Page:History of the Literature of the Scandinavian North.djvu/301

Rh rapid succession and in great numbers, all of which give evidence of a fertile imagination and of a rare gift of drawing pictures from life. His productions are deeply impressed with the stamp of reality, while they are at the same time highly colored by the author's keen eye for observing every element of poetry. Such is especially the case when he describes the sea, which he is particularly fond of doing. No other Danish poet has ever equalled Drachmann in painting the ever-changing aspects of the sea. He may be said to have conquered this domain of poetry. His original profession is painting, and his speciality is marine views, and this has unquestionably been of great service to him in his poetry. And never before—when we except Blicher—has Danish popular life been painted with so great poetic effect as in the sketches made by Drachmann from the life of the Danish fishermen and sailors. His talent produces the most splendid results in his lyric poems, in which he frequently reaches a high degree of perfection in his command of language, and in his shorter stories, "Paa Sömands Tro og Love" and "Ungt Blod." His series of sketches "Derovre fra Grændsen," of which several editions appeared in rapid succession, has become exceedingly popular. In these the poet eloquently and graphically describes the heroic endurance of the Danish soldiers and the depressed condition of the neighboring population during the siege of Düppel. In his long stories, such as "En Overcomplet" and "Tannhäuser" we find many exquisite passages, but Drachmann lacks the ability to manage properly works undertaken on a great scale. In his former works he has shown a marked predilection for the realistic school, but recently, in a phantastic composition, "Prindsessen og det halve Kongerige" (the princess and half the kingdom), he has turned decidedly to the romantic school. The future will show whether this is a mere caprice or whether the poet means to continue in this field.

originally belonged essentially to the old school, but in his published poems appear symptoms