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NOTES 255
dependent congregations. For the nation his ideal was a free, vigorous
civic life. As member of the Danish parliament for many years he
showed his intense patriotism by his liberal activity and by his partici-
pation in the struggle with Germany for Schleswig-Holstein. He ren-
dered great service also in the reform of education, in particular as
founder of the uniquely valuable “folk-high-schools” (see page 257).
Bjérnson was a Grundtvigian until 1877, having heard Grundtvig speak
in Christiania in 1851, and having come under his personal influence in
Copenhagen during the winter of 1856—57 and the following spring. It
was Grundtvig’s writings on history and mythology that led Bjérnson
to deeper study of the Old Norse sagas and poetry. It was Grundt-
vigianism that, especially through its faith in the power of renewal
and in the resurrection of what must first die away, vitalized Bjérnson’s
religious faith and practical philosophy of life. Bjérnson once said :
“‘Grundtvig and Goethe are my two poles,” and in a speech in 1902:
“There is a poet who has exerted the greatest influence on my devel-
opment—old Grundtvig.”
Sibyl. In The Sibyl’s Prophecy, a poem of the Elder Edda, she (ac-
cording to one reading of the text) sinks from sight after foretelling
the passing away of this world and the coming of a new and better one.
Page 168.
AT a BANQUET FOR PRoressor Lupv. Kr. Daa. The historian, geog-
rapher, ethnologist, publicist, editor, and political leader, Ludvig Kris-
tensen Daa, was born August 19, 1809, and died June 12, 1877. Asa
friend of Wergeland he was a liberal of the old stamp, later an ardent
supporter of the Sverdrup-Bjérnson policies, and elected three times
to the Storting. He was early a leader of the National party among
the students. Too independent ever to submit wholly to party control,
he was always more or less in opposition. In the flourishing times of
Scandinavism he was prominent and of excellent influence. Because
of his political opposition to the Conservative government of Stang,
he did not receive the merited University professorship of history until
1863. Although feared as a caustic writer by all, he was warm-hearted
and in reality a noble personality, one of the most original and best
figures in the modern history of Norway. This poem must have been
written soon after 1870.
Page 170.
Ou, WHEN WILL You STanD ForTH? Written early (in February ?)
in 1872. For the mood of this poem compare the poem Good Cheer,
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