Page:History of the Literature of the Scandinavian North.djvu/292

274 the tales, "Liv og Död" (Life and death) and Kjöd og Aand" (Flesh and Spirit), which are strongly influenced by the religious and philosophical agitations of the age and betray a certain spiritual affinity to Kjerkegaard. After a silence of many years he again appeared in 1875 with a long novel "Livslænker" (Fetters of Life). (1814-65) published talented works of criticism and a few volumes of lyric poems, which have some value, though they show more thought and æsthetic taste than any richly flowing vein of poetry.  (1817-54) was a conspicuous comical talent, which sometimes, however, was rather crude in regard to form. He also wrote both novels and dramas, and his best and most widely known work is the novel "Fra Gaden" (From the street).

Toward the middle of the century this plethora of poets began to decrease. Poetry, which up to that time had played a very prominent part, began to recede somewhat into the background. The spirit of freedom gradually absorbed all powers and interests, and though people still liked to hear the old well known voices, still the unmistakable change in the tendencies of the age revealed the fact that the number of new poets was considerably diminished. In (born 1813) editor of the daily paper "Faedrelandet," we meet with a very characteristic combination of the poet and the new practical ideas which had such great influence on the younger generation. From his youth he was a strenuous advocate of Scandinavianism and of liberal progressive ideas, and for these he fought both in his songs and in the paper which he edited. He began his literary career as a writer of songs for the students, for whom he wrote a number of witty