This is an old answer to a school assignment. Incorrect and outdated information may occur.
Briefly about the family
In the 17th century, Claus Hansson was born. He had at least two sons and a daughter. 10 lines after Claus's daughter, Brita Klausdotter, one finds my name, Hans Magne. Wergeland is a modernization of the family name Wircheland. The name Wircheland comes from Brekke in the 17th century. The Claus Hansson who is my ancestor was also the ancestor of the Wircheland family. One of his sons, Hans Clausson Brecke, married Orlaug Wircheland. One of their daughters, Kari Brecke, married Ole Wircheland. From here on, all new lines have the surnames Wircheland or Wergeland. Line number 5 from Claus Hansson was Niels Wergeland.
Niels was born on the farm Mjøs in Hosanger (Osterøy), by Augusta Nedrevoll in 1780. His father, Halvor Lassesen, disappeared when Niels was four years old. In Bergen, Halvor was deceived by a companion and thus he left Bergen. No one in his family saw him again. Augusta was left with three children and no money. Unlike his two siblings, Ingeborg and Lars, Niels got a job with two uncles. Ole Wergeland and Sjur Brekke. But Niels was more of a bother than a help, so he moved. He later changed his name to Nicolai Wergeland after some of his relatives. In 1803, he took the theological exam. Nicolai, who later became an assistant professor, was engaged to Alette Dorothea Thaulow when his first son was born in 1805. Two years later, Nicolai and Alette were married. The couple were polar opposites, it was said. They moved to Dronningsgt. 21, which was located in Christiania.
Nicolai fought for the Norwegianization line. He was described as a traitor by officials. In the 19th century, there was a dispute about whether Norway should have its own language after the union with Denmark. Officials, who had close ties to Denmark, wanted to continue to have Danish as a written language. Nicolai's daughter, Camilla, had connections with wealthy men, and helped the Wergeland family rise in the ranks. Nicolai became known in 1810 with the book Mnemosyne. On June 17, 1808, the Norwegian boat "Lougen" attacked the English "Seagull". It was a very noisy battle. People said afterwards that the ground shook. In Dronningsgt. 21 that same day, one of Norway's great sons was born. He was to become one of the most famous people in literature. It was Henrik Wergeland. The couple who lived there also had a famous daughter in 1813, Camilla Wergeland, also known as Camilla Collett. Dronningsgt. 21 was an old farm north of the Cathedral. The house was white and built in 1735.
Henrik Wergeland's full name was Henrik Arnold Wergeland. He was given the name by Henrik Arnoldus Thaulow (1722-1799), who was his maternal grandfather. We know little about Henrik Jr.'s childhood, and little was written about it. Only the diary of his sister, Camilla, is a reliable source. But in his poetry he had a strong connection with his childhood and the child within him. In "Hasselnøtter" he tells for the last time about his childhood memories.
In 1817, two years after Nicolai and Augusta had their last son, the Wergeland family moved to an old rectory near Eidsvoll. It was large, and needed to be renovated. It was a big job that no one in the family liked. Most of the family became more or less depressed. But Henrik was the exception. He ran around the garden and the forest, studying all life and everything that moved. Both animals and plants were studied. But it was impossible not to notice that the rest of the family was depressed. The father sank into moods and the mother became unhappy. Camilla was probably the worst. She liked herself so little that she cried a lot. There was a bad atmosphere in the house. The children were given a stricter upbringing, and the home tutors were inept. Lieutenant Andersen was an exception. Henrik became a master swimmer, and that was with Andersen's help.
It was a tough society they had entered. Friendships were not allowed between farms. But Henrik, and the wild personality he had, quickly got to know the neighboring farms. He even fell in love with one of the neighboring girls. Despite the bad atmosphere in the Wergeland family, the children were generally wild. Henrik was the wildest. If the stories about Tarzan had existed at that time, Henrik would probably have been compared to him. But despite being wild, he was also obedient.
