Poems and Songs Part 30

Bryllupsvise Nr. I.

Bryllupsvise Nr. II.

Bryllupsvise Nr. III.

Bryllupsvise Nr. IV.

Bryllupsvise Nr. V.

De norske studenter til fru Louise Heiberg.

De norske studenters hilsen med fakkeltog til deres kgl. hoiheder kronprins Frederik og kronprinsesse Louise.

Til sorenskriver Mejdells solvbryllup.

Nytaarsrim til rektor Steen.

Til maleren Hans Gudes og frues guldbryllup.

Nine of these are occasional longs in the narrowest sense, with little or no general interest, and showing hardly any of the author's better qualities: five Wedding Songs, a Betrothal Song, a Silver-Wedding Song, a Golden-Wedding Song, and a Students' Song of Greeting to Mrs. Louise Heiberg. The tenth, a characteristic, rather long poem of vigor and value, New Year's Epistle in Rhyme to Rector Steen, is extremely difficult to render into English verse.

The translator has thought it best not to include any of Bjornson's lyric productions not contained in the collection published with his sanction during his life, the other lyrics in his tales, dramas. and novels, many occasional short poems in periodicals and newspapers which were abandoned by their author to their fugitive fate, two n.o.ble lyrical cantatas, and a few fine poems written after the year 1900.

The translation aims to reproduce as exactly as possible the verse-form, meter, and rhyme of the original. This has been judged desirable because music has been composed for so many of these songs and poems, and each of them is, as it were, one with its musical setting. But such reproduction seems also, on the whole, to be most faithful and satisfactory, when the translator is not endowed with poetic genius equal to that of the author. The very numerous double (dissyllabic) rhymes of the Norwegian are not easy to render in English. Recourse to the English present participle has been avoided as much as possible. If it still seems to be too frequent, the translator asks some measure of indulgence in view of the fact that the use here of the English present participle is formally not so unlike that of the inflectional endings and of the post-positive article Norwegian.

The purpose of the Notes is to a.s.sist the better understanding and appreciation of the contents of the book, by furnishing the necessary historical and biographical information. Of the persons referred to it is essential to know their dates, life-work, character, influence, and relation to Bjornson. The Notes have been drawn from the accessible encyclopedias, biographical dictionaries, bibliographies, and histories. The notes of Julius Elias to his edition of German translations of Bjornson's poems made by various writers and published in 1908 have been freely and gratefully used.

The Introduction is designed not so much to offer new and original criticism as to present the opinions generally held in Scandinavia, and, of course, chiefly in Norway. The lyric poetry of Bjornson has been excellently discussed by Christian Collin in Bjornstjerne Bjornson. Hans Barndom og Ungdom by Henrik Jaeger in Ill.u.s.treret norsk literaturhistorie, and by various authors, including Swedes and Danes, in articles of Bjornstjerne Bjornson. Festskrift I anledning af hans 70 aars fodelsdag. To all of these special indebtedness is here acknowledged.

New Haven, Connecticut, June, 1915

Note 1 NILS FINN. "There has hardly been written later so excellent a continuation of the old Norwegian humorous ballad as this poem (from the winter of 1856-57),written originally in the Romsdal dialect with which Bjornson wished 'to astonish the Danes.'" (Collin, ii, 147.)

Note 2.

VENEVIL. Midsummer Day=sanktehans=Saint John's (Feast), on June 24, next to Christmas the chief popular festival in Norway; the time when nature and human life have fullest light and power.

Note 3.

OVER THE LOFTY MOUNTAINS. "Really Bjornson's first patriotic song.

... Describes one of the main motive forces in all the history of the Norwegian people, the inner impulse to expansion and the adventurous longing for what is great and distant. ... Written in the narrow, hemmed-in Eikis valley." (Collin, ii, 308, 309)

Note 4.

OUR COUNTRY. Written for the celebration of the Seventeenth of May in Bergen in the year 1859. This is Norway's Const.i.tution Day, corresponding to our Fourth of July, the anniversary of the day in 1814 when at Eidsvold (see Note 5) a representative convention declared the country's independence and adopted a Const.i.tution. The celebration day was inst.i.tuted as a result of King Karl Johan's proposals for changes in the Const.i.tution during the years 1821 to 1824, especially in favor of an absolute veto. It was taken up in Christiania in 1824, and spread rapidly to all the cities in the land, was opposed by the King and omitted in 1828, taken up by the students of the University in 1829, and soon after 1830 made by Henrik Wergeland (see Note 78) the chief of Norwegian patriotic festivals. In 1870 Bjornson conceived and put into practice the "barnetog" or children's procession on this day, when the children march also, each carrying a flag. Bauta, prehistoric, uncut, narrow, tall, memorial stone, from the bronze age.

