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Hendrik (Arnold) Wergeland (1808-1845) |
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Norway's national poet, symbol of Norway's independence. Henrik Wergeland, called "Folkelærer," a teacher and educator of the people, was one of the leaders of the patriotic movement in the early 1800s. From Wergeland, said Björnstjerne Björnson, "we first learned to love the fatherland and freedom." Wergeland's magnum opus, Skabelsen, Mennesket og Messias (1830, Creation, Man and Messiah), expressed his optimistic world-view. By nature, he was a radical, who could, at the same time, be both fascinated by the Ossian poems and challenge the traditional. Anguish! anguish! I am o'erwhelmed Henrik Wergeland was born in Kristiansand. His father, Nicolai
Wergeland (1780-1848), was a member of the Constitutional Convention of
1814. Three
years later he became a Protestant minister at Eidsvoll, a few miles
north of the capital, Christiania, where the
convention had been held in 1814. Alette Dorothea
Thaulow (1780-1843), Wergeland's mother, was a daughter of a civil
servant. On her side, he descended from both Danes and Scots. Nicolai Wergeland supported Rousseau's educational ideas but was also a conservative pedagogue who crystallized his ideas in a small book entitled Hendricopoedie: kortfattede Love for Opdragelsen fra den spædeste Alder: en Lommebog for Forældre (1808). The children in the family grew up in relative spiritual freedom. Wergeland's first story came out in print when he was thirteen. His sister became an important feminist writer under the name Camilla Collett; she later depicted vividly in her memoir their happy childhood in the vicarage. In 1825 Wergeland entered the University of Christiania (now Oslo),
where he studied theology, history and botany. He graduated in 1829
with a degree in theology and then started his career as a free-lance
writer. He studied medicine but gave up after two years when he was
offered a temporary post at the university library. Christiania at that time was a small bourgeois town of
some
20,000 people, without much cultural activity. Wergeland entered the
city like a hurricane, and already in 1827 was dominating its literary
scene. With Wergeland, life and literature were one and the same. He
made patriotic speeches, sat drinking and discussing with his
friends throughout the night, and focused on his studies erratically.
"I was quite a dare-devil at that time," he later confessed. Among his acquaintances was the poet Johan Sebastian Cammermeyer Welhaven (1807-1873), supporter of the "l'art pour l'art' idea, who later became Wergeland's leading opponent. "Din Rang du sikred dig med tusind Stemmer, / Rang blandt Parnassets Daarekistelemmer!" was Welhaven's anonymous early attack on Wergelang in the Christiania (Oslo) newspaper Morgenbladet. He guaranteed Wergeland the place of honor among the lunatics of Parnassus. Wergeland's dramatic Creation epic, the approximately 600 pages long Skabelsen, Mennesket og Messias was intended to rival John Milton's Paradise Lost. Before his death in 1845, Wergeland remodeled the work as Mennesket (Man). Influenced by Byron, the poem describes the development of the world and humanity, from the battle between light and darkness into the utopian future. While Satan was a heroic figure in Milton's book, Wergeland was on the side of light. He saw that poets have a crucial role in the struggle of creating heaven on the earth. During this early period Wergeland also composed his 'Stella
poems,' which expressed his feelings of love and joy of life. "Hør
Stella! Stella! / Et blaat Kjem nu øjner mig, Stella, paa Jagten ved /
Ørkesløshed de lystne Jægre skuffe. / — Ha, løb, feige Hare, og optænd
ved Flugten de / tapre Lureres Tørst til Qvellens Bæger!" ('En sangfuld sommermorgen paa Skreva,' Samlede Skrifter: I. Digte. 1ste Bin 1825—1833, by Henrik Wergeland, Utgit av Herman Jæger, 1918) In 1831 Wergeland travelled in England and France. With his English friend Philip Pope he made a tour of West Norway. Revolutionary enthusiasm especially marked his poem 'Det befriade Europe' and 'Caesaris,' which was inspired by the uprising in Poland against Russian oppression. As an advocate of the enlightenment of the common man, Wergeland became involved in the battle for social equality. He founded and edited two journals, For Almuen (1830-1839), and For Arbeiderklassen (1839-45), and also edited a third, Statsborgeren. He gave lectures, distributed books, and established lending libraries. In the poems Jøden (1842, The Jew) and Jødinden (1844, The Jewess) Wergeland stood for the rights of Jews to settle in Norway. 'Juleaftenen' (Christmas Eve), published in Jøden, highlights their brutal treatment: ""Yes, the dog, / but no Jew into a Christian house."" (The Army of Truth: Selected Poems by Henrik Wergeland, translated by Anne Born, Madison, Wisc.: University of Wisconsin Press, 2003, p. 16) Basically
he wanted to correct the anti-liberal mistake of the Norwegian
Constitution, the notorious Article 2, which barred Jews, Jesuits and monastic orders from
entering the country. Wergeland was not alone in his criticism, but he did not live to witness the lifting of the ban in 1851. Wergeland's cultural and political agitation gave rise to
controversy. Willing to fight for his cause, Wergeland satirized Johan
Welhaven
in two farces under the pseudonym Siful Sifadda, "half brother of my
better self." The debate marked the beginning of an ideological
conflict that persisted throughout the century. Welhaven attacked
Wergeland in his study Henrik Wergelands digtekunst (1832) in
which he condemned the poet and his writings. Welhaven's series of
sonnets, 'Norges Daemring' was also aimed at Wergeland although he did
not mention his opponent by name. When his play Campbellerne eller den hjemkomne Søn (1838)
was performed at the Christiania theater, the spectators threw out
protesters from Welhaven's Intelligenspartiet ("Intelligence" party). When Karl Johan, the king of Sweden and Norway, visited Christiania,
Wergeland's poem 'Kongens ankomst' (The King's Arrival) was published
in the newspaper Morgenbladet. In 1839 Wergeland married Amalie Bekkevold (1819-1889). To her Wergeland write several poems, including 'Den første
omfavnelse' (The First Embrace): "And, O joy, my soul, / Demoniac once,
from heaven estranged, / Is, thanks to thee, / Darling, restored and
whole." Although Wergeland was not particularly qualified for the
position, he was appointed in 1840 an archivist in government service.
