 hero, who is a tool of cruel fate, is practically ensnared at the 
 beginning of the drama. There is no more to develop. Then, 
 too, a pretentious scheme, where woman was to be the tool and 
 unconquerable emissary of the powers of darkness, could hardly 
 prove an agreeable dramatic topic in this case. It was based, 
 it seems, on personal opinions which were too severe and 
 pessimistic. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 NlCANDER AND BESKOW : WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE 
 
 AGE OF TRANSITION FROM NORSE HEATHENDOM TO 
 
 CHRISTIANITY, AS REFLECTED IN THE ROMANTIC 
 
 DRAMAS OF THESE Two MEN. 
 
 " Det gar sa alltid, att det gamla, torra, 
 Skall lemma rummet at det unga, friska." 
 Oldur in " Runesvardet" 
 
 There is no literary amalgamation of Romantic and viking 
 elements during the Swedish Romantic period that makes more 
 fascinating reading than "The Runesword and the First 
 Knight" (Runesvardet och den forste riddaren) by Karl 
 August Nicander. " The Runesword," a tragedy in four acts, 
 is written in pentameter and appeared in 1821 when the author 
 was but twenty-one years old. The freshness, the remarkable 
 imagery, the imagination and the originality displayed in the 
 drama won even TegneYs hearty admiration. At first we find 
 a pleasing variety ; full descriptions of scenery and stage direc- 
 tions, lyrical passages, a saga in prose, a mixture of monks and 
 warriors in the list of dramatis personae, as well as an arch- 
 bishop, a king, a ghost, and a champion, presumably heathen, 
 with the omnious name of Orm (serpent). On closer inspec- 
 tion we find strong dialogs, sublime monologs, a miracle, a 
 devil disguised as a monk, and an old doubting weakling, who 
 attributes the failure of his crops to his recent conversion. 
 The unities are disregarded ; the action covers a period of over 
 "three hundred days," the tragedy is localized in the vicinity 
 of Bjorko and Adelso in Sweden, but the scenes are shifted 
 frequently, and within the same act. We can hardly speak of 
 any unity of action, for there are too many important charac- 
 ters in the limelight, and Alrik, "the first knight," is too im- 
 petuous and vacillating, and his most dramatic maneuvers are 
 determined too much by external circumstances to warrant the 
 
 144 
 
145 
 
 name of a strong tragic hero. Often peasants are introduced 
 to demonstrate the prevalent division of sympathy between the 
 old gods and the new God, and, as in Act II, sc. 2, to show 
 admiration and faith in their leader, the nominal heathen but 
 potential Christian Alrik. The nature-setting throughout is 
 picturesque and impressive, never too gaudy, and the opening 
 scene would do justice to a grand opera. Several scenes are laid 
 at sunset or at the dead of night, amid lamps, lanterns, torches 
 and thunder and lightning, and offset by mental disturbances 
 in the souls of the old, confirmed pagans or the recently con- 
 verted Christians. An actual or assumed intolerance and vio- 
 lence on the part of the monks, and the spasmodic berserker- 
 rage of Alrik alternate with scenes of the deepest melancholy, 
 based on an extreme Catholic system of religious thought. 
 
 There could hardly be a tragic theme more Romantic, dra- 
 matic, and inexhaustible than the conflict between a medieval 
 Christian and a Norse heathen. Oehlenschlager had already 
 treated the same theme in "Hakon Jarl," in 1807, and in a 
 letter to M. v. Schwerin, dated in Lund, October 4, 1821, 
 Tegner writes : " Several years ago I commenced a ' Blotsven/ 
 which was to represent the severe struggle between Christianity 
 and heathenism. A glorious theme: the decrepit Asas who 
 stand sponsors at the baptism of the North!" 1 But Tegner 
 knew he was no dramatist and, according to this letter, threw 
 both Asas and monks into the stove. Nicander, however, had 
 better success with the theme. 
 
 At the opening of the first act, a dragon ship is sailing by 
 in the distance, at sunset, with singing vikings upon it, and 
 Oldur is seen in the foreground, on the shore, grinding his 
 sword and lamenting the degeneration of the viking. Led by 
 Peregrinus, a band of Christian catechumens arrives: Oldur 
 refuses to respect the cross and is ordered to be bound when 
 his son, Alrik, rushes in with drawn sword and " eagle-helmet " 
 upon his head and rescues his aged father. In a strong and 
 solemn dialog on a funeral mound, Alrik takes the fateful 
 vow to slay that one of his race who first forsakes his ancestral 
 belief. With much skill Nicander contrasts here viking deeds 
 
 1 Jubelfestupplaga, V, p. 233. 
 
146 
 
 and clash of arms with the " effeminate children-songs," " black 
 books," and "white women's-clothes " of the monks. An old 
 man and recent convert, Edmund, appears to protest against 
 the new confession ; all prosperity has left him since he changed 
 his faith; he stands now as a victim of two angry divine 
 powers; twelve nights of song and prayer have been of no avail, 
 and his Christian daughter has become as " pale as the flowers " 
 on his meadow. Bishop Ansgarius, who is present, points with 
 kindness, comfort, and piety to the land above; Edmund is 
 convinced, rather too easily, of his mistake and the crowd dis- 
 perses in the darkness. Then comes one of the remarkable 
 monologs in the tragedy. Peregrinus appears with a torch 
 and divulges in strophes of "gloomy beauty" 1 and demonic 
 power his true character. He is a devil sent to earth to " de- 
 story the cross " and incite hatred between the contending fac- 
 tions. Then, from a Romantic brimstone atmosphere of sighs, 
 tears, and genuinely satanic reflections the scene is shifted to 
 Edmund's peaceful dwelling. Here the pagan Alrik takes 
 farewell of his betrothed Hulda, Edmund's daughter, who is 
 a super-devout Christian. After Alrik's departure, Hulda 
 upbraids herself to her father for a "criminal" love, over- 
 emphasizes a guilt which is mere imagination in the first place, 
 deems herself the cause of her father's misfortune, and, finally, 
 father and daughter decide to make a pilgrimage to the holy 
 sepulchre to win peace for their souls. 
 
 In the meantime, Peregrinus has been faithful to his satanic 
 mission. In the beginning of the second act, a temple has been 
 burned and the whole city barely rescued from the flames. 
 Shortly afterwards a woman appears carrying a dead child in 
 her arms, and we are given to understand that a monk had bap- 
 tized it to death by order of the Bishop (Ansgarius). Both 
 crimes are the work of Peregrinus, of course, and the impul- 
 sive Alrik, supported by a large group of followers, is deter- 
 mined to restore the religion of their forefathers. The angry 
 populace is pacified temporarily, however, by Folke Lagman, 
 in whom Nicander has attempted to create an ideal, though 
 somewhat modern, type of the viking lawyer and judge. 
 
 i Cf . C. D. af Wirsen: Lefnadsteckningar, Stockholm, 1901, p. 185. 
 
147 
 
 Folke is the embodiment of wisdom, and in clear and splendid 
 language urges caution, deliberation, and justice. Crime can- 
 not be cured by crime a modern idea is Folke's principle. 
 
 " Ju langre molnet skockar sig och svartnar, 
 Dess starkare blir thordon, da den kommer. 1 
 
 Alrik is sitting on a stone below a chapel. Ansgarius comes 
 out and Alrik raises his sword above the Bishop, when the 
 mother with the dead child appears, and the would-be assassin 
 checks himself and withdraws. The woman's abusive attacks 
 on the Bishop are repaid with kindness and a miracle takes 
 place when Ansgarius places his hand on the child's head ; the 
 child opens his eyes and lives to the intense astonishment of 
 both. Alrik has been a distant witness of the dramatic miracle 
 and is deeply affected, but strangely enough our viking Hamlet 
 rushes into Oldur's dwelling soon thereafter, determined to 
 save the grandchildren from later conversion by immediate 
 slaughter. Still more mysteriously he believes he can carry 
 out the provisions of his horrible oath by such a murder. The 
 only possible explanation for his attitude is an inner despair, 
 akin to madness, occasioned by a full realization of his own 
 wavering condition. He does not carry out his dastardly plan 
 and begs his father to take back the runesword. This Oldur 
 refuses to do, reminding him of his fatal oath. 
 
 The ten scenes of the third act prepare the way for Alrik's 
 formal conversion and for the Thing which is to decide the fate 
 of the Christians. The monk, Clemens, teacher of Alrik, is 
 accosted by some heathen warriors and forced to give up his 
 Bible. The old Norsemen are struck by the " mysterious 
 book," easily interpret its illustrations in terms of their own 
 religion and decide to retain the book as evidence against the 
 Christians. In the second and third scene between Oldur and 
 Folke, and between the father and the son, we learn something 
 about the mental struggles of Alrik, but not enough, 2 so that 
 the hero's sudden enthusiasm for Christianity later seems un- 
 
 i " The longer the clouds gather and darken, the more violent is the 
 thunder when it comes." See Sc. 3. Nicander: Samlade arbeten. Tredje 
 upplagan. Senare delen, pp. 347-48. All references are to this edition. 
 
 2 Cf. Wirsen, as above, p. 187. 
 
148 
 
 natural, even if he has never been a very strong heathen. The 
 fourth scene shows the danger of the Christian missionaries, 
 and Clemens urges Ansgarius, of course in vain, to flee before 
 the coming Thing is held. In scene 7 we see Clemens and 
 Alrik on a " dark night " zealously studying the Bible in Ed- 
 mund's desolated home at Adelso. Edmund himself comes 
 back from his pilgrimage with a message from his dying 
 daughter, Alrik rushes out, and in his anguish is about to kill 
 himself when Hulda's ghost appears and entreats her former 
 lover to be baptized. At sunrise Alrik is a Christian convert. 
 Tegner liked the last act best. 1 It has more of the necessary 
 dramatic unity and concentration than the remainder of the 
 tragedy, and the modern biographer Wirsen rightly character- 
 izes the opening farewell monolog, where Alrik buries his 
 viking armor and sword, as one of " almost sublime power." 2 
 Peregrinus has been a silent spectator at the burial of Alrik's 
 weapons. He urges Orm, who is of Alrik's stature, to dig up 
 and don the armor and, thus disguised as Alrik, and prompted 
 by Peregrinus, to fight against the Christians. Orm, who has 
 an almost humorous turn of mind, is ready to do anything, pro- 
 vided he does not have to think. 3 The next few scenes take 
 place in a chapel after midnight, when Alrik is baptized by 
 Ansgarius, gets other armor from the Bishop, and becomes a 
 knight of the cross. Finally, in the last three scenes we have 
 the Thing in the open air. King Olof is present and testi- 
 monies are heard. All atrocities attributed to the Christians 
 point to one man, but he has escaped, a rather cowardly and 
 unnecessary trick for a devil to play, for the one perpetrator 
 is, of course, Peregrinus. Upon the suggestion of a wise 
 peasant, the question of guilt is to be decided in mortal combat 
 between two representatives. Naturally Alrik becomes the 
 champion of the Christians, and Orm, with Alrik's armor and 
 runesword, of the heathen and the gods of Valhalla. In the 
 encounter Orm is killed, Oldur picks up the sword, discovers 
 
 1 Cf. letter to M. v. Schwerin of April i, 1821. Jubelfestupplaga, V, 
 p. 223- 
 
 2 Lefnadsteckningar, p. 188. 
 
 3 Sc. 2, p. 419. 
 
149 
 
 the adversary to be his son Alrik, pierces himself and is about 
 to rush at Alrik, when the latter announces that he has already 
 been f ataly wounded ; the runesword had performed its mission. 
 The sources of this plot are not very extensive. Wirsen 
 points out that we must not expect to find local color or believe 
 that "The Runesword" gives any pronounced Kulturbild. 1 
 Nicander's studies or knowledge of human life cannot have 
 been very comprehensive at his age, and this may account for 
 the lack of firmness in some characters. But we are wrong to 
 suppose that there is no approximation to historical truth in 
 " The Runesword." Nicander localizes his tragedy at Bjorko, 
 puts the time at "about 850," and introduces King Olof and 
 Archbishop Ansgarius (Anskar). Now both of these are 
 actual historical personages; they lived "about 850" on or in 
 the vicinity of the island of Bjorko, which is situated about 
 eighteen English miles west of Stockholm; and many other 
 features of the tragedy have, apparently, a more definite his- 
 torical setting than is ordinarily supposed. The historical 
 "Apostle of the North" remained two winters at Birka, a 
 prominent port on Bjorko in Lake Malar, on his first mission- 
 ary trip to Germany in 831 A. D., " in order to report progress 
 to the emperor." 2 "Anskar, whose personal interest in the 
 mission (i.e., in Sweden) still continued, came again to Sweden 
 in 848 A. D., in the time of a king called Olof, and remained 
 fortabout the same time as before." 3 This was two years, 
 which would put the end of his second stay at " about 850," the 
 date set for the drama. Edmund's complaint in Act I, sc. 4, 
 that the old gods were probably angry with him for being con- 
 verted, seems to be more than a mere brainstorm, historically, 
 and the same is true of the introduction of King Eric's image 
 in Act II, scenes I and 2. The Bishop of Salisbury, in his 
 recent lectures on "The National Church in Sweden," writes, 
 with respect to Anskar's second visit to Sweden : " Complaint 
 was made that the .(heathen) gods were angry because their 
 
 1 Lefnadsteckningar, p. 191. 
 
 2 John Wordsworth, Bishop of Salisbury, The National Church of Swe- 
 den (The Hale Lectures, 1910), London and Oxford, England, and Mil- 
 waukee, U. S. A., 1911, p. 52. 
 
