Bjornson's

In this connection it might be fitting to recall Bjornstjerne Bjornson's words

The Nobel Peace Prize 1982 - Presentation Speech 1983

The two volumes which contain the greater part of Bjornson's poetry not dramatic in form were both published in 1870.

Bjornstjerne Bjornson Payne, William M 1910

In some respects, the little sketch called "The Father" is the supreme example of Bjornson's artistry in this kind.

Bjornstjerne Bjornson Payne, William M 1910

The outcome of that wish was an essay, summarizing Bjornson's life and work, published in "The International Quarterly," March, 1903.

Bjornstjerne Bjornson Payne, William M 1910

Here, also, we have the gracious maiden figure of Audhild, perhaps the loveliest of all Bjornson's delineations of womanhood, a figure worthy to be ranked with the heroines of Shakespeare and Goethe, who remains sweet and fragrant in our memory forever after.

Bjornstjerne Bjornson Payne, William M 1910

But in the treatment of peasant life by most of Bjornson's predecessors there had been too much of the de haut en bas attitude; the peasant had been drawn from the outside, viewed philosophically, and invested with artificial sentiment.

Bjornstjerne Bjornson Payne, William M 1910

When the date of Bjornson's seventieth birthday drew near at the close of 1902, the present writer, who had been from boyhood a devoted admirer of the great Norwegian, wished to make an American contribution to the world-wide tribute of gratitude and affection which the then approaching anniversary was sure to evoke.

Bjornstjerne Bjornson Payne, William M 1910

"Magnhild," planned several years earlier, represents Bjornson's return to fiction after a long dramatic interlude.

Bjornstjerne Bjornson Payne, William M 1910

The longest poem in Bjornson's collection is called "Bergliot," and is a dramatic monologue in which the foul slaying of her husband Ejnar Tambarskelve and their son Ejndride is mourned by the bereaved wife and mother.

Bjornstjerne Bjornson Payne, William M 1910

If Bjornson's essential teaching may be found in a single page, as has above been suggested, his personality evades all such summarizing.

Bjornstjerne Bjornson Payne, William M 1910