Henrik's brother, Joseph Frantz Oscar (1815 - 1895), became an officer. And in 1880 he became a major general. He took the initiative to establish the ski department in the Army. He wrote a book about this, "Skiløbningen, dens historie og krigsanvendelse" (1865), which had a great impact on the establishment of the ski department.
The family's youngest poet, Camilla Wergeland, became engaged in the 1830s/1840s to Johan Collett. Collett was, like Welhaven, an enemy of Henrik Wergeland. But Collett was not just unfriendly to Henrik. He was unfriendly to the entire family. Camilla was ostracized by the Wergeland family because of this. She did not hear from the Wergeland family until Henrik sent her a copy of "Kringla". It is said that she laughed out loud at the play.
At Christmas 1834, the Wergeland family's maid, Gunhild, had become pregnant. On September 18, the child was born. The boy was named Olaf Knudsen. His father was one of Norway's greatest poets, Henrik Wergeland. Olaf was also the only child he had.
Henrik was related to two people, both named Harald Nicolai Storm Wergeland. Harald Wergeland sr. (1814 -1893) was Minister of Defense (1860 - 1868). He achieved great success within the military. Harald Wergeland jr. (1912) is a physicist, and helped establish CERN, Conseil Europèen pour la Recherche Nuclèaire. He was also a delegate to CERN's council in Geneva.
Traditional view of Henrik Wergeland
Many Norwegians know who Henrik Wergeland was. A good number of them know what he looked like. A friend had described him this way: "Warm-hearted, kind, strong, broad-shouldered man with glasses. Unwavering self-confidence, faith in his own abilities and was little interested in criticism." We know that Henrik was loyal to his father, Nicolai, and was intellectually mature early. Nicolai and Henrik shared many views in politics. In this topic, Henrik took a lot from his father. Both praised the constitution, the restrictive monarchy and the democratic form of government. May 17 was not just a holiday for the little boy in the Wergeland family. It was a holy day.
It's going to be early...
Before the wildest of this Wergeland family was nine years old, he began to write. Under the pseudonym Siful Sidaffa, he wrote stories in his childhood together with his cousin, Jens Aubert. They sent it to Morgenblad and had it published. This was Henrik Wergeland's debut. "The Bloodstone. A Legend." was written by Henrik alone. It is said to be a horror romance in the spirit of the times. He was proud of it. It was about a wanderer who comes to a remote valley. He listened to what people told about old days. It ended with the main character jumping off a cliff. His head hit a stone - the bloodstone. Henrik and Jens wrote diligently, not least about the French Revolution. Jens became Henrik's collaborator. Since Henrik's mother worked in the theater, the great poet of the family became interested in theater, in addition to poetry. Going to the theater was another source of inspiration.
Nicolai saw that his son, Henrik, was gifted in the subject of politics. This became apparent when Henrik got older. They philosophized and discussed. Nicolai told him about his ideas, and Henrik absorbed them. The father's ideas became the son's ideas.
Schooling and living conditions
When Henrik was 10 years old, he left home. From June 1819, Benoni Aubert was the master of the house where Henrik lived. Henrik had moved to Akershus, and started attending cathedral school on June 1 of that year. Benoni was the husband of Henriette, Alette's sister. Benoni was strict, in the way that his upbringing was strict. Benoni's guest was allowed to walk around Akershus a bit, and Akershus Fortress was popular. The guest became very well known in the fortress, and he had been in every room and tower. There is no Norwegian poet who has been as closely connected to the fortress as Henrik. But after two years, Henrik moved out of Benoni's house. Henrik wanted a dormitory.
Henrik's brothers Johan, who was the oldest, and Ludvig took care of Henrik's schooling. In 1821, when Henrik was 13 years old, he wanted to live in a dormitory. Nicolai was skeptical, but he let his youngest son move. Henrik moved to Lakkegaten, which is located on Grønland in Christiania. It was cheap, and he lived with others in the same dormitory. The people he lived with were so-called hawkers. Hawkers were people who sold household products in small premises. The two oldest he lived with were two of his cousins from Bergen, Gert Ruback and Hans Tornøe Krohn. There were often arguments between the oldest and Henrik. But they often enjoyed themselves with parties and alcohol.