 3 Ibid., p. 54. 
 11 
 
150 
 
 sacrifices were neglected; and an enthusiast came forward to 
 announce a vision which he had received from the gods for- 
 bidding the people to deify their late king, Eric." 1 And there 
 is historical justification for the Thing in the last act of " The 
 Runesword," for Bishop Wordsworth goes on to say : " On 
 Anskar's (second) arrival the king and his nobles determined 
 to ask counsel of the gods as to whether the mission should be 
 encouraged or not. . . . On this occasion it (the consultation, 
 by lot, with the gods,) was favorable to Anskar. After this the 
 question was put before two public assemblies, probably one at 
 Birka and one at Uppsala." 2 The historical Anskar was as 
 saintly and fearless as Nicander depicts him and we may well 
 imagine him in such a danger as the monk Clemens describes 
 in Act III, scenes 45, even in Sweden. Anskar had to flee 
 for his life in 845, when the Northmen, under King Eric, plun- 
 dered Hamburg. That the old vikings were especially fond 
 of telling stories, as Oldur does to his grandchildren in Act II, 
 sc. 7, is historically correct. That pilgrimages to the holy 
 land were taken, as in the case of Edmund and his daughter, 
 is mentioned in the saga literature by Snorre Sturleson, such 
 as the saga of Sigurd Jorsalafarare. Nicander did well to 
 localize his drama on Bjorko; such grave-mounds as are men- 
 tioned in it, and on one of which Alrik takes his fatal vow, are 
 said to be extremely numerous on Bjorko to this day. 
 
 It is tolerably clear that Nicander had already studied Old 
 Norse history to a considerable extent when he wrote " The 
 Runesword," but it is difficult to name his actual sources. 
 We may say that all the sagas which Nicander had read con- 
 tributed to the setting of the tragedy, and out of the composite 
 material the poet created his types, chose his environment, and 
 invented his plot. As far as I know, no other characters in 
 "The Runesword" have definite historical prototypes than 
 those mentioned. Beyond these we have to accept the author's 
 words in the dedication : 
 
 1 Ibid., p. 55. 
 
 2 Ibid., p. 55. 
 
151 
 
 Ur inga bocker jag mitt amne hamtat, 
 
 All verdslig sanning bar jag bar forsakat , 
 
 Och endast sokt det andeligen sanna. 1 
 
 One might expect from this dedication, which commences 
 with the beginning of St. John's Gospel and is dedicated to 
 Almighty God himself, that the tragedy was to show the victory 
 of Christianity over paganism. Nicander says : " But the word 
 of the Lord was triumphant." 2 In the development of his 
 drama, however, his sympathy for the rough and ready Norse- 
 man is so striking as to become a mild glorification of viking- 
 ism, and, to my mind, he succeeds best in the portrayal of the 
 viking element. And that a Scandinavian youth of twenty-one 
 should be thus inclined is natural. The tone of " The Rune- 
 sword" becomes almost didactic; the reader must feel the 
 underlying plea for tolerance toward the old religion of the 
 Northmen. Nicander seems to say and it could not be wholly 
 unconscious that religion, per se, is deeper than either Chris- 
 tianity or Valhalla worship. Consequently the main difference 
 was not so large, after all, and was largely one of interpreta- 
 tion. To the heathen warrior in Act III, sc. I, many illustra- 
 tions in Clemens's Bible fit surprisingly well into his own reli- 
 gious conceptions. He opens the book and exclaims, in part: 
 
 Har star ju Brage sjelf med gyllne harpan; 
 
 Der Thor, med portarna vid Jotunhem 
 
 Pa ryggen ; se, der har ban Midgardsormen, 
 
 Vill slita upp dess gap med gudastyrka. 
 
 Nu kommer Valhalls sal, sa hog och praktig; 
 
 Der ser man ljusastakan sta pa bordet 
 
 Med gyllne armar jemte mjodets karl, 
 
 Och Oden sjelf, i djupa tankar sankt, 
 
 I gullskrud och med brostlapp, holjd af perlor, . . . 3 
 
 i " I have not taken my theme from any books, I have renounced all 
 worldly truth here, and only sought the spiritually true." 
 
 2 See dedication, p. 294. 
 
 3 " Why here stands Brage himself with the golden harp : there Thor 
 with the gates of Jotunheim upon his back ; behold, there he has the 
 Midgard-Serpent, and is about to tear open his jaws with the strength of 
 a god. Now comes the hall of Valhalla, so high and splendid : there one 
 sees the candlestick stand on the table with golden arms, together with the 
 vessel for the mead, and Odin himself in deep thought in golden garments, 
 and with breast-protector, adorned with pearls." See p. 376. 
 
152 
 
 And further: 
 
 Se Balder, hvar han ligger blek och dod, 
 Och Nanna star vid baren stum och grater, 
 Mig tyckes verlden dod; sa tyst och kalt 
 Ar allt omkring den fallna gudasonen. 1 
 
 The last scene has a broad-minded tone of equality and recon- 
 ciliation which may be taken as the teaching of the tragedy. 
 With genuine sympathy for ancestral worship, expressed in 
 a beautiful language with a poetico-Romantic conception of 
 spirits meeting after death, King Olof voices the sentiments of 
 the poet in these verses : 
 
 Jag reder Far och Son tva skilda hogar: 
 Planterar korset uppa Alriks graf ; 
 Jag detta svard vill pa den andra satta. 
 Helt nara de bredvid hvarandra hvile, 
 Att deras valnader i stjernenatten 
 Ma, sittande pa hvar sin egen hog, 
 Hvarandra handen racka till forsoning. 2 
 
 It is important to observe the style and dramatic technic of 
 " The Runesword." The meter is almost perfect, for Nicander 
 had a good feeling for form, and the language is clear and 
 simple. Even ghost-scenes are objectively portrayed. Rime 
 is frequently employed a characteristic which is incompatible 
 with the Old Norse theme 3 and the style betokens the mind 
 of a genius. The tragedy is rather long to be put on the stage ; 
 in its original form, in the third edition of Nicander's works, 
 it covers 159 octavo pages of actual drama, and a condensation 
 would, I believe, spoil its beauty. As far as I have been able 
 to determine, no attempt has been made to play " The Rune- 
 
 1 " Behold Balder, where he lies pale and dead, and Nanna stands silent 
 beside the bier and weeps. The world seemeth dead to me : so quiet and 
 so cold is everything around the fallen son of god " (meaning to the viking, 
 son of a god, or any god). 
 
 2 " I will prepare two separate mounds for father and son (Oldur and 
 Alrik) ; plant the cross upon Alrik's grave ; and place this sword upon the 
 other. May they rest right close to one another so that their ghosts, sitting 
 upon their respective mounds in the starlit night, may extend their hands 
 to one another for reconciliation." 
 
 s Cf. Wirsen : Lefnadsteckningar, p. 191. 
 
153 
 
 sword," and one reason must be its lack of sufficient concen- 
 tration. But it has numerous genuinely dramatic parts, plenty 
 of action, and with its setting and tragic effects should furnish 
 an excellent basis for a grand opera. Poor motivation pre- 
 vents a strongly knit dramatic structure of the work as a whole. 
 Oldur's hatred of the monks is motivated, in part, by personal 
 reasons, and he is, therefore, not attached to paganism with 
 strong enough bonds. That Alrik and his betrothed should 
 have to part seems absurd, even to an extreme ascetic Christian. 
 Both contemporary 1 and later 1 critics have applied the Shake- 
 sperian standard of motivation to Alrik in " The Runesword" 
 with much severity. And rightly so, if we have the right to 
 apply such standards at all, in this case. The conversion of the 
 new Hamlet is determined by the appearance of a real ghost, 
 and his death brought about by what seems almost like mere 
 chance, and in reality is the work of Peregrinus. But, for 
 what Nicander undoubtedly intended, the motivation is better 
 than one might suppose at first. After Alrik's fatal vow, which 
 he makes with a tragic impulsiveness, the vow takes care of 
 itself and the real hero after that is the runesword itself. We 
 have here a kind of fate-tragedy, half Greek and half Wer- 
 nerian, where an incomprehensible something guides a mechan- 
 ical instrument until it has concluded its tragic mission. And 
 then, also, as Wirsen points out, 2 the old sagas often attributed 
 an independent, mysterious power to swords. From a strictly 
 dramatic viewpoint, the interference of supernatural charac- 
 
 il refer in particular to the enthusiastic recension of the tragedy in 
 Svensk Litteratur-Tidning for 1821, Nos. 17 and 18. This review, now 
 known to have been written by Palmblad, was formerly attributed to Atter- 
 bom and is printed in Atterbom : Literara karakteristiker (Vol. 7 of Sam- 
 lade skrifter, Orebro, 1870), pp. 282ff. By the modern critic I refer to 
 Wirsen: Cf. Lefnadsteckningar, pp. 189-90. In the above review, Palm- 
 blad criticizes the whole invention of Peregrinus, whom he calls a " stupid 
 devil," as interfering with the free will and individuality of the hero. 
 Palmblad also queries whether Nicander should have allowed the monks to 
 attack Oldur, for the missionaries were in enough danger as it was. Again 
 Palmblad does not believe that Anskar had an armor, for he was already 
 bishop when he came to Sweden. Cf. review, p. 291. Yet the reviewer 
 admits he had not read this tragedy without tears, p. 286. Palmblad men- 
 tions Oldur's personal reasons for his hatred of the monks. 
 
 2 Lefnadsteckningar, p. 189. 
 
154 
 
 ters, however, such as the weak but interesting devil Peregrinus, 
 is, I presume, a technical fault. 
 
 But we have to analyze " The Runesword " as it is, and not 
 as unrelenting critics think it ought to be. We are not dealing 
 with a stereotyped Shakesperian drama but with a lyrico-Ro- 
 mantic tragedy, with epic breadth and examples of some really 
 good poetry. " The Runesword " is a Romantic version of a 
 composite saga, where the two important constituents are the 
 Romantic and the saga element. It remains for us to examine 
 these two constituents. 
 
 Wirsen declares that Nicander did not belong to the New 
 School ; x Tegner says he did, 2 and that he had many of the " bad 
 habits and oddities " of the New Movement. It all depends 
 on the meaning one attaches to the phrase " New School." If 
 by the New School we mean the more narrow, militant circle 
 of the Fosforists, then Wirsen is right; for Nicander was not 
 a formally enrolled member of any school when " The Rune- 
 sword " was written. But as soon as we penetrate below the 
 surface of the matter we shall have to stamp " The Runesword " 
 as a Romantic product, even in the restricted sense. Nor do I 
 base the claim upon the fact that Nicander contributed to the 
 Fosforistic organ Poetisk Kalender? Wirsen himself has to 
 admit at least temporary " influences of a new-Romantic con- 
 ception," 4 and calls Edmund " a complete new-Romantic crea- 
 tion, unintelligible in his fantasticalness, his weakness, his 
 insanity, and unfortunately, also, in his piety." 5 " But," Wirsen 
 goes on to say, " such a disease was a part of the new-Romantic 
 temper," and then ascribes this characteristic of the "melo- 
 dramatic" and "medieval" portrayal of "hoary antiquity" 
 to the influence of Fouque. Tegner, in his important letter to 
 
 1 Ibid., p. 193. 
 
 2 Letter to M. v. Schwerin of April i, 1821. Jubelfestupplaga, V, p. 222. 
 
 3 Wirsen attributes the " misconception " of regarding Nicander as a 
 member of the New School to the fact that he contributed a poem to 
 Poetisk Kalender. The poem in question was "Song of Loyalty" (Trohets- 
 Sang), inserted in the Kalender for 1820, p. 211. Cf. Lefnadsteckningar, 
 p. 193, and note. 
 