Hows, burial mounds, barrows.

Note 5.

SONG FOR NORWAY. Written in the summer of 1859 in connection with the tale Arne, but not included in that book. The people of Norway have adopted this poem as their national hymn, because it is vigorous, picturesque summary of the glorious history of the country in whose every line patriotic love vibrates.

Stanza 2. Harald Fairhair (860-933) was the first to unite all Norway in one kingdom as a sort of feudal state. His success in his struggles with the petty kings who opposed him was made complete by his victory over viking forces in the battle on the waters of Hafursfjord, 872. Many of the rebels emigrated, a movement which led to the settlement of Iceland front 874 on. Haakon the Good (935- 961) was the youngest son of Harald Fairhair, born in the latter's old age. He was reared in England with King Ethelstane, who had him taught Christianity and baptized. When he was well settled on the throne in Norway, he tried to introduce Christianity, but without success. He improved the laws and organized the war forces of the land.

Eyvind Finnsson, uncle of Haakon, was a great skald, who sang his deeds and Norway's sorrow over his death.

Olaf the Saint (1015-1030) was a man of force and daring, as shown by his going on viking expeditions when only twelve years old. He became a Christian in Normandy. Returning to Norway in 1015, he established himself as King and spread his authority as a stern ruler. With more or less violence he Christianized the whole land.

This and his sternness led to an uprising, which was supported by the Danish King, Knut the Great. Olaf died a hero's death in the battle of Stiklestad, and not long after became Norway's patron saint, to whose grave pilgrimages were made from all the North. His son, Magnus the Good, (see Note 6), was chosen King in 1035.

Sverre (1182-1202) was a man of unusual physical and mental powers,calm and dignified, and wonderfully eloquent. Yet he was a war king, and the civil conflicts of his time were a misfortune for Norway, although he bravely defended the royal prerogatives and the land against the usurpation of temporal power by the Church of Rome, and put an end to ecclesiastical rule in Norway.

Stanza 3. About five centuries of less renown for Norway are pa.s.sed over, and this and the following stanza refer to the time of the Great Northern War, 1700-21, and the danger arising from Charles XII of Sweden. From 1319 to 1523 Norway was in union with Denmark and Sweden; from 1523 with Denmark only. In this war, waged by Denmark- Norway, Russia, and Saxony-Poland against Charles XII, in order to lessen the might which Sweden had gained by the Thirty Years' War, Norwegian peasants, men and women, took up arms against the Swedes.

Peasant is in this volume the usual rendering of the word "bonde"

in the original; for its fuller significance see Note 78.

Tordenskjold, Peter (1691-1720), a great Norwegian naval hero, whose original name was Wessel, and who was born in Trondhjem. He received the name Tordenskjold when he was enn.o.bled. By his remarkable achievements he contributed much to the favorable issue of the Great Northern War; he often had occasion to ravage the coast of Sweden and to protect that of Norway.

Stanza 4. Fredrikshald. Here, on September 11, 1718, Charles XII met his death on his second invasion of Norway. The citizens had earlier burned the City, so that it might not afford shelter to the Swedes against the cannon of the fortress Fredriksten.

Stanzas 5 and 6. Again a rather long period of peace is pa.s.sed over.

In 1807 Denmark was induced by Napoleon to join the continental system. England bombarded Copenhagen and captured it and the Danish fleet. The war lasted seven years for Norway also, which was blockaded by the English fleet and suffered sorely for lack of the necessaries of life. But the nations sense of independence grew, and when the Peace of Kiel in January, 1814, separated Norway from Denmark, Norway refused to be absorbed by Sweden, and through a representative a.s.sembly at Eidsvold declared its independence, adopted a Const.i.tution on May 17, 1814, and chose as King, Prince Christian Frederik, the later King Christian VIII of Denmark. The Swedish Crown Prince Karl Johan led an invasion of Norway in July, and there was fighting until the Convention of Moss, August 14, in which he approved the Norwegian Const.i.tution in return for the abdication of Christian Frederik. Negotiations then led to the federation of Norway as an independent kingdom with Sweden in a union. This was formally concluded on November 4, 1815, by the adoption of the Act of Union, and the election of the Swedish King Karl XIII as King of Norway.