Drink and party at teachers'
It wasn't just dormitory dwellers who enjoyed themselves with a little too much alcohol. Many of Henrik's teachers at the cathedral school also drank. Most were incompetent and lazy. Many even went to brothels. But there were also some exceptions. Johan Aubert, a teacher at the school and cousin of Henrik, said that "The students are being expelled from our school. But it's not their fault. It's the teacher's. It's because of their stupidity and negligence". Another exception was Jacob Rosted, the headmaster of the school. He certainly didn't have peace and order, but he didn't go to brothels and didn't drink too much alcohol either. Apart from not having peace and order, he was capable. Around 1820 things were particularly bad. Violence and drunkenness among teachers were common. And it was normal for all the students at the school to be sent home without any lessons being taught that day. But for a 13-year-old who partied for long periods and lived far from his parents, things didn't go so well at school.
A wild boy...
For the examen artium in July 1825, there were 89 participants from Christiania Cathedral School. 33 failed in mathematics. Two of them were the priest's sons Wergeland and Welhaven. Both eventually entered university and both were interested in botany. That's probably where the biggest similarities end. There was a lot of student life and scurrying at Wergeland. It is said that he had his nose in the punch bowl every time the Norwegian Student Association met. Welhaven was not involved in the ruckus. "When I came to university, the school released a restless, mischievous boy of 17 years into the world", Henrik wrote in a letter. And he is probably right.
From October 1834 he had a dormitory in Christiania. But he was still not the only one living in the dormitory. Now, it is true, drinking dormitory mates were replaced with animals. Some of the animals were snakes, steel worms, birds, dogs and cats. This proves that he was truly a wild boy. But it also proves that he loved nature. A piece of good news for Henrik in 1838 was that he could take up the position of amanuensis at the University Library. An amanuensis is an intermediate position at universities.
On May 17, 1841, there was a move-in ceremony in "Grotten", one of his most famous houses. He had many visitors. Henrik's wife, Amalie, did not seem thrilled about this, but Henrik enjoyed visits. He showed charity. The grotto seemed like a hotel at times. Many ate there, and others stayed overnight. Even without knowing the hosts personally.
Love
In 1823, Henrik Wergeland fell in love with Ida Haffner. His love for her was great. In the poetry collection "Hasselnøtter" he wrote about her. Henrik sensed that they could not become a couple, but their love was just as great. He wrote many letters of proposal to her, but was rejected. Most likely because of his abruptness. Even after she had become engaged to an officer, the love was great. Ida probably thought Wergeland was a strange person. And that is understandable. In 1825 she died. This was sad for Henrik, and he therefore wrote a memorial poem about her and had it published in Morgenblad, 19 Jan. 1825. This was the first poem from Wergeland to be published.
Excerpt from the poem:
Strange is the way of the Lord
to us, which turns the darkness, it does not blind
the eyes of mortals,
but surely it brings them to their goal.
Ida's brother, Wolfgang, a naval officer, did not like the poem that Henrik had written. A duel was challenged, but fortunately the duel was prevented by friends. This Ida we hear about here is the same Ida in "Ida and Selma". Selma was his nickname for Emilie Selmer, a girl he also fell in love with.
Cold feet
He had met Emilie Selmer at a Christmas ball. He was drunk then. And he said that he was very embarrassed by his alcohol intoxication. As Henrik often did, he plucked up the courage. He was going to propose to her. True, by letter, but it was nerve-wracking enough for him. He wrote letter, after letter, after letter, and was always unhappy with the letter. He tore them up and threw them out the window. Henrik's old flame passed by his house, wondering why the apple trees were shedding their blossoms early that summer.
The letter was finally sent, and Wergeland received a reply. It was an invitation. But he did not dare to come. He was too afraid. Fredrik Stang, a friend of Henrik, became engaged to Emilie. The friendship lasted, despite Henrik taking this seriously. Fredrik and Henrik did not become enemies, but separated due to external circumstances. "It is impossible to associate with him," said Stang.
