Page:History of the Literature of the Scandinavian North.djvu/270

252 made a deep impression on his mind. He began to write poetry, and espoused with great ardor the cause of Oehlenschläger in the latter’s feud with Baggesen.

His first great work, "Contrasterne," two dramatic poems, which, among other things, contained sallies against the exaggerations of the romanticists, appeared in 1816, and was followed, in 1817, by the lyric drama "Rosaura." But Hauch was himself dissatisfied with these works, and came to the conclusion that poetry was not his vocation; whereupon, he, with redoubled ardor, returned to the study of the sciences, particularly of zoology. After taking the degree of Doctor, he began in 1821, at public expense, a journey abroad for the purpose of study, during which he visited Germany, France and Italy. In the last named country he met with the severe misfortune of losing one leg, the outcome of a disease, and on this account he was overwhelmed with despair, and it seemed to him that his life’s happiness had been forfeited. Then his old love for poetry awoke again with renewed energy, and amid the impressions made on him by the ancient and mediæval monuments of Rome, he wrote his great tragedy, "Tiberius," and the drama "Gregory VII." On this journey he also wrote the dramatized fairy tale, "Hamadryaden," and the tragedy "Bajazeth," and then, after six years absence, he returned to Denmark. Here his works were received with great applause, and personally he gained every recognition. He was appointed Lector at the Soroe Academy, and there he developed a prolific literary activity. Among his historical novels, "Vilhelm Zabern" deserves especially to be mentioned. It is a fascinating autobiography from the time of Christian II, contains many beautiful pictures of contemporary history, and is replete with poetic sentiment. Other prominent works of this class are "Guldmageren" (the adept), "En polsk Familie," "Robert Pulton," etc. In the "Saga om Thorvald Vidförle" and in the admirably written and highly poetical "Fortælling om Haldor," he imitated the style of the old Norse sagas. His later dramatic works were written for