THE COLLECTED POEMS OF HENRIK IBSEN Translated by John ...

184
There it lay in the bright effusion,
Castle Thought.
Yes, ‘twas the folk’s dream, reared on life’s foundation,
Based on the folk’s will and its dedication!
Then there soared free a Lidskjalf
High on the stronghold’s crest
Where Odin’s cunning ravens
Flew in and out to nest.
Still the spirit builds, undefeated,
You’ve ne’er seen on this earth, completed,
Castle Thought.
‘Tis like the church by warriors bold projected:
The trolls of night tore down what day erected;
Up, then, ye youthful muster, —
Keep night-watch unfatigued,
And guard the temple precinct
With Light’s own spirit leagued.
When the turrets and spires are soaring
Then shall column and vault rear, shoring
Castle Thought.
Hail, then, our Lidskjalf, this high seat of learning,
With far-flung vistas for the eye discerning,
Thence bridges spring, wide-spanning,
That stretch unendingly,
O’er distance’s vast desert
And over Time’s broad sea.
Thence shall issue this proclamation:
In the North soars the fair foundation,
Castle Thought.
Henr. Ibsen
In 1811 the King of Denmark ordered a preliminary study to be undertaken that led to the
foundation of Oslo University. Doomsday winter translates Ibsen’s Fimbulsvinter, the threeyear-long
winter that portended the destruction of the Nordic gods by the giants; Lidskjalv,
Odin’s throne-cum-lookout high on his palace roof whence he surveyed the world; the
cunning ravens were his spies.
PROLOGUE
at
THE NORWEGIAN THEATRE’S SPECIAL PERFORMANCE
10 th October [1861]
Temple spire and royal fort,
Raised by forebears of our nation,
Stand now like the land’s stone-wrought
Grief, a muted lamentation.
Norway’s banner, blithe and red,
Flew there once with wings outspread, —