It wasn't long before he was in love again. At Christmas 1826 he met Hulda Malthe. He developed a crush on her, and became indifferent to everything else. Henrik became friends with the Malthe family. Hulda's mother and Henrik had good contact and exchanged a lot of letters. Despite Henrik's good relationship with the family, Hulda did not like him. But he created an ideal image of her. The ideal image was called Stella. At first she was a beautiful star, then she transformed into the spirit that would give birth to him for eternity. In Henrik's first collection of poems, "Digte, Første Ring" (1829), Stella was a central figure. 1827 was the year when Henrik had his plan ready. He was going to propose. If she said yes, he was going to go to the altar right away. If she said no, he was going to travel to Greece to commit suicide. The reason for the "suicide campaign" was that a famous literary figure had traveled to Greece and committed suicide due to depression. Henrik proposed and was rejected. This led to deep depression. It was luck that Nicolai stopped him from committing suicide.
Marriage and charity
Henrik got off to a sad start at school in 1828. Even in the meadows he had fallen in love. He longed for Elise Wolff. But at the end of October he received a friendly letter from her. Then life came to the camp. Henrik wrote wildly and was full of mischief. But nothing happened between them.
In 1838 he became engaged to Amalie Sofie Bekkevold (1819-1889). The collection of poems "Poesier" was a direct result of that. Their love was great. The following year, on April 27, to be exact, they got married. Amalie was only 19 at the time. Camilla reacted against this. Amalie was only a child. Nicolai married the couple, despite his daughter's protests.
Henrik showed a lot of love for his neighbor. He proves it, among other things, in the Jewish case. It was the fight against Paragraph 2, the constitutional article that banned Jews from entering Norway. He went around to the poor and talked to them, he met them. In the picture on the next pages we see that a person is marked with a red ring around him. The person is Henrik. As the picture shows, the space is tight, and it seems as if this is in a more prosperous part of the city. Almost everyone turns away from Henrik. The picture shows that he was offended by the higher class. What happens in the blue circle shows that the visual arts even then, like some of Henrik's texts, that there was entertainment and humor in the visual arts.
But as is well known, it wasn't just young girls he fell in love with. And the limit of his love was not limited to love for fellow human beings. He loved nature. It is central to his poetry. He also loved his homeland dearly, throughout his life. He did a lot for it too. I am also trying to bring this out in this thesis.
The poem
What characterized Henrik's poems is that they are often about the nation of Norway, nature or love. He often breaks the traditional structure of poems. The rules about end rhyme and the same number of stanzas per verse are something he breaks. He believed that true poetry was allowed to break such a system. Poems simply did not have a system. Something that distinguished him more was that in some poems he wrote about venereal diseases. No one wrote about this at the time Henrik was alive. After his death, during the industrial revolution, venereal diseases were a central theme. Prostitution became more common at the end of the 19th century.
Henrik Wergeland, as mentioned, had a strong love for nature, and it was one of his greatest sources of inspiration. Partly with the help of nature's inspiration, he became one of the world's greatest nature poets. He wrote plays, stories and newspaper articles. But it was primarily lyric poems, nature poems, friendship odes and love poems that he wrote.
"Creation, Man and Messiah", which was published in 1830, is the largest poem in Norwegian history. The poem is 720 pages long. The work attracted attention. But few people read it, and even fewer really understood it. Despite the fact that Welhaven had drawn the cover of the poem, he criticized the poem itself. It was formless. In December 1828, "Sinclar's Death" was completed. The play was not a great success.
In 1832, Welhaven had written negatively about Henrik. And a little over six months later, Nicolai came up with a contradictory article, "A fair assessment of Henrik Wergeland's poetry and character". Henrik himself had not even cared about the matter, but was grateful for what his father had done.