The last four lines of stanza 6 refer to "Scandinavism," i.e., a movement beginning some time before 1848 to bring about a close federation or alliance of the three Northern kingdoms (see Note 21).

Note 6.

ANSWER FROM NORWAY. First printed in a newspaper, April 7, 1860, with the t.i.tle "Song for the Common People," this poem refers to a stage of the long conflict over the question of a viceroy in Norway, so important in the history of the union of Sweden and Norway. The Norwegian Const.i.tution gave to the King power to send a viceroy to reside in Norway, and to name as such either a Swede or a Norwegian.

Until about 1830 the viceroy had always been a Swede, thereafter always a Norwegian. On December 9, 1859, the Norwegian Storting voted to abolish this article in a proposed revision of the Const.i.tution. The matter was discussed in Sweden with vehemence and pa.s.sion. The storm of feeling raged most violently in March, 1860, when on the 17th, in Stockholm, this revision was rejected.

However, no viceroy was appointed alter 1859, and in 1873 the question was amicably settled as Norwegians desired.

While the situation was tense, an unfounded rumor had spread, that on one occasion the Norwegian flag had been raised over the residence of the Swedish-Norwegian Minister in Vienna. This caused loud complaints in Sweden, that "the Norwegian colors had displaced the Swedish," while in the House of n.o.bles a member declared that Norway ought to be "an accessory" to Sweden; that "young, inexperienced" Norway's demand of equality with Sweden was like a commoner's importunity for equality with a n.o.bleman. He went on to say that the Swedish nation must crave again its (pure) flag: "For in our ancient blue-yellow Swedish flag, that waved over Lutzen's blood-drenched battlefield, are our honor, our memories, and thousand-fold deaths."

The (pure, i.e., without the mark of union) Swedish flag consists of a yellow cross on a blue ground, the (pure) Norwegian flag of a blue cross within a white border on a red ground; in each the cross extends to the four margins. At the date of this poem each flag showed a mark of union, a diagonal combination of the colors of both, in the upper field nearest the staff. (For a brief history of the flag of Norway, see Note 66.)

Stanza 2. Magnus the Good, son of Olaf the Saint, reigned from 1035 till his death in 1047. He was victorious in conflict with the Danish King Knut the Hard, and by agreement received Denmark after his death. Magnus died in Denmark on one of several successful expeditions against the rebellious Svein Jarl.

Fredrikshald, see Note 5.

Ad(e)ler, Kort Sivertsen (1622-1675), was a distinguished admiral, born in Norway. He reorganized the Danish-Norwegian fleet, which late in the seventeenth century several times defeated the Swedish.

Stanza 3. Lutzen. In the battle of Lutzen, November 16, 1632, Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden was killed.

Grandsire's ancient seat, symbol of Norway's ancient power and glory. In one of the Swedish speeches were these words: "If Norway had had a Gustavus Adolphus, a Torstenson, a Charles the Twelfth, if its name like ours had gone forth victorious in history, no Swede would deny its right to stand before us. This, however, is not the case. ..."

Stanza 4. Sverre Priest, see Note 5. When young he was a priest.

Stanzas 5 and 6. Christie, Y. F. K. (1779-1849), was a vice- president of the convention of Eidsvold, April 10-May 20, 1814, and president of the first extraordinary Storting after the convention of Moss, August, 1814. To him more than any other man was due the securing of Norway's independence and welfare in the framing and adoption of the Const.i.tution and the Act of Union. In a sense he was the real founder of Norway's liberty (see Note 5).

Stanza 7. Wessel=Tordenskjold, see Note 5.

Stanza 8. Torgny. At the Ting in Upsala, February, 1018, when the Swedish King Olaf refused peace and his daughter's hand to the Norwegian King, Olaf the Saint, the aged and revered peasant lawman, Torgny, the wisest and most influential man in the land, rebuked the King, declaring that the peasants wished peace with Norway, and concluding thus: "If you will not do what we say, we shall attack and kill you and not suffer from you breach of peace and law." The King yielded, and made a promise which he afterwards broke.

Note 7.

