Fritofs Saga | Page 4

Tegnér that he consistently used his brilliant
powers in battling against the advancing forces of obscurantism and
tyranny. His enlightened and humanitarian ideas find a beautiful
utterance in the poem "Tolerance" (Fördragsamhet) which dates from
1808, but later was rewritten and appeared under the title "Voices of
Peace" (Fridsröster). In "The Awakened Eagle" (Den vaknade örnen),
1815, he celebrates the return of Napoleon from Elba, The Union of
Norway and Sweden stirs Tegnér to write a poem "Nore", a
high-minded protest against politics of aggression and a plea for justice
and a spirit of fraternity.
In "The New Year 1816" (Nyåret 1816) he scores the Holy Alliance in
bitter and sarcastic terms. The liberal ideas of Tegnér are further
elucidated in a famous address, delivered in 1817 at the celebration of

the three hundredth anniversary of the Lutheran Reformation. In this
event the poet saw the unfolding of the great forces that led to the
spiritual and intellectual emancipation of man, and ushered in a new era
of freedom and progress. The reactionaries in the realm of literature
become the object of his attack in "Epilogue at the Master's
Presentation" (Epilog vid magisterpromotionen). Other poems of this
period, as "The Children of the Lord's Supper" (Nattvardsbarnen),
admirably translated by Longfellow, "Axel", the tragic tale of one of
the warriors of Charles XII., and his fair Russian bride, "Karl XII",
which breathes the defiant spirit not only of the hero king but of the
nation, "Address to the Sun" (Sång till solen), an eloquent eulogy to the
marvelous beauty of the King of Day, merely served to establish
Tegnér more firmly in the affection of the people. But his fame was to
be placed on a still firmer foundation when the greatest creation of his
fertile mind, Fritiofs Saga, appeared.
II.
The genesis of Fritiofs Saga is to be found partly in the renascence of a
strong national sentiment in Sweden after the disastrous wars and loss
of Finland, early in the nineteenth century, partly in Tegnér's
personality and in his profound knowledge and warm admiration of the
Old Norse sagas. We have seen how already as a boy he had read the
sagas with keen zest and even tried his hand at a heroic poem in stately
Alexandrine verse.
To the thoughtful minds of that day it seemed clear that the cause of
Sweden's misfortunes was to be found in her loss of a strong manhood,
due to a senseless readiness in adopting enervating foreign customs and
to a fatal relaxation in morals. In 1811 a handful of enthusiastic
students, mostly from Tegnér's native province of Värmland, formed
the Gothic Union (Götiska förbundet) for the purpose of working with
united efforts for the regeneration of the nation. This, they believed,
could best be achieved by reviving the memories of the old Goths,
merely another name for the people of the Saga period, which in turn
would help to bring back the vigorous integrity and dauntless courage
of the past. The ancient sagas must therefore be popularized.

Tegnér, who already in his "Svea" had bewailed the loss of national
power and urged his people to become independent and strong again,
joined the Gothic Union, at the same time expressing his disapproval of
a too pronounced and narrow-minded imitation of old Gothic life and
thought. Erik Gustaf Geijer, the great historian and poet, also a native
of Värmland and in power of mind and loftiness of ideals almost the
peer of Tegnér, published in Iduna, the organ of the Gothic Union, a
few poems that faithfully reproduce the old Northern spirit and in
strength and simplicity stand almost unsurpassed. An extremist in the
camp was Per Henrik Ling, an ardent patriot, who, inspired by Danish
and German Romanticism, would rehabilitate the nation by setting
before it in a series of epics the strong virtues of the past, albeit that
these often appeared in uncouth and brutal forms. For the physical
improvement of his countrymen Ling worked out a scientific system of
exercise, and though his epics were failures, largely because they set up
coarse models for an age that aesthetically had risen superior to them,
his system of physical training entitles him to an honored place among
the great men of Scandinavia.
Tegner had been greatly grieved at Ling's literary mistakes. It seemed
to him deplorable that a worthy cause should be doomed to
ignominious failure just because unskilled hands had undertaken to do
the work. This feeling prompted him to undertake the writing of a great
epic based on the old sagas, but excluding their crudities. But it would
be a mistake to think that this was the only force that impelled him to
write. Tegnér has now reached the heyday of his wonderful poetic
powers and he must give expression to the