Page:History of the Literature of the Scandinavian North.djvu/276

258 no guest comes too late, who still feels himself young. He sings of “the broad leaves on the slender stem of the vine, that is shaded by clusters of golden grapes;” but above all he sings of the glowing, intoxicating love, of “all the rapturous joy that can bloom between man and woman,” and of nature, for the beauty of which he had the enthusiastic yet also the critical eye of the lover. When he sings of these things his song strikes a mellow and sonorous note, and stands unrivalled in Danish literature.

Winther is a genuine national poet both as regards form and substance, for he always seeks his materials on his native soil. He has also sketched a few pictures from the South, which he visited in the vigor of his manhood, and though he had a keen eye with which to discern the beauties of southern nature, still he did not succeed so well here as when he extolled the beauties of his own country. In descriptions of nature he is a master. Nothing escapes his glance, and he faithfully reproduces every detail in most charming pictures. And yet he is far from striving after realistic correctness in his representations or plunging into details to such a degree as to destroy the unity of the composition. His pictures of nature may be compared with those of a skilful landscape painter, in whose pictures all the details are pervaded by the conception of the whole, while they at the same time contribute to giving bold relief to the total impression. In Winther we find no general, conventional descriptions; there is nothing indefinite or confused, but all the nuances, of which he presents an abundance, receive their pregnant and perfectly appropriate expression. This is the reason why, in perusing Winther’s descriptions of nature, we feel as it were wrapped in poetical fragrance, for by entering so deeply into the details he makes us understand the spell with which nature unconsciously binds us. Winther is particularly the interpreter of the Zealand nature just as Blicher interpreted for us the Jutland scenery. Winther was especially fond of that which is soft and harmonious in nature and in human life, while Blich-