Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - The Frithiof-Saga - Preface
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
73 PREFACE
The tale of Frithiof forms one of the class of Norse
Legends or Sagas styled "heroic" by Professor Muller in
the introduction to his Saga-bibUotbek (3 vols. 8vo,
Copenhagen, 1817-20). The period at which Frithiof lived
is supposed to have been at the end of the thirteenth
or beginning of the fourteenth century; but the critical
grounds for such a supposition need not be here stated.
For the benefit of those who like an "Argument"
prefixed to an epic, Muller’s abstract of the ancient poem
will be found annexed, translated from the Danish. It will
also serve to show in how very few particulars Tegner has
allowed himself to vary from the tale the old Saga-men
handed down. In some few parts of the modern version he
has used, with admirable judgment and effect, the
structure, and even the words, of the original; but, not content
with amplifying and adorning a heathen tale, or depicting
the manners of a long-departed age, he has surrounded his
work with an atmosphere of high morality, and guarded it
from every mean tendency, with a care worthy alike the
author of The Children of the Lord’s Supper, and the
character of a Christian prelate.
With reference to the metres employed, opinions will,
of course, be divided; nor can a candid critic help
admitting that, even at the sacrifice of some originality, sundry
parts would sound better in different metres than those
employed. Tegner’s plan has been a novel one, namely,
to produce each of the twenty-four divisions of his work
in a different measure; and, doubtless, nothing but
adherence to such a design could have induced him to use a
metre so uncouth as the iambic hexameter, in which the
last division,"Reconciliation,"is confined. It almost seems
as if his Muse, footsore as she approaches the end of her
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