Irritation
In the summer of 1834 he published a new collection of poems; "Digte. Anden Ring." Henrik's father thought the collection of poems was a dangerous collection of poems. Even though the poems had been published before. But the collection was to be published, which it was. Henrik was teased by many poets. One of them was Danish. He went by the name of Oehlenschläger. Another Wergeland teased was Dahl, who was a bookseller. Wergeland could make himself stand and throw stones at his house at night. When the publisher finally came out to investigate what was going on, the great poet replied that he only wanted to know if the publisher had remembered to go potty before he went to bed for the evening. Even Dahl's running boy, wearing a ridiculous, downright comical green sailor suit, was teased by Wergeland. And it was Dahl and his running boy who were the origin of "The Parrot" (1835). Henrik had accidentally called Carl Johan Carl Johan III, and not Carl Johan XIV. This led to enmity between them. But Henry paid homage to the king, and later received a salary from the king himself. What Wergeland did for the salary was public education.
But the person Henrik is most famous for fighting against was Welhaven. They organized pipe concerts against each other's plays, wrote badly against each other and had different views on everything. Political views and views on poetry are the most famous contrasts between them. Let's look at poetry first. Wergeland liked the abstract, and he was abstract. Not just the personality. His philosophy was that poetry was abstract. True poetry should come naturally. A poem therefore did not need to be edited. I will delve into his political views under "Other Work" on the next page.
Change
From the mid-1830s we can see a change in the themes of his poetry. The themes were more realistic and down to earth. The same was the style of writing. This is probably related to the fact that he began studying medicine during this period. From about 1840 he strived to have a more refined style. "Engelsk Salt" is another of his attempts. It was published on 11 February 1841. Daa, a former friend, did not like the poem, and therefore managed to get newspapers against Wergeland.
In the spring of 1844, almost a year after his mother died, he fell ill. But he continued to write. "The Jewess" and "The English Pilot" were completed, while "Creation, Man and Messiah", or "Man" as he later called the work, was revised. One play he wrote now was "The Mountain Cabin". It was aimed at the American fever. But what he is best known for at this time is the work "Hazelnuts". This is the collection of poems that contains "Til Foraardet", a tribute to spring. An analysis of the poem can be read later in the thesis you are now reading.
Other work
Cand. Theol. was Henrik's new title in 1829. He managed to take the theological official exam. But he was not ordained a priest. The government would not give a priest's office to such a radical and reckless person. Despite this, he worked a lot within the priestly profession. Among them with his father.
In 1833, Wergeland received an offer to be a teacher in Eidsvoll. Wergeland accepted, and was a teacher in 1833-1834. He taught English, Norwegian, geography and mathematics. And all 20 boys he taught were never bored. They all devoured the information. And that was not a great exaggeration. Wergeland's salary went to the poor. He wrote several botanical textbooks for farmers and the common people. Henrik wanted to become a public teacher. Traveling around Norway and founding public libraries was part of what he did as a public teacher. Public education publications were both created and distributed by him. In the 1840s, he started his own public library. His own book collection was available for lending. The biography Henrik had written about Ole Bull, one of Norway's greatest composers at the time, was probably also included in the collection. In 1828, Henrik had met Bull. Bull was only 18 years old at the time. They had become good friends.
Wergeland made an important contribution to language forms. He wanted a Norwegian language that developed. Henrik Wergeland worked. In many ways, he became a precursor to Knud Knudsen and the spelling work in the 20th century. Henrik wanted to shorten word forms by removing word forms and silent letters. The article "Om norsk Sprogreformasjon", written in 1832 and printed in 1835, is among his most famous articles about the Norwegianization of our language. Henrik also made up words. He liked it. "Husflid" is probably one of the words he made up.
May 17, 1833 was certainly an unforgettable May 17. There was a lot of excitement about this day. Henrik started the day with a hangover. At about 9:00 he and some of his comrades made eggnog and mixed it with cognac.
