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GRUNDTVIG, NIKOLAI FREDERIK SEVERIN (...
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See also:GRUNDTVIG, NIKOLAI FREDERIK SEVERIN (1783–1872) , Danish poet, statesman and divine, was See also:born at the parsonage of Udby in See also:Zealand on the 8th of See also:September 1783. In 1791 he was sent to live at the See also:house of a See also:priest in See also:Jutland, and studied at the See also:free school of Aarhuus until he went up to the university of See also:Copenhagen in 1800. At the See also:close of his university See also:life he made Icelandic his See also:special study, until in 18o5 he took the position of See also:tutor in a house on the See also:island of Langeland. The next three years were spent in the study of See also:Shakespeare, See also:Schiller and See also:Fichte. His See also:cousin, the philosopher Henrik See also:Steffens, had returned to Copenhagen in 1802 full of the teaching of See also:Schelling and his
lectures and the See also:early See also:poetry of _teaching
opened the eyes
of Grundtvig to the new era in literature. His first See also:work, On the Songs in the See also:Edda, attracted no See also:attention. Returning to Copenhagen in 18o8 he achieved greater success with his See also:Northern See also:Mythology, and again in 1809—1811 with a See also:long epic poem, tie Decline of the Heroic Life in the See also:North. The boldness of the theological views expressed in his first See also:sermon in 1810 offended the ecclesiastical authorities, and he retired to a See also:country See also:parish as his See also:father's assistant for a while. From 1812 to 1817 he published five or six See also:works, of which the See also:Rhyme of See also:Roskilde is the most remarkable. From 1816 to 1819 he was editor of a polemical See also:journal entitled Dannevirke, and in 1818 to 1822 appeared his Danish paraphrases (6 vols.) of Saxo Grammaticus and Snorri.
During these years he was See also:preaching against See also:rationalism to an enthusiastic See also:congregation in Copenhagen, but he accepted in 1821 the country living of Praesto, only to return to the See also:metropolis the See also:year after. In 1825 he published a pamphlet, The See also: N. See also:Clausen, who was See also:professor of See also:theology in the university of Copenhagen. Grundtvig was publicly prosecuted and fined, and for seven years he was forbidden to preach, years which he spent in See also:publishing a collection of his theological works, in paying two visits to See also:England, and in studying Anglo-Saxon. In 1832 he obtained permission to preach again, and in 1839 he became priest of the workhouse church of Vartov See also:hospital, Copenhagen, a See also:post he continued to hold until his See also:death. In 1837–1841 he published Songs for the Danish Church, a See also:rich collection of sacred poetry; in 1838 he brought out a selection of early Scandinavian See also:verse; in 1840 he edited the Anglo-Saxon poem of the See also:Phoenix, with a Danish See also:translation. He visited England a third See also:time in 1843. From 1844 until after the first See also:German See also:war Grundtvig took a very prominent See also:part in politics. In 1861 he received the titular See also:rank of See also:bishop, but without a see. He went on See also:writing occasional poems till 1866, and preached in the Vartov every See also:Sunday until a See also:month before his death. His preaching attracted large congregations, and he soon had a following. His hymn-See also:book effected a See also:great See also:change in Danish church services, substituting the See also:hymns of the See also:national poets for the slow See also:measures of the orthodox See also:Lutherans. The See also:chief characteristic of his theology was the substitution of the authority of the " living word " for the apostolic commentaries, and he desired to see each congregation a practically See also:independent community. His patriotism was almost a part of his See also:religion, and he established popular See also:schools where the national poetry and See also:history should See also:form an essential part of the instruction. His followers are known as Grundtvigians. He was married three times, the last time in his seventy-See also:sixth year. He died on the 2nd of September 1872. Grundtvig holds a unique position in the literature of his country; he has been styled the Danish See also:Carlyle. He was above all things a See also:man of See also:action, not an artist; and the formless vehemence of his writings, which have had a great See also:influence over his own countrymen, is hardly agreeable or intelligible to a foreigner. The best of his poetical works were published in a selection (7 vols., 188o–1889) by his eldest son, Svend Hersleb Grundtvig (1824–1883), who was an authority on Scandinavian antiquities, and made an admirable collection of old Danish poetry (Danmarks gamle Folkeviser, 1853–1883, 5 vols.; completed in 1891 by A. Olrik). His See also:correspondence with See also:Ingemann was edited by S. Grundtvig (1882); his correspondence with See also:Christian Molbech by L. See also:Schroder (1888); see also F. Winkel See also:Horn, Grundtvigs Liv og Gjerning (1883); and an See also:article by F. Nielsen in Bricka's Dansk Biografisk Lexikon. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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