JOHAN LUDVIG HEIBERG (December 14, 1791-August 25, 1860), the leading Danish dramatist and critic of his time, an esthetic genius, with, however, the stamp of the man of the world always on his life and works. He early studied mathematics and natural science, medicine and philology, Danish and foreign literature, and was also very musical. He was uncertain whether to become a poet and esthetic critic, a physician, or a natural scientist, or a surveyor, or -- a diplomat. From about 1824 he studied and adopted the Hegelian philosophy, on which based his esthetics, and for which he was the first spokesman in Denmark. In the years 1825 to 1836 he founded the Danish vaudeville, in which his aim was to recreate the national drama. His vaudeville was a lighter musical-dramatic genre, a situation-play with loosely-sketched characters and the addition of music to concentrate the mood. In it he sought a union with the national comedy, and like Holberg to treat subjects from his own age and land. From 1830 to 1836 Heiberg was professor of logic, esthetics, and Danish literature in the Military School. From 1839 on, censor of the Royal Theater, of which he was director from 1849 to 1856, without great success because of circ.u.mstances beyond his control. In the year 1840 he began to deeply interested in the study of acoustics, optics, and astronomy, and soon fitted up a small astronomical observatory at his residence; he published an astronomical manual, 1844-46. In 1831 Heiberg married Johanne Louise Patges (1812-1890). The daughter of poor parents, she became a pupil of the dancing-school of the Royal Theater in 1820, but went over to the drama in 1826. Wonderfully gifted, she developed rapidly and became Denmark's greatest actress. Her last appearance on the stage was in 1864. She favored the performance of Bjornson's and Ibsen's earlier dramas on the stage in Copenhagen, with management of which she had official connection from 1867 to 1874.

"New Year" ringing o'er the Northland. Shortly before Christmas, 1816, Heiberg published his polemical romantic comedy Yule Jests and New Year's Jokes, a brilliant revelation of his superiority as a wit and a satirist. Attacking the excessive sentimentality of Danish literature and taste at that time, it made a sensation and led to the improvement of both.

Note 8.

THE OCEAN. Arnljot Gelline, a man of prowess, from Tiundaland, the Region about Upsala. When Olaf the Saint went from Sweden to Norway in 1030, Arnljot Gelline was present in his army at Stiklestad, and after baptism was a.s.signed to a place nearest in front of the royal standard. He fought stoutly, but fell early in the battle.

Vikar, a brother of Arnljot Gelline, who sailed with Olaf Trygvason on the Long Serpent, and died fighting in his post of honor on the prow. (See notes below.)

Note 9.

ALONE AND REPENTANT. This poem was first printed in 1865, but was probably written in 1861 or 1862 in Germany or Italy. The friend was Ivar Bye, whom Bjornson had saved from distress and social ostracism in Christiania before 1857, when Bye went as an actor with Bjornson to the theater in Bergen. He was no great actor but an unusual man, for whom Bjornson had deep respect and warm sympathy.

Bjornson described his character and life-experience in the study "Ivar Bye," first published in 1894, in which he said: "Our literature possesses a memorial of his way of receiving what was confided to him. It lies in the poem: 'A friend I possess.' I wrote it far away from him,--not that he might have it, his name is not mentioned, and he never had it, but because at that time things were hard for me."

Note 10.

OLAF TRYGVASON. Grandson of Harald Fairhair, and King from 995 to 1000. On one of his viking expeditions to England he was converted to Christianity. Returning to Norway to win back his ancestral inheritance from Haakon Jarl (see Note 14), he had fortune with him; for as he steered into the Trondhjem Fjord, he received the tidings of the successful uprising of the peasants against Haakon.

He founded Nidaros, the present city of Trondhjem, established Christianity in a large part of the country, and soon became dearer to the people than any other Norwegian King. But he had powerful enemies outside of the land: the Danish King, Svein Forkbeard, the Swedish King, Olaf, and Erik, son of Haakon Jarl. By a large sea-force under these he was attacked off the island Svolder (near the island of Ringen), and there lost his life. Erling Skjalgsson, a great chieftain, holding large fiefs from Olaf and married to his sister, lived at Sole in southwestern Norway. With a large number of the smaller ships of Olaf Trygvason he had been allowed to sail away in advance and did not know of the battle at Svolder.

Long Serpent was the name of the large fighting ship that Olaf had built for this expedition. It held six hundred men.

Note 11.

BERGLIOT. Einar Tambarskelve was one of the most powerful men in Norway during the first half of the eleventh century. His mastery of the bow gave him the epithet Tambarskelve, "bow-string-shaker." He fought, when eighteen years old, on the Long Serpent at Svolder.