What does one do who cannot get a job in the priesthood because of a personality that conflicts with the profession? Study further. In the autumn of 1834 he took up medical studies. Without permission from his father. His father was on an unsuccessful trip to Paris with Collett. He wanted to encourage Camilla, but could not. Henrik studied for two years before quitting. He did not want to do more, despite his eager efforts at the beginning. Then a dark figure had crept into the cemetery, dragged up a fresh coffin and stolen the body. The figure was the eager student. "But everything was black, oil, worms, worms and rot. I had to drag it back down", was Wergeland's sad conclusion. "The Girl in the Anatomy Chamber" is a poem written while he was pursuing his studies.
Excerpt:
Yes, it is she! Oh, light here!
And let not the knife slip
into the heart of this arm!
Oh, there is fearful wit
in the lamp's gaze, which stares down
at the pain of the dead.
"The Girl in the Anatomy Chamber" is one of the poems where he uses the traditional structure, despite the fact that Henrik was known for breaking the traditional pattern.
Paragraph 2, which was a well-known paragraph in the constitution and, aimed at banning Jews from entering Norway, was something Wergeland fought against. In 1839, he sent a proposal to the Storting to repeal the paragraph. But the proposal fell. Henrik sent several applications to repeal the paragraph, and all the applications were rejected. He received letters of thanks from Jews across much of Europe. Especially from Sweden. This showed that Henrik was popular among Jews. "The Jew" and "The Jewess" are the two most famous collections of poems he wrote on the theme of the Jewish cause.
The attacks
The spring of 1841 was one of the hardest times in his life. He was attacked from both the right and the left in politics. He was called a traitor, and articles about it poured into the newspapers. "Den Constitutionelle" was one of the worst newspapers. Friends broke with him because of his political views. Ludvig Daa was one of them. He wrote negatively in his magazine "Granskeren" about Henrik. Henrik said that it was because Daa wanted to be a "weathercock and opportunist" that he wrote such things. Since most of the major newspapers were closed to him, he had to find other alternatives. He used "Christiandsansposten" and "Lillehammer Tilskuer". During this time he also received money from the king himself, as a reward for his work. But also for being faithful.
The journeys
In the summer of 1831, Henrik traveled to England and France. The following summer, he had walked to Sogn, and then down the west coast. On the latter trip, he had visited a relative, Johan Vibe. The journey first went to Jotunheimen, the same route that Holberg had taken earlier. Later, Ibsen took the same route. Henrik traveled on via Leikanger, Vangsnes, Balestrand, Bergen, Voss, Ulvik, out to the Hardangerfjord, Rosendal, Stavanger and Egersund before returning home. The travels had given him much inspiration for poetry and many impressions. The impressions are repeated in his poetry. The Spaniard and Poems, Second Ring (both 1833) are two of the collections. As late as 1844, he wrote a poem with inspirations from the trips. The poem was called "The English Pilot". At New Year's Eve 1832/33, Henrik and his cousin Otto traveled to Hadeland. There they spent the night outside. This shows a little about how strange Henrik could be.
The last journey
In the spring of 1844 he had acquired a shirt that he liked very much. He dressed thinly to show off the shirt. It was not yet warm in the air, and Henrik caught a cold. In September he was really unwell. Pastor Montz, doctors, Amalie and his brother Oscar were all worried. No one hid it. Even Henrik did not hide it. He wrote to his father that he did not have to wait too long for a visit. But the main character himself had peace of mind. Despite the doctors' recommendation, he had strolled out onto the balcony and enjoyed himself in the garden. During this period he wrote a good many letters to friends. And to unfriends. In October his health improved. His appetite improved. Hope improved. Already in November he began to lose hope. He felt worse. The weather was also worse. Oscar visited him often.
Henrik still had debts that he owed the state. He had not paid the fines he had received. The mortgage had not been repaid. These were too many expenses. In the end, he sold the house to a friend for 3,000 spesidals. Henrik was still allowed to live in Grotten.
