Page:History of the Literature of the Scandinavian North.djvu/238

220 was written in 1672 by the duke of Buckingham, and which ridiculed the pseudo-classical style of the dramatic literature, for the Danish parody is vastly superior. It obtains its high, imperishable value by its universal character, and though it was primarily written for the purpose of ridiculing certain favorite Danish plays, it is at the same time aimed at the essentially false tendency of art in Wessel's time, and is, on the whole, a standing protest against all affectation and bombast in art.

Wessel's tragical parody did not at once produce the effect intended by the poet, for the public did not thoroughly comprehend the significance of the satire, which ran through the whole play. The cheerful and vivid style did not fail to please, but people were perplexed in regard to the purpose of the drama, and did not know whether to laugh or to cry, a fact which gives us a fair idea of the overstrained character of the plays which were at that time offered to the public and which were listened to with all seeming gravity. The affected mannerism, with its sham, plaintive pathos, still held its own on the stage for some time, though Wessel by his striking parody gave the impulse to its final banishment.

Wessel was not a very prolific writer, and his complete works fill only one moderately sized volume. In addition to the drama mentioned, he wrote two other plays, which, however, have no value whatever. But we have from his pen a few pithy, lyrical poems, among which the "ode to sleep" is a gem of the first order. Still more important are some of his humorous narrations in verse, published in the weekly paper, "Votre Serviteur, Otiosis," which he edited for a short time. Some of these remain unequalled in Danish literature both in form and comical effect.

Wessel's name is inseparably united with the so-called "Norwegian Society," whose most prominent member he was. This society, which had been founded in 1772, was at first intended simply as an organization for bringing together the Norwegians who resided in Copenhagen, and who were