 4 Ibid., p. 193. 
 
 5 Ibid., p. 189. 
 
155 
 
 Nicander himself, 1 criticises "die romantische Breite," which 
 represented an epic rather than an action, prevented concen- 
 tration, and was a mirror rather than a focus of history. Then, 
 too, he objected to the mysticism in this case synonymous 
 with the supernatural which, with its "misty and hollow- 
 eyed forms," had always been repulsive to him. And, indeed, 
 the tragedy has an extensive Romantic pot-pourri of miracles, 
 medieval conversions, ghosts, tears, forebodings, longing, super- 
 stition, feeling, "indescribable anxiety," and Stimmungen. 
 Hulda is as much of a Romantic product as her father, only 
 worse. With her, religion has become a fatal disease, and her 
 mystic reflections on the cross and the Holy Virgin remind one 
 of Brentano's Catholicizing " Rosenkranz." There is no Fos- 
 foristic obscurantism in " The Runesword," but many words 
 and expressions remind one of the New School; such as: lil- 
 jeklockan (the lily-clock) ; evighetens rosenverld (the rose- world 
 of eternity) ; Guds renhets sinnebild (the symbol of God's pur- 
 ity) ; rosenbindel (rose-bandage) ; Gudars silverport (the sil- 
 ver-gate of the gods) ; evighetens rosenband (the rose-band of 
 eternity) ; silfverglans (silver-luster) ; silfverkulle (silver-hil- 
 lock) ; and liljekinder (lily-cheeks). 2 The night and the moon 3 
 play a prominent role in " The Runesword " and envelop the 
 action in a semi- fantastic, Romantic haze a la Tieck. Edmund 
 says : " The time of my wanderings is at night, when dark- 
 ness comes from the sea, and spreads its mantle over the island, 
 and conceals my misery." 4 Nicander employs at times a South- 
 ern verse-form, the ottave-rime, in " The Runesword," another 
 mechanical feature common to the program-makers of the new 
 movement. And lastly, the fact itself that the tragedy is poet- 
 ical and lyrical rather than strictly dramatic, points towards a 
 new-Romantic relationship. 
 
 I have already stated 5 that Nicander was most successful in 
 the portrayal of the saga element, and this because the drama- 
 
 1 Letter of February 9, 1827. Jubelfestupplaga, VI, pp. 68-71. 
 
 2 Cf. Arbeten, pp. 313, 320, 323, 324, 350, 354, 406, and 408, respectively, 
 
 3 Cf. Arbeten, pp. 321, 323, 324, 325, 328, 329, 374, 409, and 410. 
 * Act I, sc. 7. 
 
 5 Cf. above in this chapter, p. 151. 
 
156 
 
 tist, better than any other, felt the tragic sympathy which should 
 lie with the heathen in this case. The result is that Alrik is 
 best as a pagan, or when he shows viking tendencies, and his 
 father Oldur Silverbeard, is the most masterfully drawn char- 
 acter. But the viking characteristics, in either case, are of a 
 merely general type and Oldur has but few individual traits. 
 Oldur is an idealized composite image of the saga age, as Nican- 
 der imagined it from his necessarily limited reading. The "beau- 
 tiful viking life," " a song upon the sea," the " faithful sword," 
 and the conception that a " life full of exploits is more beauti- 
 ful than death," enter into the program of any heathen pirate, 
 and so it does into Oldur's. 1 As a youth he was a man of 
 action who could oppose ten 2 in combat, and who in his old age 
 regrets that his sword is rusty with old blood and can draw no 
 new. Oldur evinces the traditional Northern defiance of 
 death : " Slay me," he tells Peregrinus in Act I, scene 2, " then 
 you can seat yourself on my body and sing the song of ravens 
 and plunder unhampered." Throughout the drama he remains 
 the respected, inflexible champion of the old Scandinavian gods 
 and at the end dies on the runesword by his own hand, as a 
 viking should if not killed in battle. " It is better to die in 
 work or action than to go to sleep on the death-bed under a 
 roof," exclaims Oldur in Act II, sc. 2. For him the age of com- 
 bat and victory, when the song and "the magic staff of the 
 saga," refreshed the warrior for new exploits, was the glorious 
 period. 3 In his invocation to his son in Act I, sc. 3, there 
 comes a plea for the " clang of swords " at the funeral-mounds 
 of his forefathers, for the " saga traditions," for the " godlike " 
 unity of will and power, deed and council in life, and for the 
 inheritance of manliness and the "golden runes of Odin." 
 Again, in Act II, sc. 8, he advises Alrik : " but above all, tread 
 the righteous path of the gods and observe the wise judgments 
 of the norns." Oldur is a man of experience, not only in 
 
 1 Cf. Act I, sc. i. 
 
 2 Cf. Act I, sc. 2. 
 
 3 Cf. Act IV, sc. 9. The combination of song and battle is also repre- 
 sented by the First Peasant in Act IV, sc. 7. He says : " A blow upon the 
 shield and a grip about the sword produce a glorious harmony with the 
 song of the skald ; they give weight and power to what is spoken." 
 
157 
 
 deeds, which might be true of any Norseman, but also in higher 
 culture. He urges Folke, Act II, sc. 2, to give him the captured 
 Christian Bible, for he claims a good knowledge of the " signs 
 of the runes and other symbols." He is a lover of freedom 
 nothing could be more true of the pagan sea-rovers and 
 in the same scene (Act II, sc. 2) he says to Folke: "We 
 must act as free men." Again at the end of the same dialog, 
 he boldly and resolutely expresses preference for immediate 
 action, for " war with the tongue is not the art of the Sviars 
 (Swedes)." The old saga-heroes, in their escapades, were, of 
 course, candid and fearless, often horribly so, and were seldom 
 touched by the ordinary phenomena of life. Such is Oldur, and 
 yet he rends his clothes (Act II, sc. 8) when Alrik is about 
 to murder his grandchildren and justly exclaims: "Oh, woe, 
 what horror! My son a wolf, my house a den of murders." 
 In other words, there is a trace of sympathy for the defense- 
 less kinsman, though the nature of the drama excludes a well- 
 rounded picture of viking loyalty among kindred folk. Neither 
 are there any adventurous dealings with women, in " The Rune- 
 sword," showing the traditional Norse respect for and pro- 
 tection of, the weaker sex: for, the real representative Oldur 
 is only a retired viking, too old to engage in a Brautfahrt. He is, 
 like Gotz v. Berlichingen, the victim of an advancing civilization 
 for which he has the greatest contempt, but, unlike Gotz, is too 
 old to wage war against the new ideas. But the viking sturdi- 
 ness, wisdom and brevity of speech still remain. His language 
 is often figurative, always forceful. Compare, for instance, 
 Oldur's appeal to the multitude, which Nicander means to be 
 typical : 
 
 Lang somnen var : Tid ar att vakna, Manner ! 
 Mig tyckes se, hur stridens unga 6'rn 
 Sin starka ram kring edra hjertan spanner, 
 Och modet reser sig som varens bjorn. 
 Upp ! reten den mot f rihetens ovanner, 
 Som kommit hit fran verldens sodra horn. 
 
 (Act II, sc. 2) 1 
 
 i " The sleep was long : It is time to awake, men ! Methinks I see how 
 the young eagle of combat embraces your hearts with its strong claw and 
 courage springs up like the bear in spring. Up! rouse him against the 
 
158 
 
 Further, Oldur, true to Old Norse convictions, believes in the 
 divine sanction and guidance of warriors on the battle-field. 
 In this same scene he incites his heroes to action by these words : 
 "You still have sword, helmet and shield; All-father himself 
 goes with you to battle. Illusion shall yield. The eye of 
 Odin radiates light and truth from on high." Storm and the 
 sea are Oldur's elements ; x and last, but not least, for our pur- 
 pose, Oldur is a Romantic personification of loyalty to father- 
 land-traditions and enthusiasm for the saga age. For him the 
 traditions of the past are sacred; he tells his grandchild: 
 
 Ett sager jag: hvad som af aider varit, 
 Ar heligt, barn ! ma ingen gacka det ! " 2 
 
 None of the gruesome murder, plunder, or burning, attrib- 
 uted to the viking marauders, is perpetrated in " The Rune- 
 sword " by the pagans. The nearest we have to it is that 
 powerful scene (II, 8) between Alrik, Oldur, and the grand- 
 children. Thore is somewhat unnatural, it seems to me ; though 
 but a child, he has the same utter disdain for death as a veteran 
 fighter. He would willingly die, provided the fatal blow is not 
 made in wrath; he is willing to die in combat but not to be 
 butchered. In this scene, however, Alrik becomes, potentially, 
 a wild and cruel berserk and champion of the old religion; 
 he would slay the youngsters while they are still able to enu- 
 merate the old gods and because " innocent blood is agreeable 
 to the Asas." " To-night I am your true image," he ejaculates 
 to his father, " I want blood, and in that the wolf -ancestry of 
 the wolf is recognized." 3 He draws his sword and addresses 
 his young nephews : 
 
 Knabb'jen, barn! nu vandren I till Oden. 
 
 Jag ser, ni bafven ej for sista resan. 
 
 Friskt mod, ren blick annu I dodens timma, 
 
 enemies of freedom who have come hither from the Southern corner of 
 the world." 
 
 1 Cf. Oldur's words to his son in Act III, sc. 3 : " Wind was my delight 
 in my younger days." 
 
 2 Act II, sc. 7. " One thing I say : whatever has existed in the past 
 is sacred, child ! May no one ridicule it ! " 
 
 3 See edition, as in note i, p. 147, p. 369. 
 
159 
 
 Och uppratt hufvud, karlafarg pa kinden : 
 Det ar en Svears sed att sa se ut. 
 Vak upp i Valhall, oppna silfverporten ! 
 Tva gudabarn dig gasta, store Oden I 1 
 
 Critics have assumed an influence of Fouque and Oehlen- 
 schlager on " The Runesword." 2 Fouque was much admired 
 in Uppsala about 1820, and his themes from Norse mythology 
 were undoubtedly well known. " Sintram und seine Gefahr- 
 ten," based on a Northern saga, had appeared in 1814; "Die 
 Fahrten Thiodulfs des Islanders," in 1815; and "Sigurd der 
 Schlangentodter " as early as 1808. Several translations from 
 Fouque had been made also during the second decade of the 
 century. I find in Sonden's edition of " Svenska vitterheten " 3 
 by Hammarskjold that some of Fouque's novels were trans- 
 lated into Swedish in 1816 by a B. J. Torneblad, "Undine" in 
 1819, and " Eginhard und Emma" by G. Schentz in 1817. 
 There is no doubt, then, that Fouque was studied in Sweden 
 about this time. Atterbom and Livijn knew him well. But 
 his direct influence on Nicander cannot be determined with any 
 certainty and was probably only of a general character. The 
 Gothic tendencies had already a firm foothold in Sweden, and 
 so Fouque could, in this particular, at the most, only intensify 
 an impulse which already existed. But the influence of medi- 
 evalism is probable. There are some striking similarities also 
 in the internal plan and conceptions between "The Runesword" 
 and " Thiodulf des Islanders." The setting in both cases is at 
 the dawn of Christianity, the hero Thiodulf wavers between 
 Christ and Odin much as Alrik does, and in the end is baptized 
 and becomes a Christian. Then we have also the same broad- 
 minded fundamentals in Fouque's novel as in Nicander's trag- 
 
 1 " Kneel, children. Now you travel to Odin. I see that you do not 
 fear the last journey. Fresh courage, clear vision, even in the moment of 
 death, and head upright, with manly color on your cheeks ; it is the custom 
 of Svears to have that expression. Wake up in Valhalla, open the silver- 
 gate ! Two god-like children will be your guests, great Odin ! " 
 
 2 See above, p. 13. Wirsen : Lefnadsteckningar, p. 190. Cf . also Henrik 
 Schuck och Karl Warburg: Illustrerad svensk-litteraturhistoria, II, p. 757. 
 
 3 See list of Bibliography. 
 
160 
 
 edy: that the difference between the two contending religions 
 was one merely of interpretation and that, as such, the two 
 might well exist side by side. Both are a plea for sympathy 
 with the saga-period, its religion, and people. 
 
 More plausible, to me, is the influence of Oehlenschlager on 
 " The Runesword." Oehlenschlager had more of the viking 
 in him than Nicander and had already treated the same theme 
 dramatically, at least twice. " Hakon Jarl " (1805) and " Pal- 
 natoke," written in Paris in 1807 and published and played two 
 years later, both depict the struggle between Norse paganism 
 and Christianity/and the heroes are, in both cases, champions 
 of the gods of Valhalla. Hakon and Palnatoke both die, like 
 Alrik, by the hand of another, and in " Palnatoke " as in " The 
 Runesword," fate guiding another's hand kills the hero. Hakon 
 dies at his own request like a viking, pierced by Karker's spear, 
 and, similarly, Oldur in "The Runesword" dies voluntarily, 
 though by his own hand. "Hakon Jarl" has a treacherous 
 emissary, Thorer, who corresponds somewhat to the satanic 
 emissary Peregrinus in " The Runesword." In the last part 
 of the drama Hakon Jarl is as zealous a champion of the Old 
 Norse ideals and religion as Oldur, and there is a supernatural 
 element in both works.. In " Hakon Jarl " Auden (Odin) him- 
 self appears and explains his cult to Olof Tryggvason, showing 
 a difference of interpretation of religion as Nicander pro- 
 posed to show due to climatic conditions. 1 The ideal hea- 
 then, as pictured in " Palnatoke," appears again in Oldur ; 
 he means what he says and never retracts a word. In " Pal- 
 natoke " we have a Christian bishop Popo who speaks of a 
 miracle ; in " The Runesword " we have Bishop Anskar who 
 performs one. 
 
