Page:History of the Literature of the Scandinavian North.djvu/355

Rh erotic and elegiac songs received but little attention from his contemporaries, other qualities being then demanded of the poet, and he was accordingly soon forgotten. But he has since been rescued from his oblivion, and valued according to his merits. His religious poems rank the highest, being equally attractive for their elegant form, and for the warm and genuine sentiment which pervades them.

Besides these there were also a number of others who were considered by their contemporaries as genuine poets, and whose works were received with great favor, while they were in fact mere rhymesters. Among them are (1679-1713), and the learned lady,  (1659-1730), the latter of whom also wrote verses in foreign languages. Others again had more or less poetic talent, but, like the former, were unable to produce other than mere amateur work. According to the opinion shared by all the poets, almost without exception, poetry was only a pleasant pastime, a fact openly expressed by (died 1673) in a book which he wrote on the art of poetry. The poetical literature of this period has been strikingly though somewhat severely characterized in the following words: "Stjernhjelm sang with his eyes fixed on the poets of Greece and Borne; his successors sang with their eyes fixed on him, but as they lacked his genius, the majority of them sank into servile imitation or fell into insipid rhyming." The religious poetry of the period is an exception, especially the hymns, in the composition of which the bishop, (1645-1714), distinguished himself. In his excellent psalms, many of which are still sung in the Swedish churches, we find deep feeling and genuine poetic sentiment. They are far superior to his long religious poems, among which is found "Gud's Werck och Hvila" (God's work and rest), a free translation of Arreboe's "Hexaëmeron." 22