Page:History of the Literature of the Scandinavian North.djvu/283

Rh berg's, Hertz evinces perfect command of the technical methods of the drama and a never failing vein of humor which produces a most excellent effect, especially in those of his dramas which deal with national subjects. In them he presents a crowded gallery of admirably drawn typical characters, which not unfrequently remind us of Holberg's comedies.

Hertz has also written a number of excellent poems, remarkable for their perfect form and interesting contents, a few stories, and two contemporary sketches: "Stemminger og Tilstande" and "Johannes Johnsen."

(1809-76) entered the University of Copenhagen in 1828, together with so large a number of gifted young men (Andersen, etc.), that 1828 has been humorously styled the year of the four great and the twelve small poets. The joke was, upon the whole, sustained by the facts, for the annals of the Copenhagen University can boast of no other year which, like that of 1828, furnished so splendid a galaxy of really poetical talents. But there was a mistake made in the classification of these aspirants, inasmuch as Paludan-Müller was assigned a place among the twelve lesser ones; for it was not long before he surpassed all the others. His poetical works are so rich in thought and have so much intrinsic value, that he must unhesitatingly be regarded as one of the most prominent poets that Denmark has ever produced. The first works that he published, his poetic patriotic romances, and his witty, graceful play, "Kjærligheden ved Hoffet" (love at the court), awakened great expectations in regard to the young author's future productions. Then followed two poems, "Danserinden" and "Amor og Psyche," by which the expectations were raised to a still higher degree. Both these works are peculiarly characteristic of the poet's muse, since both of them revealed clearly and for the first time the two main tendencies of the author's writings. The first of these works is a lyrical epic, in which the religious