 It will be in order here to mention another, more definite 
 phase of Nicander's interest in the saga element. On the 3Oth 
 of April, 1822, Nicander was elected to membership in the 
 Gothic Forbund. He proved to be of more than usually good 
 
 1 The influence of Montesquieu and also of Rousseau is more marked 
 in the Danish dramatist than in Nicander. Snorre Sturleson mentions in 
 the saga of Olof Tryggvason, Chap. 71, that Odin visited Olof, but there 
 is no mention made of any religious discussion. 
 
161 
 
 Gothic material and seemed to be the only one of its members 
 who took the prescribed inauguration paper seriously. Many 
 of the " Goths " were utterly ignorant of Old Norse affairs 
 as is shown in the superficial characterizations of their ancestral 
 namesakes but Nicander, as Norna-Gest in the Gothic Soci- 
 ety, gave a beautiful and intelligent biography of the semi- 
 historical skald and warrior Norna-Gest, especially as guest 
 (Gest) of Olof Tryggvason. 1 The biography is very enthusi- 
 astic and effective, simple yet rhetorical, solemn and dignified, 
 sane and in excellent language. Here, then, Nicander took an 
 exhaustive interest in a definite saga, that of Norna-Gest. 
 
 The Norna-Gest Saga was the inspiration also of one of 
 Nicander's early poems, called " Norna-Gest." It is divided 
 into three parts: "The Arrival of the Guest" (Gasten kom- 
 mer); "The Fighting of the Drunkards in the Hall" (De 
 drucknas strid i salen) ; and" The Power of the Harp " (Harp- 
 ans makt) . Only the setting is taken from the original and the 
 development of the theme is almost wholly an invention of the 
 poet. But there is an echo of saga-historical truth in the first 
 part. ,The last line of every stanza is : " Den gamle lyster 
 hvila" (the old man desires to rest) ; and the original saga 
 tells us that the king (Olof), on the first night, retired immedi- 
 ately after the arrival of the skald. The action of the last 
 two parts is supposed to take place while the king is sleeping ; 
 the poet imagines Norna-Gest pacifying the fighting drunkards 
 by playing his harp. 
 
 Nicander wrote many poems in a Gothic style, though not 
 
 i Cf . Hjarne: Gotiska forbundet, pp. i39ff., where Nicander's paper is 
 quoted in full. According to the saga, Norna-Gest (Guest-of-the-Norns) 
 was early visited by the norns, the last one of which jealously prophesied 
 that he should not live longer than until the light of his cradle had burned 
 down. The light was then extinguished by the more friendly, oldest norn 
 and given to the mother for safe-keeping. Later Norna-Gest hid it in his 
 harp and came at an advanced age to the court of Olof Tryggvason. Here 
 he sings of his deeds and of Sigurd and Brynhilda, and one day takes out 
 the faded taper, lights it, and when it has burned down, dies. Cf. Sogu- 
 pattr af Norna-Gesti, in Fornaldar Sogur Nordrlanda. Kaupmannahofn, 
 1829. Fyrsta Bindi, pp. 311-342. Chapters n and 12 deal with the youth 
 and death of Norna-Gest. His death occurred at the age of " three hun- 
 dred winters" (300 vetra). 
 
162 
 
 always based on any one saga, and generally wrote them well. A 
 splendid collection of sixteen national lyrics by Nicander, called 
 " The Runes " (Runorna), 1 was read with much commendation 
 in the Gothic Society 1823-1824. Many of these have a general 
 coloring and a sprinkling of names from the Edda-literature. 
 For the benefit of the ordinary reader, Nicander himself re- 
 fers in a number of appended notes 2 to some of the specific 
 sources employed. It appears upon closer examination and 
 verification that Nicander often went to the Fornaldar Sogur 
 and to Sturleson's Ynglinga Saga (Heimskringla) for his mo- 
 tifs. In the conversion of Arnliot Gellina 3 in the " rune " of the 
 same name, which is taken from the Olof Haraldson Saga 
 (Chap. 227) by Sturleson, the poet follows the original with 
 unusual historical accuracy. In others, Nicander modifies the 
 saga, or uses only a small part of it, to suit his fancy. "Remi- 
 niscence of Iceland' 5 (Islands minne), on which Nicander has 
 only a single historical note but no exact reference, is also taken 
 from Sturleson's Heimskringla, chapters 43-47. It is based 
 on the fate of Olof Wood-carver (Olof Tratalja), the last of 
 the Ynglinga kings in Sweden and father of the Norwegian line 
 of kings of the same dynasty. Now, according to the saga, 
 (Chap. 47), King Olof was not zealous in sacrificing to the 
 gods; the native Sviars did not like this, they believed him, 
 therefore, responsible for the temporary famine, in reality due 
 to over-population, captured him and burned him. Nicander 
 makes Olof say : " I was burned in flames on account of my 
 piety, much have I suffered, little am I known." 4 Although 
 the poetic embellishments are Nicander's own invention, the 
 motif for "Hjalmar's Bride" (Hjalmars brud) is taken from 
 the last part of Chap. 5 of the Hervarar Saga, 5 and deals in 
 
 1 Cf. above, Chapter III, p. 113, note i. 
 
 2 Samlade arbeten, Forra delen. Tredje upplagan, pp. 238*1 
 
 3 Ibid., pp. 2i8ff. 
 * Ibid., p. 216. 
 
 s Ibid., pp. 209 and 238. Cf. the following passages from Fornaldar 
 Sogur, Fyrsta Bindi, p. 429 : " pessu naest tok Oddr Hjalmar, ok bar hann 
 a skip ut, ok flutti heim til SvipjoSar, segjande pessi tiSendi konungi ok 
 dottur bans; fekk henni sva mikels fall Hjalmars, at hun sprakk pegar af 
 harmi, ok voru pau Hjalmar i einn haug laginn, ok drukkit erfi eptir pau." 
 After Hjalmar had been fatally wounded, he commissioned Oddr to convey 
 his last greetings to his betrothed Ingeborg, the king's daughter. 
 
163 
 
 beautiful poetry with the betrothed maiden's fatal grief at see- 
 ing her lover's dead body. The Romantic idea of meeting her 
 lover in death is also present. One " rune " is suggested by 
 the above-mentioned Norna-Gest Saga and bears the title 
 "Norna-Gest as a Young Man" (Norna-Gest som yngling). 
 It is an autobiographical reflection on the poet's calling, reward, 
 and death. For his powerful and didactic " rune " preach- 
 ing fearlessness and patriotism on that ideal Norse spokes- 
 man of the law Lagman Thorgny, Nicander mentions Sturleson 
 as his authority in the first stanza. 1 " Bjarkamal" is a didac- 
 tic application of an incident in the Sorle Saga. 2 Hogne, a 
 Swede, and Sorle, a Norwegian, are engaged in mortal combat. 
 Neither will give in. Sorle in a ditch, disarmed, promises to 
 lie still until Hogne, who has thrown away his sword tempo- 
 rarily, gets his weapon to slay his adversary. This extreme 
 courage moves Hogne; they extend the hand of friendship, for 
 unity gives strength, and thus, instead of one defeating the 
 other, they win each other over. The original saga tells (Chap. 
 26) how they later married each the other's sister. 
 
 In a letter to C. P. Hagberg, dated December 30, i824, 3 Teg- 
 ner expressed the opinion that " The Runes " were of sufficient 
 value to be considered by the Swedish Academy in the award 
 of the Lundblad prize. Tegner anticipated the result of the 
 contest, however, by entertaining the conviction that the Acad- 
 emy had a prejudice against Nicander for not living up to his 
 reputation, or even Tegner's expectations. 4 Nicander re- 
 
 1 Cf. as in note 2 on preceding page, p. 202. 
 
 Ljud sang ! om Thorgny Lagman val ; 
 Om riket var ban man. 
 Han var en man till kropp och sjal, 
 Det sager Sturleson. 
 Cf. Olof Haraldson Saga, Chap. 79-81. 
 
 2 Cf. Sorla Saga Sterka, Chap. 25, in Fornaldar Sogur, pridja Bind. 
 Kaupmannahofn, 1830, pp. 4o8ff. For Nicander's poem, cf. as in note 2 
 on preceding page, p. 228, and note on the same, p. 240. 
 
 3 Jubelfestupplaga, V, pp. 411-12. 
 
 4 Tegner set great hopes on " The Runesword." He writes, April i, 
 1821 (see Jubelfestupplaga, V, p. 223), that it was "without exception the 
 most ingenious tragedy we have in Swedish up to the present time." As 
 a dramatist, however, Nicander never equalled his youthful production. 
 
164 
 
 deemed himself somewhat, however, in 1825, when he was 
 awarded the Academy's second prize for his " Gothic " poem 
 "The Feeling of Patriotism" (Fosterlandskanslan), and cap- 
 tured the highest award for "Tasso's Death" (Tassos dod) in 
 1826. 
 
 From the year 1820 dates the conception of another lyrico- 
 Romantic mingling of medievalism and a viking element; 
 " Hildegard " by Bernhard v. Beskow. " Hildegard," which is 
 a five-act tragedy in blank verse, appeared in 1836 in Part I of 
 " Dramatiska studier." The author, who had traveled exten- 
 sively in Europe and met most of the famous literary men of 
 the day, dedicates his " Studies " and this is significant 
 to the " master " Ludwig Tieck to recall " dear memories " of 
 Dresden days. Beskow was susceptible to all literary im- 
 pulses and influences of great men, whether of this or that 
 school, was a mediator between the Old School and the New in 
 Sweden, and later in life was virtually, as secretary, the Swed- 
 ish Academy personified. And so, the appearance of " Hilde- 
 gard," with the accompanying dedication, seventeen years after 
 he had met Tieck, must be interpreted as an unusual tribute to 
 a Romantic " master." 
 
 The direct impulse for his drama, however, according to the 
 author, 1 was not Tieck but the consecration of a nun in Rome 
 in 1820, at which Beskow was present. If we add to this inci- 
 dent Beskow's youthful enthusiasm for saga literature, we can 
 easily imagine the setting in " Hildegard." And that there was 
 an enthusiasm for the saga and Swedish history is morally 
 certain, according to Beskow's own testimony. In his " Remi- 
 niscences" (Lefnadsminnen) 2 we have the following conclu- 
 
 But the continued popularity of "The Runesword," it must be remarked, 
 can scarcely be questioned. It was translated into French by Leuozon- 
 Leduc, Paris, 1846, and into Finnish, 1855. Nicander's poems have gone 
 through several editions in Sweden and many have been translated into 
 foreign tongues. See Wirsen's biography of Nicander. It was due largely 
 to the friendship of Nicander and Longfellow, contracted in Rome, 1827, 
 that the latter's interest in Scandinavian literature was intensified. 
 
 1 See " Dramatiska studier," forsta delen, p. 72. In the same place 
 Beskow acknowledges his indebtedness for a few opening stanzas to a 
 legend by Schack Staffeldt. 
 
 2 Completed 1857. Printed in Stockholm, 1870. See p. 49. 
 
165 
 
 sive autobiographical reference to studies at Uppsala in 1811: 
 
 "Strangely enough I had then (in iSn) 1 only two favorite 
 subjects which interested me: mythology and Swedish history. 
 Stridberg's mythology I had read through a countless number of 
 times, so that I knew it by heart. Dalin's, Lagerbring's, and any 
 other history I could get hold of, I devoured with insatiable 
 hunger. Also Bjorner's "Tales of Combat" (Kampadater), the 
 Wilkina Saga, and any other sagas that were on hand. These I 
 borrowed from the gardener's library and often read them at night ; 
 for sagas were held in but little esteem in any environment at the 
 time and were considered suitable only for women." 
 
 The Goths, in the meantime, had been attracted by Beskow's 
 "Gothic" qualities and he was elected to membership in the 
 Society at the same time as Nicander, April 30, 1822. 
 
 " Hildegard " is much in the same style as " The Runesword " 
 and must have been influenced by it. The Norse element is 
 imbedded in a rigid Catholicism, the time is the sunset of Norse 
 paganism, and the plan of the tragedy gives, to a certain extent, 
 a contrast and conflict between Christianity and Scandinavian 
 heathenism. The main theme which does not concern us 
 as much as that of " The Runesword " is similar to the 
 theme in "Atala" by Chateaubriand: the daughter Hildegard 
 is the victim of a vow made by her Catholic parents to atone 
 for a previous crime, and discovers too late that she is released 
 from the stipulations of the vow. The motivation, as in 
 Nicander's tragedy, is often inadequate. The sympathy for 
 the viking religion is that of Nicander, Oehlenschlager, and 
 Fouque : it is tolerated side by side with Christianity. " Hil- 
 degard " has never been played, to my knowledge, but the trag- 
 edy furnishes good, dramatic reading, with beautiful poetic 
 passages. Though more simple and concentrated, the drama, 
 as a whole, does not come up to the high standard set by " The 
 Runesword." Since the unities are observed, there is less vari- 
 ety and action than in " The Runesword." 2 
 
 1 Beskow, speaking later in the same paragraph about his religious 
 emotions at the time, says : " This may seem somewhat unusual for a youth 
 of fifteen." Now, Beskow was born in 1796, which would put the date of 
 this interest in 1811. 
 