He also received a small pension from the king. This was considered by
Wergeland's supporters a betrayal of his ideals. Wergeland, who
honestly deserved the pension, expressed his disappointment in the poem
'Mig selv' (1841, Myself): "Jeg i slet Lune, Morgenblad? / Jeg,
son kun behøver et Glimt av Solen / for at briste i høi Latter af en
Glæde, / jeg ikke kan forklare mig!" Christian C. A. Lange (1810-1861) succeeded Wergeland as archivist of Norway. At first Wergeland did not believe that his friends were serious with their accusations of opportunism. After Morgenbladet rejected his writings he lost this illusion. He published a bitter farce, Vinægers Fjeldeventyr, in which Vinæger and his associates try to torment the poet Leontodon. Vinæger is so poisonous that a snake dies when it bites him. When the foundation stone of the new university building was laid, and Wergeland tried to make a speech, he was openly mocked. "He cried like a baby," recounted later one of the invited guests. Of Wergeland's large and varied output, his poetry is considered the most enduring. Among these works are Digte. Første Ring (1829), Spaniolen (1833), and the narrative poems Jan van Huysums Blomsterstykke
(1840), inspired by a painting of the famous Dutch artist. Some of Wergeland's best-loved books were written during his
final illness, which lasted for more than a year. These included Den engelske Lods (1844, The English Pilot) and his Hassel-Nødder (1845, Hazelnuts), an autobiographical piece, which came out posthumously. Heavily in debt, Wergeland had to sell his house, the
Grotto,
and move to a smaller cottage, Hjerterum (Heart-room). Henrik Wergeland died
in Christiania on July 12, 1845. Many of his estranged friends
had visited him on his sickbed. It is assumed that he might have had
tubeculosis or pulmonary cancer. The Jewish youth organizartion in Oslo
established the tradition of laying a wreath at Wergeland's grave in
Vår Frelsers gravlund (the Cemetery of Our Saviour), Oslo, on the
Norwegian Constitution Day, celebrated on the 17th of May. For further reading: Wergeland for framtiden by Jahn Thon (2018); Opprørets variasjoner: Autoritetstematikk i fire dikt av Henrik Wergeland by Elin Stengrundet (2018); 'Republicanism, Stoicism, and Narcissism in Henrik Wergeland's The Creation, Man, and Messiah' by Jørgen Magnus Sejersted, in Romans and Romantics, edited by Timothy Saunders, Charles Martindale, Ralph Pite, and Mathilde Skoie (2012); Mig selv: en biografi om Henrik Wergeland by Odd Arvid Storsveen (2008); Et verdensdyp av frihet: Henrik Wergeland: liv, diktning, verdensbilde by Geir Uthaug (2008); Voldens blomster?: Henrik Wergelands Blomsterstykke i estetikkhistorisk lys by Frode Helland (2003); Wergeland og republikken by Rune Kippersund (1999); Den engelske Lods av Henrik Wergeland by Ragnhild M. Wang (1997); Poetisk uttrykk i Henrik Wergelands revolusjonsdiktning by Reidun Skoge (1997); Henrik Wergeland: en biografi by Yngvar Ustvedt (1994); Fantasiens regnbuebro by Rolf Nyboe Nettum (1992); 'Henrik Arnold Wergeland' by Harald Naess, in A History of Norwegian Literature, edited by Harald S. Naess (1993); Kjærlighet og logos by Dagne Groven Myhren (1991); Henrik Wergelands literaturgeschichtliche Stellung by von Annelie Schreiber (1988); Henrik Wergeland: en psykiatrisk studie by Kristen Austarheim (1966-1974); 'Wergeland and Article 2 of the Norwegian Constitution' by Samuel Abrahamsen, Scandinavian Studies 38 (1966); Wergeland by Aage Kabell (1956-1957); Henrik Wergeland och de svenska judarna: en tidsbild från liberalismens genombrottsår by Hugo Valentin (1923); Henrik Wergeland by Jacob B. Bull (1912); Henrik Wergeland Afhandlinger og brudstykker. Efter forfatterens efterladte papirer udgivet ved hans hustru by Olaf Skavlan (1892); Henrik Wergeland og hans samtid by Hartvig Lassen (1866) Selected works:
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