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

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Still may the saga-record go:
Danes, Danes own Tyra’s hold!
Still Denmark’s tattered flag can blow
Above the North’s rich future, show
Its proud and rose-red fold.
Henr. Ibsen
Tyra’s lines: the Danish line of defence against German aggression; Lund and Axelstad (the
old Copenhagen), places where student rallies had recently been held (see above) professing
support for Denmark against Germany — promises that, like those made by the rulers of
Norway and Sweden, had come to nothing. The same old game — Gustavus IV of Sweden,
who imagined himself a reincarnation of Charles XII, unwisely embroiled his country in war
with Russia, as a result of which Alexander I retaliated by occupying Finland.
TO FREDERICK THE SEVENTH’S MEMORY
(Song in the Student Union)
Danes, their anxious watch south-questing,
Denmark’s bulwark man.
Roskild’s church where Frederick’s resting
Will strife’s clamour ban.
Life Danes fight for, reputation;
Frederick’s absent from his station;
‘Jens’ must, on the Nordic border
Be its only warder.
No, — when round the Jutland gateway
Bloody work’s at height,
Frederick leaves his tomb and straightway
Cleaves the winds of night,
Thunders forth like Ossian’s giant,
Weapon drawn, brave and defiant;
“On, lads! For our reputation; —
Frederick’s at his station!”
Hence he lives so well remembered,
Denmark’s Danish prince;
Proof — the courage, king-engendered,
That his folk evince.
On then, for what truth endorses!
Frederick’s with his Danish forces; —
Slav or Pole or Croat foe-man
Cannot beat a yeoman!
Written 1864, the year after the death of Frederick VII of Denmark. The confrontation with
Germany for possession of Slesvig and Holstein was approaching its crisis; Dannevirke the
ancient fortifications spanning Denmark’s southern border. The poem seems to invoke
memories of Frederick the Great who led his army against Sweden in 1659. Roskild, a
cathedral town, the seat of the Danish kings, near Copenhagen.
Ibsen left for Italy, via Copenhagen and Berlin, on the 5 th April 1864.