 2 Beskow was much more of a dramatist than Nicander but, somehow, 
 12 
 
166 
 
 The nature of the saga element in " Hildegard " is somewhat 
 the same as in " The Runesword " but it has a stronger sem- 
 blance of local color. This is due, first, to more explicit refer- 
 ences to and descriptions of, viking characteristics and cus- 
 toms; secondly, to numerous references to specific characters 
 and incidents in the sagas and early Scandinavian history; 
 thirdly, to a comprehensive use of terms from Norse mythol- 
 ogy. For instance, to illustrate these in order, in Act II, sc. 
 2, we find it was the custom in the race of Starkad and Stor- 
 wirk to take a bride by force or robbery, and to fight a subse- 
 quent duel with her father if necessary. A forcible allusion to 
 the viking ability as helmsmen is made in II, 4. With ex- 
 emplary beauty, Bjorn describes, in a monolog in III, 2, the 
 barbarian custom of women entering the funeral-mounds of 
 their husbands and being burned with them. In I, 5, the author 
 makes Hildegard a descendant of Ulf Jarl, an historical char- 
 acter who, according to Sturleson, (Olof Haraldson Saga, 
 Chap. 158), protected Denmark while Knut was in England 
 in 1026. Hakon Jarl, the well-known saga hero and pagan 
 champion, is mentioned by way of comparison in IV, I, and the 
 historical Sven (Blotsven, i. e. Sacrifice-Sven), who burned the 
 Uppsala temple, in II, I. A specific part of the poetic Edda, 
 Havamal, comes in for a share of the glory in III, i. As an 
 illustration of the use of Norse mythology, the following words 
 of Bjorn in II, 4, will serve (he is speaking of the reported 
 death of his friend Ragnar) : " He has gone to his fathers ! He 
 has already pressed their hands in greeting and emptied the 
 drinking-vessel with them, heard the harp of Brage, interpreted 
 the riddle of life with Mimer, and seen his life reflected in 
 Urda's wave." 
 
 " Hildegard " discloses a wide reading of saga material but 
 there is no allegiance to any one particular tradition. The Norse 
 element is concentrated in a subordinated character, Bjorn, who 
 corresponds to Oldur, Palnatoke, and Hakon Jarl. Just as 
 
 " Hildegard " did not attain the popularity of some of his other dramas, 
 even if there were some notable contemporary exceptions to this rule. 
 Better known dramas are : " Erik XIV," " Birger och hans att," " Gustaf 
 Adolf i Tyskland," and " Torkel Knutsson." 
 
167 
 
 Nicander's Oldur, Beskow's best portrayed character is the old 
 viking representative Bjorn. Nicander had other heathens 
 appear also, such as peasants, fighters, a viking lawgiver, and 
 the hero Alrik himself. In " Hildegard," also, there is con- 
 siderable of the viking left in the converted Ragnar, the father 
 of the heroine. In fact, we have more definite information 
 about his viking escapades than about any of those in "The 
 Runesword." Between Ragnar's family and his father-in-law's 
 there had existed of yore a bitter race hatred. Ragnar had 
 captured his wife with the sword and slain her father in the 
 single combat that followed. 1 He seems to forget that he is a 
 Christian in the last scene, obtains his sword from Bjorn, and 
 dies on it with these words : 
 
 Som viking jag begynt, som viking slutar 
 jag lifvets kamp. 2 
 
 Now to come back to Bjorn. He was once besprinkled with 
 water and is a nominal Christian (Act I, sc. 2), but in reality 
 is a hardened, unbending viking with everything that name im- 
 plies. He can look back upon a career full of wild adventure 
 which might be true of a viking like Oldur but he is more 
 frank and explicit about his former combats, and is there- 
 fore, a more sharply drawn type than Oldur. He has more 
 individual traits. He is more of the real primitive Norseman. 
 Deeds, bravery, and character mean more to him than titles or 
 noble lineage. To him the farmer's son is on a par with the 
 prince (cf. I, 5). There is no haze whatever to obscure the 
 confessions of this epic-dramatic character. He speaks with 
 apparent pride of earlier misdeeds which to him are, nat- 
 urally, deeds of valor and his barbarism is a part of his 
 moral conviction. He is sincere and firm ; he speaks once only 
 and then, if necessary, affirms with the sword. Then, when 
 we learn in the fourth act (sc. i) that 'he has burned Christian 
 
 1 This constitutes his " crime " which he must atone for, as a Christian. 
 
 2 " I have commenced and end the strife of life as a viking." 
 
 3 Tegner, who believed " Hildegard " to be a " very excellent produc- 
 tion," preferred Bjorn to all the other characters. The scene where Ragnar 
 dies in his armor receives special mention, also, as an effective scene. See 
 letter to Beskow of October 13, 1836. Jubelfestupplaga, VI, pp. 293-94. 
 
168 
 
 temples and slaughtered women and children, we know that he 
 has been a viking of the most dreaded type. 
 
 Bjorn whose very -name "bear" is significant and typical 
 is a sturdy champion of the old gods and a pronounced 
 skeptic as to the new religion. On an auspicious occasion he 
 is willing to sacrifice his dearest possession, his battle-horse, 
 to Thor and Odin, whom he believes propitious to "an 
 old viking" (I, 2). The religion of his ancestors represents 
 strength, whereas the new teachings have weakened men. The 
 doctrines of love and peace, to Bjorn, represent a "life of 
 milk and water" (I, 3). The custom of fasting "puts no 
 marrow into the bones" (II, 2). The Catholics are ridiculed 
 for " singing the soul to rest for pay." Let the mortal die by 
 the sword and he will rest in peace like his forefathers without 
 any singing is the idea in Act II, I. He speaks slightingly 
 (II, 2) of a heathen who has been carried away by a "man 
 with goat-legs and long horns," because he would not become 
 a Christian. Bjorn knows only fearlessness and fight; sword 
 and victory are his only joy. He prefers to polish weapons 
 it will be remembered that Oldur is grinding his sword at 
 the beginning of "The Runesword " and to possess the 
 "hammer-emblem" instead of the cross. For a time, much 
 as in "The Runesword" and in " Hakon Jarl," Bjorn sees 
 that his faith is symbolic and not so different from Christi- 
 anity, except in application ; but, on the other hand, " women's 
 tears, lamentations, heart-pains, and natural deaths," have no 
 place in Bjorn's system of life (III, 2). 
 
 The traditional disdain among the pagan Norsemen for a 
 natural death was rooted, as is well known, in the fundamental 
 principles of their religion : the blessedness of the fallen heroes 
 in Valhalla. In this particular, Bjorn is a type. In Act II, 
 sc. 4, he makes his confession: 
 
 "den tro jag lart af mina fader 
 
 gor lifvet ljust och friskt, och doden herrlig." 1 
 
 This death may be self-inflicted, especially when it is in the 
 
 i " The faith which I have learned from my forefathers makes life bright 
 and fresh, and death glorious." 
 
169 
 
 nature of a sacrifice. Bjorn rejoices at what later proves 
 to be a premature report of Ragnar's death. Ragnar, upon 
 crossing the Baltic on his return from Jerusalem, had courage- 
 ously appeased the anger of the gods by jumping into the sea. 
 To Bjorn this was an ideal death for a viking, who needed no 
 other sepulchral vault than the blue sky and the stars ; no other 
 funeral dirge than the harp of the water-sprite (II. 4). In 
 Act III, sc. i, Bjorn expresses his readiness to follow Ragnar 
 and die himself before sunset. He asks Thiodulf, Hildegard's 
 lover, to give him a "filled horn" when he is ready to fly to 
 Odin, in order to empty it to the "memory of Ragnar, to the 
 glory of the North, and for the gods of Valhalla." The fol- 
 lowing is typical for our viking; it is Bjorn's advice to Thio- 
 dulf (IV, 3) : 
 
 "Tro icke qvinnan, yngling. Icke ens 
 om hennes namn ar Hildegard. Hon liknar 
 den vackra blomman, hvilkens doft ger doden. 
 
 Vig dig, som jag, vid svardet. Om det brister, 
 sa dor du samma stund och ej vanarad." 1 
 
 i " Put no faith in woman, youth. Not even if her name is Hildegard. 
 She resembles the beautiful flower whose fragrance yields death. Marry 
 the sword like myself. If that breaks you will die the same moment and 
 not dishonored." 
 
CONCLUSION 
 
 There were all degrees and varieties of interest in the Old 
 Norse element during the Swedish Romantic period. It 
 reached its boiling-point finally among the extreme militant 
 Goths, for these were saga enthusiasts by confession and pro- 
 fession, and the best example of this type is Ling. But a spas- 
 modic and often enthusiastic interest had existed long before 
 the Goths appeared, and more particularly among the members 
 of that literary coterie known later as the Fosforists. What- 
 ever the contemporary effect was, the fact remains, also, that 
 Atterbom's " Skaldarmal " appeared before the Gothic organ 
 Iduna. Then there were some minor adherents of the Old 
 School, who were undoubtedly influenced to a certain extent 
 by the new tendencies, and who treated saga themes in the 
 old style. These conservatives were not especially enthusiastic 
 about the inner content of the sagas ; they cared little for the 
 genuine spirit and philosophy and of the new mythology, but 
 wrote creditable poetry with sagas as a basis. Among these 
 were Adolf Granberg and Charlotta d'Albedyhll. A full- 
 fledged and independent Romanticist, who sought to penetrate 
 the very depths of vikingism and to reconcile it with Christi- 
 anity, with personal experiences, and modern Romantic ideals, 
 was Stagnelius. He knew Norse mythology as well as any 
 Goth, probably, and certainly better than most of them. Lastly, 
 we have two important dramatic productions where the interest 
 in the saga age is epic and general: "The Runesword" and 
 " Hildegard." These were both conceived during the Romantic 
 period (and the first one completed) by the independent authors 
 who were not elected to membership in the Gothic Society 
 until some years later. In both of these dramas there is an 
 effort to reconcile Norse paganism with Catholicism, i. e., 
 Christianity, and in both of them the portrayal of the pagan 
 element is the most successful. 
 
 Of no little importance was the negative interest in Old 
 
 170 
 
171 
 
 Norse material during the second decade of the nineteenth 
 century. Nothing that the Fosforists did along Gothic lines 
 gave any cause for alarm. But the somewhat tactless methods 
 adopted at first by some Goths did give rise to a certain appre- 
 hension in conservative circles. The result was a crusade 
 against " Gotho-mania " by those who feared neglect or expul- 
 sion of the old classical mythologies. This crusade was not 
 conducted along strict party lines. The Gothic house was 
 divided against itself, and unnecessarily so, for the differences 
 of conception among its members were not as great as sup- 
 posed and were often based on misunderstanding. Time proved 
 that there had been little cause for solicitude in the first place. 
 Those who did not take part in direct polemics resorted to 
 ridicule. The Academician Stjernstolpe, for instance, attacked 
 all Gothism, and the Romantic humorists Vitalis and Dahlgren 
 poured light ridicule over exaggerations of it. But the whole 
 affair did have a healthy influence ; it stirred things up. Every- 
 body was forced to recognize at least the existence of an in- 
 digenous material, which might be used as a basis for a national 
 art and poetry. Then also, anybody who took a part in the 
 controversy at all, whether for or against, was compelled to 
 read the Old Norse literature to some extent ; it took consider- 
 able knowledge of Scandinavian mythology to ridicule it 
 intelligently. 
 
 All of the important Fosforists studied the Scandinavian 
 myths, but no Gothic masterpiece came from their hands. 
 Hammarskjold was interested in the sagas but preferred to 
 leave them as such, without introducing them into Swedish art 
 or poetry. Livijn was very enthusiastic about them, especi- 
 ally during the first decade of the century, and formulated a 
 multitude of literary plans with Gothic themes, but he became 
 otherwise employed and plans came to naught. What little he 
 did was fragmentary. Atterbom's work in this line during the 
 strictly Romantic period, save " Skaldarmal," was limited to 
 reviews and active encouragements, but he showed a genuine 
 enthusiasm and was a scholar and philosopher in the interpre- 
 tation of Norse myths. That Atterbom exerted some influence 
 in this field is tolerably certain. 
 
172 
 
 The old Norse sources employed by the Swedish writers 
 of the Romantic period were not very extensive. In many 
 cases the poetic products reveal only a general knowledge of 
 olden times, beliefs, and literary monuments. In the case of 
 Atterbom, Stagnelius, and Nicander (in the "Runes"), how- 
 ever, we have undeniable evidence of a more detailed acquaint- 
 ance with specific sagas. The Eddas are naturally of the 
 greatest importance for a thinker like Atterbom; Sturleson's 
 Heimskringla seems to be well known and very popular, 
 both in Academician circles and with Stagnelius ; and Nicander 
 borrows themes from the famous cycle of Fornaldar S0gur. 
 Some more modern histories of Scandinavia are used and 
 Livijn, for instance, knows Saxo Grammaticus. 
 
