(The English Pilot), 1844, form a series of narrative poems in short lyrical metres which remain the most interesting and important of their kind in Norwegian literature. He was less successful in other branches of letters; in the drama, neither his Campbellerne (The Campbells), 1837, Venetianerne (The Venetians), 1843, nor Sokadetterne (The Cadets), 1848, has achieved any lasting success, while his elaborate contribution to political history, Norges Konstitutions Historie, 1841-43, is forgotten. The poems of his last five years, however, enjoy as true a popularity as ever, and are not likely to lose it. The only influence which Wergeland, in spite of his genius, has had on Norwegian literature is the removal of traditions and the release of style in various directions. His obscurity and extravagance have stood in the way of his teaching, and his only disciples in poetry have been Sylvester Sivertson (1809-1847), a journalist of talent whose verses were collected in 1848, and Christian Monsen (1815-1852).
A far more wholesome and constructive influence was that of Johann Sebastian Cammermeyer Welhaven (1807-1873), who was first brought to the surface by the conservative reaction in 1830 against the extravagance of the radical party. His first publications were polemical, and were mainly directed against Wergeland. A savage attack on Henrik Wergeland's Poetry, published in 1832, caused a great sensation, and produced an angry pamphlet in reply from the father, Nikolai Wergeland. The controversy became the main topic of the day, and in 1834 Welhaven pushed it into a wider arena by the publication of his beautiful cycle of satirical sonnets called Norges Dæmring (The Dawn of Norway), in which he preached a full conservative gospel. Norway has not followed Welhaven in politics, but it certainly has in literature. The salutary character of his advice was instantly felt by the younger men of letters. As a poet and as a critic he continued to do admirable work. He published volumes of lyrical and romantic poems in 1839, 1845, 1848, 1851, and 1860; and he enriched the language by two excellent critical studies, one on Holberg, 1854, and the other on Evald and the Norwegian Club, 1863. His collected works appeared in eight volumes in 1867-68. He was assisted in his controversy with Wergeland by Henrik Hermann Foss (1790-1853), author of Tidenornerne (The Norns of the Age), 1835, and other verses.
Andreas Munch (b. 1811), the oldest now-living Norwegian author of any repute, has been one of the most rapid and industrious of poetical writers. He took no part in the feud between Wergeland and Welhaven, but addicted himself to the study of Danish models independently of either. He published a series of poems and dramas, one of which latter, Kong Sverres Ungdom, 1837, attracted some notice, without securing much position. His popularity commenced with the appearance of his Poems Old and New in 1848, and has only lately begun to decline. Andreas Munch makes little or no appeal to the highest poetical susceptibilities; his work is melodious, facile, and graceful, but without depth of feeling or artistic beauty. His highest level as a poet was reached by his epic called Kongedatterens Brudefart (The Bridal Journey of the King's Daughter), 1861. Two of his historical dramas have enjoyed a popularity greatly in excess of their merit; these are Solomon de Caus, 1854, and Lord William Russell, 1857. Munch published a fragment of an autobiography in 1874, with the title of Barndoms- og Ungdoms-minder (Memoirs of Childhood and Youth).
A group of minor poetical writers may now be considered. Magnus Brostrup Landstad (1802-1881) was born on Maasö, an island in the vicinity of the North Cape, and therefore in higher latitudes than any other man of letters. He was a hymn-writer of merit, and he was the first to collect, in 1853, the Norske Folkeviser, or Norwegian folk-songs. Landstad was ordered by the Government to prepare an official national hymn-book, which was brought out in 1861. Peter Andreas Jensen (1812-1867) published volumes of lyrical poetry, mostly to edification, in 1838, 1849, 1855, and 1861, and two dramas. He was also the author of a novel, En Erindring (A Souvenir), in 1857. Aasmund Olafsen Vinje (1818-1870) was a peasant of remarkable talent, who was the principal leader of the movement known as the “maalstrœv,” an effort to distinguish Norwegian from Danish literature by the adoption of a peasant dialect, or rather a new language arbitrarily formed on a collation of the various dialects. Vinje wrote a volume of lyrics, which he published in 1864, and a narrative poem, Storegut (Big Lad), 1866, entirely in this fictitious language, and he even went so far as to issue in it a newspaper, Dölen (The Dalesman), which appeared from 1858 to Vinje's death in 1870. In these efforts he was supported by Ivar Aasen, to whom we shall return, and by Kristoffer Jansen (b. 1841), now the only remaining “maalstrœver,” who resides in the United States, and who is the author of various important works,—an historical tragedy, Jon Arason,1867; several novels,—Fraa Bygdom, 1865; Torgrim, 1872; Fra Dansketidi, 1875; Han og Ho, 1878; and Austanfyre Sol og Vestanfyre Maane (East of the Sun and West of the Moon), 1879; besides a powerful but morbid drama in the ordinary language of Norway, En Kvindeskjebne (A Woman's Fate), 1879. Superior to all the preceding in the quality of his lyrical writing was the late bishop of Christiansand, Jörgen Moe (1813-1882), author of three little volumes of exquisite verses, published in 1850, 1851, and 1853. He is, however, better known by his labours in comparative mythology, in conjunction with P. C. Asbjörnsen.