Letters poured in. From far and near, friends and foes. Eliert Sundt's fiancée, daughter of Mauritz Hansen, was one of them. Meir Goldschmidt sent him a letter. It contained the most beautiful declaration of love a Norwegian poet could receive:
From the first moment I saw you - in the realm of the spirit; for it was in your poetic works - I have loved you. I have often thought of the joy it would be to be able to greet you one day. But now the Norwegian students have told me that you are very ill, terminally ill, and from your last poem, "The Beautiful Family," I see that you yourself are thinking of leaving soon. Now I can no longer be silent; it seems to me that I will never be at peace if I do not get to speak to you before you die, if I do not get to tell you that I love you. When I think of you, Wergeland, I am proud to be human. Here we have a man who looks death in the eye, who sings like Gunnar, while death bores its way against his heart. Here we see the vision of the matter, that there is immortality, that God has given man a divine soul.
Wergeland! Let me thank you for this and for all the beautiful hours you have given me. Let me greet you as the greatest of the Nordic poets living today, as the poet who in each of his works has evoked for me the image of a Nordic granite rock from which spring the palm trees and golden oranges of the South.
Oh, may this greeting reach you alive! When you are gone, the whole world will say how great and glorious you were; I will say this to you yourself, you shall receive my respectful, awe-inspiring homage while you are on earth. And if my voice is only weak, it is still a human voice, if you possessed only my soul, you would possess a human soul, which is the highest thing a human being can conquer.
M. Goldschmidt.
In February, plans were made for a new house. The house was to be located in Pilestredet. Both the drawing and the price were discussed. The logs were obtained from Elise Wolff's farm. At 7 o'clock on March 12, Henrik gave a short speech to the workers. "Listen now, boys! Do you think there is a fool in Norway who wants my life!" "No!" "Well, then build me a hot pot. Do you promise me that?" "Yes!" "Then go out and get some coffee!" Henrik was very pleased with the progress of the house. But Amalie, who was visiting the site, was not satisfied. The people did nothing, except drink and play cards. The price of the house was twice as high as planned, and Henrik once again found himself in financial difficulties.
Sunday, April 13, was Wergeland's last day in Grotten. He hadn't been feeling too bad there in the last few days. His appetite had been good. He had eaten trout, hare, pult cheese, tiur and soldier's stump. That Sunday and the days that followed there was chaos both in Grotten and Hjerterum. Everything was to be moved to the new house, Hjerterum. Henrik had decided that a bust should stand next to his sickbed. The bust he wanted there was one that the sculptor Hans Hansen had made of Henrik.
Between April 20 and 30, he was in the national hospital. He had refused to move there, but had to give in. And as "payment" he was to be allowed to bring his canary with him. Again we see that he loved nature. And the canary was allowed to stay with him. Henrik was given a nice and bright room, but he did not like it. He found the echoes in the hallways in particular to be bad. Everything was repeated many times, and became a plague and a nuisance. Even children's cries and laughter became a nuisance. After ten days, doctors and acquaintances realized that it was better if he could come home again, to an almost useless house that he could not afford to pay for.
The doctors then gave up trying to save his life. It was useless. Henrik had to be given morphine to relieve the pain. On May 22, he wrote to his father and thanked him for his help and services. Towards the end of May, Camilla and Jonas came to visit. The last thing Henrik wrote for the public was a small epigram. It was written when he heard his father talk about the abstinence issue. The epigram reads as follows:
Away with the drunkeness,
book, not bottle on the shelf!
On July 11th he tried to write poetry, but had to get his wife to write for him. That day he was completely pain-free, but weak. He was calm. Just before one o'clock, on the night of July 12th, he woke up and said:
Now I dreamed so sweetly; I dreamed that I was lying by my mother's arm.
In his hand he held the handkerchief that he had received from Carl Johan. Then he turned his head and slept. He was dead. July 17 was his funeral. Everything that could crawl and walk, except most officials and statesmen, came to see his funeral.