 It is certain that the Goths were responsible for only a part 
 of the so-called Gothic revival in Sweden. The honor and 
 responsibility for the inauguration and permanent establish- 
 ment of this commendable movement in Swedish literature 
 must be shared with their Romantic brothers the Fosforists, 
 and to a greater extent than at first supposed. It must be 
 shared to a less degree with neutrals and some Academicians, 
 and with such individuals as Stagnelius, who was a member of 
 no society, but represented the deepest of all Romantic and 
 Gothic ideals. In no case was there such a general ignorance 
 of Norse mythology among the Tieck-Novalis-Schelling group 
 of Swedish Romanticists as among the Goths themselves. 
 Atterbom, Livijn, Stagnelius, and Nicander, all knew a number 
 of sagas and myths thoroughly ; whereas among the Goths, any 
 valuable knowledge of Old Norse subjects was concentrated in 
 the minds of only two or three men, an extremely small num- 
 ber in proportion to the total number of members. Both in 
 aspiration, encouragement, and actual creation the non-Goths 
 did a noble work along national lines, and did much to prepare 
 the field for the reception of that Gothic masterpiece, which 
 came as the culmination of the Gothic revival: Tegner's 
 " Frithiofs Saga." 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 SUPPLEMENTARY BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL NOTES 
 (Arranged alphabetically) 
 
 Per Daniel Amadeus Atterbom (1790-1855) 
 
 The greatest of the Fosforists was born in Ostergotland, 
 Jan. 19, 1790. His childhood was very peaceful and idyllic and 
 later furnished inspiration for many of his beautiful lyrics. 
 Atterbom attended school and the gymnasium in Linkoping, at 
 sixteen he became a student at Uppsala, and studied the Ger- 
 man philosophers and Romanticists. His part in founding the 
 Aurora Union has been mentioned. He was the foremost con- 
 tributor to F os for os and edited Poetisk Kalender from 1812 to 
 1822. From 1817 to 1819 he lived abroad, and on his return 
 became prince Oscar's tutor in German. For a time he was 
 professor of philosophy in Uppsala, but later exchanged this 
 position for the chair of esthetics. In later life he became 
 reconciled to his former literary adversaries and was admitted 
 to the Swedish Academy in 1839. In his momentous but 
 unfinished work "Swedish Seers and Skalds" (Svenska siare 
 och skalder), which deals with philosophers and poets before 
 and through the reign of Gustavus III, Atterbom is less harsh 
 in his estimate of the Gustavian writers. Atterbom's domestic 
 life was remarkably happy and a late edition of " The Isle of 
 Bliss " is dedicated to the memory of his departed wife. He 
 outlived most of his friends and died July 21, 1855, m 
 Stockholm. 
 
 As a poet, esthetician, critic, and historian of literature, 
 Atterbom exercised a vast influence on Swedish letters and 
 culture. " The Isle of Bliss " and the fragmentary " Blue- 
 Bird" (Fogel bla) are both fairy-tales in dramatized form. 
 But Atterbom was no dramatist; he was a lyric poet, and as 
 such he ranks unquestionably as one of the greatest in Sweden, 
 
 173 
 
174 
 
 notwithstanding symbolism, obscurantism, and strange cosmic 
 conceptions which permeate portions of his lyrics. Atterbom 
 represents the culmination, the tout ensemble of the "oand- 
 lighetspoesi " in Swedish Romanticism. Among his most 
 famous poems is the collection called "The Flowers" (Blom- 
 morna), a lyrical vegetation marked by beauty and originality 
 but highly figurative and obscure. (Cf. Thomander: Intrades- 
 Tal ofver Atterbom. Svenska Akademiens handlingar ifran 
 1796, Del 29.) 
 
 Bernhard von Beskow (1796-1868) 
 
 Beskow was born in 1796 and at an early date began to study 
 music and painting. In 1819-1821 he traveled in Europe and met 
 Goethe, Tieck, F. Schlegel, and Oehlenschlager. In 1827-1828, 
 the time of the struggle between the French classicists and 
 Romanticists, we find Beskow in France. There he learned to 
 know Hugo and took the opportunity to correct some erroneous 
 statements about Swedish literature in Le Globe. Beskow was 
 both a fascinating dramatist and an able composer of operas. 
 He was a member, secretary, and prize-taker of the Swedish 
 Academy, a member of the Swedish Academy of Music, and of 
 a number of French and Danish societies. From a copyist in 
 the department of finance of the king's chancery he worked 
 his way up to chamberlain at the court. His drama "Erik 
 XIV" was particularly well received; it was translated into 
 German, and parts of it into English and Danish. Beskow 
 died in 1868. (Cf . Palmblad : article on Beskow in Biografiskt 
 Lexikon, Vol. 2, 1836.) 
 
 Carl Fredrik Dahlgren (1791-1844) 
 
 Dahlgren was a gifted poet, noted for his sane and realistic 
 descriptions of nature and for his delightful humor. In his 
 famous "Epistles of Mollberg" (Mollbergs epistlar) he took 
 Bellman for his model and wrote in a light and original vein. 
 Dahlgren, who was a clergyman, is said to have been a good 
 preacher and pastor, and a very popular man in society. His 
 pleasant shafts of humor were directed at everybody and not 
 even the Fosforists (to whom Dahlgren once belonged) escaped. 
 
175 
 
 There was no great depth in his poetry, but neither was there 
 any unfathomable metaphysics, and so he was best in his clear, 
 simple, and "sunny spring-dithyrambs." Dahlgren also com- 
 posed popular ditties and kept a salon in the thirties for Young 
 Sweden. Later he became a politician and member of the 
 Riksdag. ( Cf . Vetterlund : Notes on Dahlgren in introduction 
 to " Svensk romantik," II, of Svensk national-litteratur.) 
 
 Per Elg strom (1781-1810) 
 
 Per Elgstrom, an important member of Aurora, was born on 
 Christmas Eve 1781, in the province of Smaland, and his 
 mother was a poor peasant's daughter. He studied German 
 philosophy and poetry at Uppsala and took his master's degree 
 in 1809. For a time he was tutor in the house of a nobleman 
 and clerk in the ecclesiastical department in Stockholm. He 
 contributed to Polyfem and to the first numbers of Fosforos. 
 His untimely death of consumption October 28, 1810, was the 
 cause for deep mourning in Fosforistic circles. 
 
 Erik Gustaf Geijer (1783-1847) 
 
 The literary standard-bearer of the Gothic union during its 
 first, hurricane-period was born in Varmland, January 12, 
 1783, and descended from an old family which had emigrated 
 to Sweden from Germany in the early part of the seventeenth 
 century. At twelve Geijer entered Karlstad gymnasium and 
 only four years later matriculated at Uppsala. He had no 
 definite profession in mind but studied the classics, history, 
 and, at spare moments, music. He was a student of only 
 moderate means and supported himself by tutoring. In 1803 
 he captured the prize offered by the Swedish Academy for the 
 best work on the memory of Sten Sture, three years later he 
 was made master of arts, and in 1808 received a welcome sti- 
 pend. In 1809 he went to England and upon his return the 
 year after, he was appointed decent in history at his Alma 
 Mater. He was promoted to "adjunct" with right to lecture 
 in 1815, and was made full professor after two years. Lydia 
 Wahlstrom (Erik Gustaf Geijer, p. 226,) divides Geijer's 
 
176 
 
 mature activity into the following periods: from 1810 to 1820, 
 the " special philosophical " ; from 1820 to 1838, a term of ac- 
 tivity in history and in conservative, practical politics; and, 
 finally, from 1838 to his death in 1847, the liberal philosophical 
 period. Geijer is to be remembered as a popular teacher, a 
 music enthusiast and composer, a conscientious, scientific his- 
 torian, an essayist, a philosopher, and member of the Riksdag. 
 He was an intimate friend of Atterbom and of the world- 
 renowned singer Jenny Lind. The significant influence of 
 Hans Jarta's friendship for Geijer's development is historical. 
 Of Geijer's more pretentious works the following two deserve 
 special mention : " The Annals of Sweden " (Svea rikes hafder) 
 and "The History of the Swedish People" (Svenska folkets 
 historia). (For an account of Geijer's life and works, with 
 analyses of important publications, consult Lydia Wahlstrom: 
 Erik Gustaf Geijer, Stockholm, 1907.) 
 
 i 
 
 Lorenzo (Lars) Hammarskjold (1785-1827) 
 
 Hammarskjold, the foremost pioneer to proclaim the new 
 ideas from Germany, was born April 7, 1785. He first received 
 instruction at home and, after the loss of his father at the age 
 of fourteen, his older brother Ake helped him to continue his 
 studies elsewhere. He matriculated at Uppsala in 1801 and 
 studied in almost every humanistic field. He was not a good 
 student, however, never became much of a philologian, and was 
 not "promoted" in 1816, though he took his master's degree 
 six years later. His youth was not free from Weltschmerz or 
 eccentric plans of life; he read "La nouvelle Heloise" and 
 "Werther," wished to be a soldier or a bandit, and had an 
 unhappy love-affair; for his sweetheart, Eleanora Raaf, mar- 
 ried his brother. But early troubles had no unwholesome effect 
 upon Hammarskjold, and in 1806 he was appointed assis- 
 tant (amanuens) in the Royal Library in Stockholm. His 
 most influential work, as we have noted, was as a program- 
 maker, as critic of esthetics, and as an historian of literature 
 and art. His large correspondence at the Royal Library is the 
 best first-hand source for the study of the development of the 
 
177 
 
 New Movement, and a great many of his letters have been 
 published. Hammarskjold died in 1827. (Cf. letters; Bio- 
 grafiskt Lexikon, article on Hammarskjold, and Svenska vit- 
 terhetens historia, III, 579ff.) 
 
 Samuel Johan Hedborn (1783-1849) 
 
 Hedborn was born October 14, 1783, in a poor soldier's home 
 in Ostergotland. Personal impressions of childhood became of 
 paramount importance in his later development. He attended 
 school and gymnasium in Linkoping, was a member of the 
 Aurorabund, and a contributor to the publications of the Fos- 
 forists. In 1809 he was ordained to the ministry, in 1820 he 
 became pastor in an isolated place in Smaland and thereafter 
 lived a secluded life, though he never ceased to write entirely 
 nor to keep in touch with his friend Atterbom. Hedborn pos- 
 sessed the gift of pure lyric, a fresh naivete, and Atterbom 
 characterized him as the poet of nature, childhood, and religi- 
 ous devotion. He wrote some splendid hymns and was prob- 
 ably the greatest of the minor Fosforists. He died December 
 26, 1849. (Cf. Biographical note on Hedborn in Vetterlund's 
 introduction to " Svensk romantik " in Svensk national-littera- 
 tur, Vol. IX.) 
 
 Johan Henrik Kellgren (1751-1795) 
 
 Kellgren was a leading representative of the Old School and 
 famous as a critic and esthetician. At first he strenuously de- 
 fended the French system of esthetic principles, but later he 
 anticipated the new literary movement by deviating some- 
 what from its stern rigidity and then wrote poems with deep 
 feeling and in a sublime style. Baggesen and Klopstock were 
 among his later favorites. Hammarskjold calls Kellgren's 
 "The New Creation, or the World of Imagination" (Nya 
 skapelsen eller inbildningens verld) "the most excellent lyrical 
 production in our (i. e., Swedish) language before 1810." Cf. 
 Hammarskjold: Svenska vitterheten, 2d edition, pp. 334~335-) 
 
 Karl Gustaf af Leopold (1756-1829) 
 
 Leopold must be mentioned here again as being the sworn 
 enemy and the target, par excellence, of the New School. 
 
178 
 
 After the death of Kellgren in 1795, Leopold became the lead- 
 ing veteran of the Gustavian party. He wrote didactic poems, 
 odes, poetic epistles, satires, and tragedies in the French style. 
 He possessed a broad culture, a sparkling wit, a vast knowl- 
 edge, and a complete mastery of form. But he clung tena- 
 ciously to the sense commun method of reasoning and had no 
 deep feeling or brilliant talent to offset his blemishes. (Cf. 
 Horn: Scandinavian Literature, pp. 357-358.) Hammerskjold 
 declares rather pointedly that Leopold's aim in life was to 
 become "a Voltaire in Swedish translation." (Svenska vitter- 
 heten, 2d edition, p. 466.) 
 
