Page:History of the Literature of the Scandinavian North.djvu/274

256 tionably "E Bindstouw" (the knitting-room, that is to say a house where the inhabitants gather to knit stockings and tell stories), a collection of short stories and poems in the Jutland dialect. They consist in pictures from real life, partly pathetic and partly brimful of sparkling humor, and notwithstanding their simplicity and naturalness, they are drawn with a skill that has probably never been equalled by any work of the same kind. As a lyrical poet he has also produced excellent things, and several of his poems have become genuine popular songs.

Blicher's aim was to awaken the popular mind, and for this he labored in proportion to his strength with marked success during the third and fourth decades of this century. But he contributed most toward the elevation of Danish popular life by his throughly national and popular stories, which everybody knows, and which continue to be read over and over again by all Danes whether they be rich or poor.

(1794-1838) was one of Oehlenschläger's most ardent admirers, and took a very active part in the literary campaign that was fought on the one side by Oehlenschläger's friends and on the other by Baggesen and Grundtvig. Against Baggesen he wrote the poem, "Om Jenses Lidenhed" (On Jens' littleness, i.e., Jens Baggesen's), a scathing parody on the latter's well known poem, "Da jeg var lille" (When I was little), and against Grundtvig he composed the exquisite "Himmelbrev," in which he parodies in a masterly manner the peculiar style of his adversary. In his poems, which are not very numerous, but which are marked by an original and choice style, we frequently find a sound and thoroughly humoristic view of life. His poem, "Glæde over Danmark" (Joy over Denmark), is particularly fine, and was written by him on the Pacific Ocean during a voyage to China. His student songs and his unfinished story, "En Students Eventyr," also abound in rare buoyancy and fresh