cases more zealous than their
leaders. The period of the thirties and forties was dominated by this
Wergeland-Welhaven controversy, which engendered much bitterness of
feeling, and which constitutes the capital fact in Norwegian literary
history before the appearance of Ibsen and Bjoernson upon the scene. A
sort of parallel might be drawn for American readers by taking two such
men as Whitman and Longfellow, opposing them to one another in the most
outspoken fashion, assuming for both a sharply polemic manner, and
ranging among their respective followers all the other writers of their
time. Then imagine the issue between them to be drawn not only in the
field of letters, but also in the pulpit, the theatre, and the
political arena, and some slight notion may be obtained of the
condition of affairs which preceded the advent of Bjoernson and the true
birth of Norwegian literature with "Synnoeve Solbakken."

The work which was thus destined to mark the opening of a new era in
Norwegian letters was written in the twenty-fifth year of its author's
life. The son of a country pastor, Bjoernstjerne Bjoernson was born at
Kvikne, December 8, 1832. At the age of six, his father was
transferred to a new parish in the Romsdal, one of the most picturesque
regions in Norway. The impression made upon his sensitive nature by
these surroundings was deep and enduring. Looking back upon his
boyhood he speaks with strong emotion of the evenings when "I stood and
watched the sunlight play upon mountain and fiord, until I wept, as if
I had done something wrong, and when, borne down upon my ski into one
valley or another I could stand as if spellbound by a beauty, by a
longing that I could not explain, but that was so great that along with
the highest joy I had, also, the deepest sense of imprisonment and
sorrow." This is the mood which was to be given utterance in that
wonderful lyric, "Over the Lofty Mountains," in which all the ardor and
the longings of passionate and impatient youth find the most appealing
expression. The song is found in "Arne," and may be thus reproduced,
after a fashion, in the English language.

"Often I wonder what there may be
Over the lofty mountains.
Here the snow is all I see,
Spread at the foot of the dark green tree;
Sadly I often ponder,
Would I were over yonder.

"Strong of wing soars the eagle high
Over the lofty mountains,
Glad of the new day soars to the sky,
Wild