Afterwards
Almost a month after July 12, 1845, there was national mourning in Norway. Henrik was buried in Christiania. The bust that stands on his grave is the same as the one Henrik had next to his sickbed. Brynjulf Berntsen made a statue of Wergeland. This was unveiled on May 17, 1881 with a speech by Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson. He was one of the authors who had named himself as Wergeland's heir. Marcus Thrane and Eliert Sundt were two others. In Wergeland's birthplace, a new statue of Wergeland was made, by G. Vigeland. This statue was unveiled in 1908. In 1958, Ottar Espeland won a competition for a Wereland monument at Eidsvoll. Unveiled in 1960. One can see that Henrik Wergeland is a very popular figure in Norwegian literature. All Norwegians who love their own country also love Henrik Wergeland. Vigdis Ystad, who has written a doctoral thesis on Wergeland, believes that the person Henrik Wergeland must in many ways have been a traditional troublemaker, easily irritable and terribly impulsive. Wergeland was often compared to Victor Hugo from France and Lord Byron from England. This shows that he was also great internationally. Throughout his life, Henrik had become acquainted with many Norwegian poets and artists. One can mention Welhaven, Moe and Bull. In 1880, Hulda, Henrik's great love of youth, died. She was unmarried throughout her life.
Conclusion
Henrik was not only a poet. He was also a rebel, both in politics and literature. His political views not only gave the city of Christiania a new view of politics. All of Norway gained a new view. It is true that many had previously had the same views as Wergeland, and done something about them. But no one had previously been as strong as Wergeland. Henrik sacrificed much of himself for his fatherland. Not least, he put himself in an economic crisis. The rebellions he had made against the government led to him being fined.
His poetry was special. And it still is. It broke away from the modern poetry of that time, and went a step further, towards a new era in literature. Many did not understand his poetry. Several interpretations of his poems and works came. Therefore, it becomes easier for us to understand what he meant in his poetry.
Henrik was also a man filled with love. He showed it to the girls and women he had fallen in love with. He also showed love for his fellow human beings. Among other things, he fought to have Paragraph 2 removed. To the joy of Jews, the paragraph was repealed in 1851. Henrik also met with the poor to cheer them up.
Basically, Henrik Wergeland was a strange person who could come up with the wildest things. And he was strong enough to fight for a more Norwegian Norway, and to do so to such a great extent.
Analysis
Analysis of a few poems are not included in this english version, because some parts would be "lost in translation".
Appendix: List of some publications
Ah! Farce of the Irreparable Tempus, 1827
Sinclar's Death, 1828
Phantasms, 1829
Poems, First Ring, 1829
Harlequin Virtuous, 1830
Creation, Man, Messiah, 1830
Opium, 1831
Why is Mankind Progressing so Slowly?, 1831
The Spaniard, 1831
Speech to Mankind in Mankind, 1833
Poems, Second Ring, 1833
The Parrot, 1835
The Indian Cholera, 1835
The Child Murderer, 1835
The Last Wise Men, 1835
The Stockholm Passenger, The Seventeenth-May Piece, 1837
The Stockholm Passenger No. 2 Operas in 3 acts, 1837
The Campbells or The Returned Son, 1838
The Cabin or Kristian Ilden's Departure from Norway, 1838
Poems, 1838
The Society "Kringla", 1839
The Constitutional. Nissespill, 1839
For the Working Class, 1839-1845
Winter Flowers in the Nursery, 1840
Jan van Huysum's, 1840
The World Belongs to Us Journalists, 1840
Don't Lie! or The Lord's Prayer. Bird and Flower Pieces, 1840
English Salt, 1841
The History of the Norwegian Constitution, 1841-1843
Vinægres' Mountain Adventure, 1841
The Swallow. A Midsummer Morning Adventure for Mothers Who Have Lost Children, 1841
Langeleiken. A Wreath of Poems in Dølemaal, 1842
The Jewish Case in the Norwegian Storting, 1842
The Jew. Nine Flowering Thorn Trees, 1842
The Venetian or Friendship and Love, 1843
The English Pilot, 1844
The Jewess. Eleven Flowering Thorn Trees, 1844
Man, 1845
Hazelnuts, 1845
The Mountain Cabin, 1845>