Page:History of the Literature of the Scandinavian North.djvu/271

Rh the stage and there they were more or less successful. The most noteworthy among them are: "Söstrene paa Kinnekullen," a dramatized fairy tale; "Tycho Brahes Ungdom"; "Svend Grathe" and "Marsk Stig" (Marshall Stig). An abundance of excellent lyrical romances and poems, in which were unfolded the finest blossoms of his poetry, continued at the same time with his other works to flow from Hauch's indefatigable pen. Two large cycles of romances, "Valdemar Atterdag" and "Valdemar Seir," date from the author's last years; but are, nevertheless, imbued with a wonderful freshness and life.

The leading feature of Hauch's works is a deep moral earnestness, and all his productions are characterized by a noble, ideal aspiration. Being a genuine romanticist, the dark powers of existence constantly seem to flit before his vision. In nearly all his poems they break forth as the revelations of a higher world, from which, according to his views, the origin of the lower terrestrial world is to be derived. This did not, however, obscure his keen, penetrating eye in regard to the real world; and he has particularly evinced great mastership in the psychological delineation of character. His style suffered in his earliest works from a certain want of clearness. It seemed as if his mighty thoughts were unable to find utterance. This obscurity gradually wore off, especially in his poems, to which he gave a well-rounded, elegant form. His prose, however, never became entirely free from a tendency to discursiveness, which, doubtless, was caused by the fact that Hauch was in the habit of making very elaborate preparations for his tales, and this led him to fill them with too many details. Nor did Hauch win the favor of the public until after the great value of his poetical works, so rich in thought and fancy, had for a long time been appreciated by the critics. But that he was one of the most noble and gifted poets that Denmark ever produced is now generally admitted.

After the death of Oehlenschläger Hauch became his suc-