The mixture of such opposite elements as the wild genius of Wergeland and the cold critical judgment of Welhaven would seem to have formed a singularly happy basis for the writers of the next generation to build a literature upon. The now-living poets of Norway may hold their own without fear of too severe a rivalry, not merely with those of Denmark and Sweden, whom they easily excel, but with those of the great powers. There can be no reasonable question that Ibsen and Björnson are the two most original figures of their generation in the Teutonic world of imagination. But their energy, and that of their companions, has been almost entirely confined to two fields,—the drama and the novel. The narrative and epical forms of poetry, and even the lyric in its more ambitious directions, have not flourished in the modern Norwegian school. The most conspicuous name in Norwegian literature is that of Henrik Ibsen (b. 1828). His early efforts were not remarkable, and to this day he has not succeeded in any field but the drama, where he is a master. His first tragedy, Catilina, 1850, was a work of little importance. It was not until 1856 that he came forward with a romantic drama, Gildet paa Solhaug (The Feast at Solhaug), in which an individual style was noticeable. Two successive tragedies, Fru Inger til Österaad, 1857, and Hærmændene paa Helgeland (The Warriors on Helgeland), 1858, displayed a sudden development of power. In 1863, at last, he wrote an historical tragedy, Kongsemnerne (The Pretenders), which is a work of maturer genius. He had by this time, however, been drawn into a new channel. In 1862 he began his series of lyrico- satirical dramas on modern Norwegian life with his Kjærlighedens Komedie (Love's Comedy), a brilliant study, which was succeeded by two masterpieces of a similar kind, Brand in 1866, and Peer Gynt in 1867. These were long dramas, written entirely in octosyllabic rhyming verse. In De Unges Forbund (The Young Men's League), 1869, which was a political satire of much force, he abandoned verse, and has since written all his dramas in prose. In 1871 he collected his lyrical poems, and in 1873 he published Kejser og Galilæer (Emperor and Galilean), a double drama of portentous size, on the career of Julian the Apostate. Since that time he has published, about once in every two years, satirical comedies of great pungency and wit, laying bare some sore of modern social life among his countrymen,—Samfundets Stötter (The Pillars of Society), in 1877; Et Dukkehjem (A Doll's House, or Nora), in 1879; Gengangere (Ghosts), in 1881; and En Folkefiende (An Enemy to the People), in 1883. The last of these is a humorous apology for the poet's severity as a satirist, which in his latest works has seemed excessive even to his greatest admirers. He has lived in voluntary exile from Norway since 1864.
It has been a misfortune to Björnstjerne Björnson (b. 1832) that he was born four years later than Ibsen, with whose powers his might else be more exactly matched. It is possible that in some respects his mind is more richly endowed than Ibsen's, and it would seem to be more versatile; the elder poet, however, is the superior artist, and has his qualities under more severe control. Björnson has made several false starts; Ibsen scarcely one. The first successes of Björnson were made in the field of the novel, where he adapted from the German school of “dorfgeschichten,” a species of realistic and yet romantic tale of life among the peasants in the mountains, which was singularly charming and attractive. Of these the two first, Synnöve Solbakken, 1857, and Arne, 1858, were among the best, and made his name famous. His ambition, however, was to excel in dramatic writing, and after three comparative failures—Halte Hulda (Halting Hulda), 1858; Mellem Slagene (Between the Battles), 1859; and Kong Sverre (King Sverre), 1861—he made a great success with his heroic trilogy of Sigurd Slembe in 1862. In the meantime small sketches of peasant life, and the exquisite little story called En Glad Gut (A Merry Lad), had supported his reputation. In 1863 he brought out a tragedy of Maria Stuart i Skotland, and in 1865 a little comedy De Nygifte (The Newly-married