 Per Henrik Ling (1776-1839) 
 
 The " founder of scientific gymnastics," Per Henrik Ling, 
 was born in the province of Smaland, November 15, 1776. His 
 father, a priest in Ljunga, died when Per was only four years 
 old and his mother married the successor to the Ljunga pasto- 
 rate. At nine Per was sent off to school in Vaxjo and his mother 
 died a few years later, so that Ling only barely remembered 
 even his mother. In 1790 we find Ling attending the gym- 
 nasium, but he made little progress, and after being instru- 
 mental in smashing the windows of the rector's house he left 
 suddenly one night, and was then officially separated from the 
 gymnasium. He matriculated at the University of Lund in 
 the spring of 1793 but was soon obliged to leave for lack of 
 funds. Where he spent the next two or three years remains a 
 puzzle, but he seems to have been in Stockholm part of the 
 time, earning his livelihood by tutoring and translating. In 
 1797 he took an unimportant examination in theology at Upp- 
 sala, and in 1799 came the turning-point in his career when he 
 left for the Danish capital to continue his studies. In Copen- 
 hagen he taught modern languages, made the acquaintance of 
 Oehlenschlager and Steffens, commenced the study of Norse 
 mythology, and took up gymnastics for his health. Ling moved 
 back to Lund in 1804 and became teacher of fencing at the 
 University the year after. He combined the study of anatomy 
 and physiology with the writing of poetry and worked out plans 
 
179 
 
 for historical tragedies. The development of both body and 
 soul, combined with the training of the imagination, was to 
 be the guiding motto in Ling's life. Tegner, on whom Ling 
 exerted such an epoch-making influence, helped his friend to 
 obtain, in 1813, the position as instructor in gymnastics at the 
 Karlberg military school in Stockholm. While in the capital 
 Ling became acquainted with a large number of artists and 
 men of letters, but would have nothing to do with the Fosforists. 
 He joined the Goths, however, soon after his arrival. In 1815 
 the Swedish Academy awarded him the Lundblad prize for 
 " Gylfe," and this official recognition of his poetic ability no 
 doubt did much to encourage subsequent and more titanic 
 efforts. Ling's life was not free from material solicitude, but 
 with an iron will the poet-gymnast overcame all obstacles. In 
 1817 he lost his first wife, leaving a young daughter. Two 
 years later he married Charlotta Katarina Nettelbladt by 
 whom he had seven children. With the title of professor, 
 Ling left Karlberg in 1825 and afterwards devoted most of his 
 time to The Central Institute (Centralinstitutet) in Stockholm, 
 a school established in 1814 for the scientific training of gym- 
 nasts. Ling died May 3, 1839. (Cf. Lydia Wahlstrom: Den 
 svenska odlingens storman, Vol. V.) 
 
 Clas Livijn (1781-1844) 
 
 Clas Livijn was born on November I, 1781, and died as a 
 prominent lawyer October 12, 1844. His father, a clergyman, 
 died in 1802, and this caused an unpleasantness in the family 
 which seriously affected the son. For a time he had difficulty 
 in choosing a profession. He had matriculated at Lund in 
 October 1800, but in the autumn of 1802 he entered Uppsala, 
 where he took his examination in law in 1805. His life, and 
 more particularly his youth, was a constant see-saw of happi- 
 ness and despair; he hovered between absolute indifference 
 and boundless ambition, and this together with his ironical, 
 skeptical mind is said to have been provoked thoughts of sui- 
 cide. He was a typical Sturmer und Dranger, sensitive, witty 
 and interesting. As a young poet Livijn failed to obtain recog- 
 
180 
 
 nition by the Swedish Academy and so afterwards ridiculed it. 
 He was an ardent friend and admirer of Hammarskjold, with 
 whom he kept up a lively correspondence, and the latter recipro- 
 cated the admiration by dubbing Livijn "the coming Swedish 
 Goethe." (See Svenska vitterhetens historia, III, p. 591.) 
 Livijn's early inclination for English literature, his sympathy 
 for German classics, and his spasmodic interest in Old Norse 
 make him a most important forerunner of Swedish Romanti- 
 cism. Livijn made translations from Tieck, considerably later 
 his own " Queen of Spades " (Spader dame), 1823, was in turn 
 translated by Fouque, and Livijn's opera " The Mermaid " 
 (Hafsfrun) " was probably the first Romantic drama written in 
 Sweden." (Cf. Biogfiskt Lexikon, Vol. 8: article on Livijn.) 
 Livijn was also actively connected with Poly fern, and the pre- 
 cise amount of his contribution has in recent years been pretty 
 well established. That he was not the famous writer who signed 
 himself "Nils Nyberg" seems certain; this honor is now be- 
 stowed upon Hammarskjold. (Cf. Svenska vitterhetens his- 
 toria, IV, p. 87 and note.) 
 
 Carl August Nicander (1799-1839) 
 
 Nicander was born in Strengnas. During his boyhood he 
 formed a warm friendship with Sjoberg-Vitalis, which became 
 of the utmost importance for both, and which only terminated 
 in Vitalis's death. While Vitalis was gloomy and bitter toward 
 humanity, Nicander was mild, gentle and lovable. In his occa- 
 sional weakness Nicander was often encouraged and strength- 
 ened by his friend who, undoubtedly, received some well-needed 
 comfort in return. Nicander often suffered from want and 
 misery, and never had any fixed position in the community. 
 We find him in Uppsala in 1817. In 1827 he traveled south on 
 a stipend and after his return we can detect a deep mourning 
 for Italy in his poetry. Many of his best poems are written in 
 Italian and German. Nicander also made translations from 
 Schiller ("Die Rauber" and "Die Jungfrau v. Orleans") and 
 Shakespeare ("Othello"), and wrote some of the best sonnets 
 in the Swedish language. In 1830 he published " Reminis- 
 cences from the South" (Minnen fran sodern) and " Hespe- 
 
181 
 
 rider," a collection of poems and tales. Other significant 
 works, besides "The Runesword," are " Tasso's Death" and 
 "King Enzio, the Last Hohenstaufen." His collected poems, 
 in four parts, have gone through several editions. When Ni- 
 cander died in 1839 it was found at the post-mortem examina- 
 tion that he had suffered and finally succumbed to the same 
 disease as Stagnelius, enlargement of the heart, this organ hav- 
 ing grown to twice its natural size. (Cf. Life of Nicander by 
 Mellin in Vol. 4 of Samlade dikter, Stockholm, 1841.) 
 
 Wilhelm Fredrik Palmblad (1788-1852) 
 
 One of the founders of the Aurorabund was W. F. Palm- 
 blad who remained a zealous champion of the Fosforists. He 
 wrote some insignificant poems and some mediocre novels, 
 "The family Falkensvard," (Familien Falkensvard) and "Au- 
 rora Konigsmark," but his chief celebrity was gained as con- 
 troversialist, biographer, editor, and publisher. For twenty- 
 five years, beginning 1810, Palmblad was manager of the aca- 
 demic printing establishment in Uppsala, which sent out Fas- 
 foros, Poetisk Kalender, and Svensk Literatur-Tidning . Palm- 
 blad was contributor to several literary periodicals and did work 
 in Persian and Hindu antiquity. In 1835 he began to edit 
 " Biografiskt Lexikon " and wrote many of the articles himself. 
 He possessed a good sense of humor, was unusually witty, and 
 entertained royally "under the low roof of his first printing- 
 office," where the English and German authors were read and 
 discussed. Atterbom characterizes Palmblad as " one of the 
 most learned men who ever wrote novels," and declares that a 
 Swedish publicist had never existed who could be compared to 
 him in geographical, statistical, historical, and political knowl- 
 edge. ( Cf . Atterbom : Minnesteckningar och tal. Senare bandet. 
 Orebro, 1869, p. 205.) 
 
 Erik Johan Stagnelius (1793-1823) 
 
 This dreamy and hypochondriacal but highly gifted poet was 
 born on the Island of Oland in 1793. His father was a pro- 
 fessor and minister who later became Bishop of Calmar. The 
 13 
 
182 
 
 young Stagnelius speedily devoured everything in his father's 
 library and when he left for the academy he was splendidly 
 equipped in Norse mythology and the classics. He studied 
 first at the University of Lund and then at Uppsala, where he 
 took his examination for the chancery (Kansli-examen) in 
 1814. He lived a secluded life as a chancery-clerk in Stockholm 
 and was little noticed while he was alive. He never took any 
 part in the fashionable literary polemics of his age, but devoted 
 his time to creative productions and to a strange, melancholy, 
 mystic-pantheistic reflection. Stagnelius never married, but his 
 poems have the tone of disappointed love, though his father 
 denied the contention that his son had ever suffered from an 
 unrequited affection. His poetic activity lasted only about 
 eleven years, beginning 1812, but during that period he wrote 
 enough idylls, elegies, sonnets, odes, romances, pure lyrics, 
 epics and dramas to gain the deserved reputation of a great 
 poet. His best known works, in addition to those with 
 Norse motives, are: the epic "Vladimir the Great" (Wlad- 
 imir den Store); " Bachanterna," a tragedy; the religious 
 drama " The Martyrs" (Martyrerna) ; " The Knight's Tower " 
 (Riddartornet), a Romantic drama; and that "half philosoph- 
 ical and half religious cycle of poems " " Lilies of Sharon " 
 (Liljor i Saron). Stagnelius suffered from heart- failure, which 
 gradually undermined his young life, and one morning in 1823 
 he was found dead in bed. The works of Stagnelius have been 
 translated into German by K. F. L. Kannegiesser, Leipzig, 6 
 vols. 1851. I have not seen this translation. (Cf. Introduction 
 by Hammarskjold in part I of his edition of Stagnelius's Sam- 
 lade skrifter; also, supplement at end of part 3.) 
 
 Esaias Tegner (1782-1846) 
 
 The author of " Frithiof's Saga," the greatest writer of the 
 Swedish Romantic period and, undoubtedly, the best known 
 Swedish poet of all times, needs but little consideration here. 
 In connection with our specific topic, however, it becomes neces- 
 sary to call attention to an apparently wrong impression about 
 Tegner's relation to the Romanticists, an impression which is 
 
183 
 
 more especially entertained by foreign historians of Swedish 
 literature. For instance, Bernardi in "La Litterature scandi- 
 nave" (Paris, 1894, p. 64) calls Tegner the head of the Gothic 
 School, and either ignores the Romantic movement under Ger- 
 man influence entirely, or knew nothing about it. To Bernardi, 
 Bellman and Tegner are the only names of the whole Romantic 
 movement worthy of mention, and such an unconditional dis- 
 missal of the subject is not only misleading but morally unjust. 
 Tegner was not the militant head of any school but above all 
 schools. He was elected a member of the Gothic group, to be 
 sure, he eventually became its greatest literary exponent, he 
 contributed to Iduna, and ultimately acquired his greatest claim 
 to a cosmopolitan immortality by the treatment of a Norse 
 theme in accordance with Gothic principles; but Tegner was 
 never guilty of the Gothic exaggerations and openly opposed 
 the Fosforists. Tegner was a leader in poetic art, pure and 
 simple, and no slave who abided strictly by the formulated dog- 
 mas of any one literary faith. 
 
 Tegner was born November 13, 1782, in Varmland. After the 
 death of his father, a clergyman, young Tegner found patrons 
 who assumed care of his studies. At twenty years of age he 
 became decent of esthetics at the University of Lund, in 1806 
 he married, in 1812 he was ordained to the ministry, and also 
 became professor of Greek in Lund. A learned Hellenist and 
 popular lecturer, he was dean of the faculty of philosophy 
 from 1814 to 1823, and the following year he was appointed 
 Bishop of Vaxjo. In 1833 he journeyed to Bohemia for his 
 health and on the way met Schleiermacher, Steffens, and others. 
 Liver trouble and a consequent recurring of melancholia affected 
 his mind, so that in 1840 Tegner was taken to an asylum in 
 Schleswig for treatment. He recovered sufficiently to take up 
 his work again, but he never regained his former vigor and 
 died November 2, 1846. The following poems will give any 
 reader an estimate of Tegner's power : " War-song for the 
 Militia of Scania" (Krigssang for skanska landtvarnet), 1808; 
 the prize-poem " Svea," 1811; " Nore," 1814; "New-Years 
 1816" (Nyaret 1816) ; "The Children of the Lord's Supper" 
 
184 
 
 (Nattvardsbarnen), 1820, translated by H. W. Longfellow; 
 "Axel," a narrative poem, 1821 ; and " Frithiofs Saga," 1825. 
 The latter has been translated into almost every European 
 tongue. There are at least twenty-five different translations of 
 it into German and twenty-two into English, the last one by 
 Clement B. Shaw of Chicago. (Cf. Introduction to the 
 Nationalupplaga of Tegner's Samlade skrifter, by Bottiger; 
 also Brandes: Esaias Tegner.) 
 
 Erik Julius S job erg -Vitalis ( 1794-1828) 
 
 Vitalis was born in Sodermanland in 1794. His father was 
 a poor workman and his mother a minister's daughter. He 
 exhibited in early youth a marked gift for study and poetry so 
 that his friends helped him to obtain an education. He entered 
 the gymnasium in 1809, but left suddenly in 1814 and went to 
 Uppsala. Vitalis's whole life is a record of hardships ; he was 
 always poor but too sensitive to accept material aid without 
 humiliation, he suffered immensely from an incurable physical 
 malady, and contracted debts, but managed to support himself, 
 after a fashion, by tutoring and translating. He received a 
 stipend in 1822 and by a most extraordinary will-power suc- 
 ceeded in taking his doctorate of philosophy in 1824. Though 
 a friend of Nicander, as we have seen, he attacked both the 
 Fosforists and Goths, and in so doing displayed a decided talent 
 for satire and humor. To better his chances Vitalis moved 
 to Stockholm in 1827, but found only more trouble and, in the 
 following year, death. (Cf. Carl L. Ostergren: Vitalis, hans lif 
 och diktning, Uppsala, 1869.) 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY 
 (Grouped in the order of their importance) 
 
 I. LITERARY PERIODICALS 
 
 Iduna. No. I-H. Stockholm, 1811-1845. (For first num- 
 bers, later editions used.) 
 
 Journal for Litteraturen och Teatern, 1809-1813. Then con- 
 tinued as : 
 
 Allmanna Journalen, 1813-1822. Stockholm. 
 
 Poetisk Kalender. Uppsala, 1812-1822. 
 
 Phosphoros (Fosforos). 1810-1813. Printed in Uppsala. 
 
 Polyfem. Forsta-Femte samlingen. Stockholm, 1809-1812. 
 
 Svensk Litteratur-Tidning. Stockholm och Uppsala, 1813- 
 1824. 
 
 II. MISCELLANEOUS LITERATURE OF SPECIFIC IMPORTANCE 
 
 d'Albedyhll, Eleonora Charlotta, Gefion. Skaldedikt i fyra san- 
 
 ger. Uppsala, 1814. 
 
 Atterbom, P. D. A., Samlade dikter. 1-6. Orebro, 1854-1863. 
 
 Intrades-Tal i Svenska Akademien ofver Pehr Henrik 
 
 Ling. Svenska Akademiens handlingar if ran 1796. Del 
 
 20. Stockholm, 1843. 
 
 Samlade skrifter i obunden stil. I-VII. Orebro, 1859- 
 
 1870. Containing: 
 
 Inledning till svenska siare och skalder, f jerde delen, 1864. 
 Minnesteckningar och tal. Tva delar, 1869. 
 Literara karakteristiker. Tva delar, 1870. 
 Beskow, Bernhard v., Dramatiska studier. Stockholm, 1836- 
 
 1838. Lefnadsminnen. Stockholm, 1870. 
 Bottiger, Carl Wilhelm, Aurora-Forbundet i Uppsala. Svenska 
 Akademiens handlingar ifran ar 1796. Del 49. Stock- 
 holm, 1874. 
 
 Minne af Erik Johan Stagnelius. (No date. Probably 
 Stockholm, 1872.) 
 
 185 
 
186 
 
 Fouque, Friedrich, Baron de la Motte, Thiodulf the Icelander. 
 
 London, 1865. 
 Frunck, Gudmund, Bidrag till kannedom om nya skolans for- 
 
 beredelser och forsta utveckling. (Till ar 1811.) 
 
 Stockholm, 1889. 
 
 Bref rorande nya skolans historia. Uppsala, 1886-1891. 
 Granberg, P. A., Jorund, lyrisk tragedi i tre akter. Svenska 
 
 Akademiens handlingar if ran 1796. Del 6, pp. 2651!. 
 
 Stockholm, 1817. 
 Hallman, Mila, Clas Livijn, en studie. Med bihang: Spader 
 
 dame. Stockholm, 1909. 
 Hammarskjold, Lorenzo, Svenska vitterheten. Andra uppla- 
 
 gan af P. A. Sonden. Stockholm, 1833. 
 Kritisch-historische Uebersicht des Zustandes der swed- 
 
 ischen Literatur seit dem Anfange dieses Jahrhunderts. 
 
 Hermes, Leipzig, Numbers XVII and XX, 1823; and 
 
 XXII, 1824. 
 Utkast till de bildande konsternas historia, i forelasnin- 
 
 gar. Stockholm, 1817. 
 Hjarne, Rudolf, Gotiska forbundet och dess hufvudman. I. 
 
 Stockholm, 1878. 
 Dagen fore drabbningen, eller nya skolan och dess man i 
 
 sin uppkomst och sina forberedelser. 1802-1810. 
 
 Stockholm, 1882. 
 Geijer, Erik Gustaf, Samlade skrifter, 1-8. Stockholm, 1874- 
 
 1876. 
 
 Ling, P. H. Samlade arbeten. I-III. Stockholm, 1866. 
 Ljunggren, Gustaf, Svenska vitterhetens hafder efter Gustaf 
 
 III:s dod. I-V. Lund, 1873-1895. Smarre skrifter. 
 
 I and III. Lund, 1872 and 1881. 
 
 Malmstrom, Bernhard Elis, Grunddragen af svenska vitter- 
 hetens historia, I-V. Orebro, 1866-1868. 
 Molin, Adrian, Geijer-Studier. Goteborg, 1906. 
 Mortensen, Johan, Clas Livijns dramatiska forfattarskap. 
 
 Stockholm, 1911. 
 Nicander, K. A., Samlade dikter. I-IV. Stockholm, 1839- 
 
 1841. 
 Samlade arbeten. Tredje upplagan. I-II. Stockholm, 
 
 1862. 
 
187 
 
 Norling, Borje, Nya skolan bedomd i literaturhistorien. Stock- 
 holm, 1880. 
 
 Palmblad, F. W., Biografiskt Lexikon ofver namnkunnige 
 svenska man. Articles on Ling, Hammarskjold, and 
 Beskow. 
 
 Rafn, C. C., Fornaldar Sogur Nordrlanda eftir gomlum hand- 
 ritum. Fyrsta Bindi, Kaupmannahofn, 1829. pridja 
 Bindi, Kaupmannahofn, 1830. 
 
 Rydqvist, Johan Er., Bernhard v. Beskow, Minnesteckning. 
 Stockholm, 1873. 
 
 Saxo Grammaticus: Danish History, First 9 books, Trans- 
 lated by Oliver Elton, B.A. London, 1894. 
 
 Schiick, Henrik, Ur gamla papper, containing Den gotiska sko- 
 lan. Stockholm, 1904. 
 
 Snorre Sturleson, Konungasagor. Translated into Swedish by 
 Hans Hildebrand. Stockholm, 1889. 
 
 Stagnelius, E. J., Samlade skrifter. Utgifna af L. Hammar- 
 skjold. Delar 1-3. Stockholm, 1836. 
 Samlade skrifter. Sjunde upplagan, af C. Eichhorn. 
 Stockholm, 1881. 
 
 Sterner, Anders, Den nordiska mytens anvandning i bildande 
 konst. Stockholm, 1881. 
 
 Sunden, D. A., Oversikt av nordiska mytologien. Femte upp- 
 lagan. Stockholm, 1908. 
 
 Tegner, Elof, Ur Esaias TegneYs papper. Stockholm, 1882. 
 
 Tegner, Esaias, Samlade skrifter. I-VII. Jubelfestupplaga. 
 
 Stockholm, 1882-1885. 
 
 Efterlamnade skrifter. I-III. I and II contain letters. 
 Stockholm, no date. 
 
 Thomander, Johan Henrik, Intrades-Tal ofver Atterbom, hal- 
 let den 29 Maj 1857. Svenska Akademiens handlingar 
 ifran ar 1796. Del 29. Stockholm, 1857. 
 
 Vedel, Valdemar, Svensk romantik. Kjzfoenhavn, 1894. 
 
 Wahlstrom, Lydia, Den svenska odlingens storman. V. Per 
 
 Henrik Ling. Stockholm, 1902. 
 Erik Gustaf Geijer, en lefnadsteckning. Stockholm, 1907. 
 
 Westerblad, Carl August, Pehr Henrik Ling, en lefnadsteck- 
 ning och nagra synpunkter. Stockholm, 1904. 
 
188 
 
 Wirsen, C. D. af, Clas Livijn, bans verksamhet inom skon- 
 literaturen och den literara polemiken. Stockholm, 
 1870. 
 
 Lefnadsteckningar af K. A. Nicander, pp. I73ff. Af 
 Bern. v. Beskow, pp. 29 iff. Stockholm, 1901. 
 
 Wordsworth, John, Bishop of Salisbury: The National Church 
 of Sweden (The Hale Lectures 1910). London .and 
 Oxford, England, and Milwaukee, U. S. A., 1911. 
 
 Ostergren, Carl L., Om Vitalis, hans lif och diktning. Upp- 
 sala, 1869. 
 
 III. BIBLIOGRAPHY OF SPECIAL IMPORTANCE FOR 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 Arentzen, Kr., Baggesen og Oehlenschlager. Literaturhistor- 
 
 isk studie. I-VIII. Kj^benhavn, 1870-1878. 
 Baggesen, Jens, Poesiens oprindelse, in Deel I, pp. 18-53 of 
 
 Vaerker, 1-8. Kj^benhavn, 1879-1882. 
 Blanck, Anton, Den nordiska renassansen i sjuttonhundratalets 
 
 litteratur. Stockholm, 1911. 
 Castren, Gunnar, Norden i den franska litteraturen. Helsing- 
 
 fors, 1910. 
 Edda. i. Edda, Saemundar hinns Froda. Edda Rhytmica 
 
 seu antiqnior vulgo Saemundiana dicta. Pars I, Haf- 
 
 niae, 1787; Pars II, Hafniae, 1818. Sumptibus Legati 
 
 Magnaeani et Gyldendalii. 
 
 2. Edda, Saemundar hinns Froda. Collectio Carminum 
 veterum Scaldorum Saemundiana dicta. Ex recensione 
 Erasmi Christian! Rask. Curavit Arv. Aug. Afzelius. 
 Holmiae, 1818. 
 
 3. Saemund den vises Edda. Translated into Swedish by 
 Arv. Aug. Afzelius. Stockholm, 1818. 
 
 4. Rasmus B. Anderson: The Younger Edda. Chicago, 
 1880. 
 
 5. Icelandic Poetry, or the Edda of Saemund. Translated 
 into English verse by A. S. Cottle. Bristol, 1797. 
 
189 
 
 6. Hugo Gering: Die Edda. Leipzig und Wien. No 
 date.. 
 
 7. Die Briider Grimm: Lieder der alien Edda. Erster 
 Band. Berlin, 1815. 
 
 8. du Puget, Mile. R., les Eddas. Paris, 1846. 
 
 Ewald, Johannes, Samtlige skrifter. Bind 1-4. Kjjzfoenhavn, 
 
 1780-1791. 
 
 Samtlige skrifter. Deel 1-8. Kjjfoenhavn, 1850-1855. 
 Fouque, Friedrich Baron de la Motte, Der Held des Nordens. 
 
 Berlin, 1810. 
 Gerstenberg, H. W. von, Deutsche Nationalliteratur. No. 48. 
 
 Containing "Der Skalde" (Gedicht eines Skalden). 
 
 Also works of Kretschmann and Denis in the same 
 
 volume. 
 Goethe, Johann Wofgang von, Dichtung und Wahrheit. Vol. 
 
 28 of Weimar edition. 
 
 Grater, Fr. David, Nordische Blumen. Leipzig, 1789. 
 Gray, Thomas, Works. Vol. I, Poems, containing The Bard, 
 
 The Fatal Sisters, and The Descent of Odin. London, 
 
 1816. 
 Gustaf III : s Skrifter. Andra delen. Stockholm, 1806. See 
 
 Frigga, pp. 3071!. 
 Herbert, William, Select Icelandic Poetry. Translated from 
 
 the original, with notes. London, 1804-1806. 
 Herder, Johann Gottfried von, Iduna oder der Apfel der Ver- 
 
 jiingung. Zutritt der nordischen Mythologie zur neu- 
 
 eren Dichtkunst. Werke. Hrsg. von B. Suphan. Ber- 
 lin, 1877-1899. Ueber Ossian u. die Lieder alter Volker, 
 
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VITA 
 
 Adolph Burnett Benson (Adolf Berndt Bengtson) was born 
 in Skane, Sweden, November 22, 1881. After attending a 
 Folkskola in that place, he emigrated to United States in 1892. 
 He attended the public school at East Berlin, Connecticut, and 
 prepared for college at the Middletown (Conn.) High School. 
 Entering Wesleyan University, he was graduated, magna cum 
 laude, in 1907 with the degree of B.S. Then, for two years, 
 while teaching German and French in Bellefonte Academy, 
 Bellefonte, Pa., he pursued graduate work, in absentia, under 
 the direction of Professor Fife, of Wesleyan University, re- 
 ceiving the degree of M.S. in 1910. 
 
 He has spent two years, from 1909-1911, in post-graduate 
 study at Columbia University in the fields of Germanic Lan- 
 guages and Literatures and French Language and Literature. 
 The first year he was University Scholar and the second Uni- 
 versity Fellow in Germanics, receiving the degree of A.M. in 
 1910. His resident graduate work has been done under Pro- 
 fessors Calvin Thomas, W. H. Carpenter, Remy, Tombo, and 
 Loiseaux. 
 
 193 
 
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