cultural resources in henrik ibsen's early environment - Ibsen.net

things considered, we could thereby obtain; I refer here equally to the brilliant readers,
whose awakening to love the patriotic element in our self-developing literature is just
as necessary, inasmuch as it is certain that the poet, gently lifted and carried on his
public's love, is able to attain the highest. As far as the poems themselves are
concerned, it is naturally not really the intention to present subject matter (Stof) in the
folk poetry,--we have enough of that, for the time being we have too much; I consider
the worth and meaning of these, as I suggested, to be only in the inspiration and
liveliness they carry in themselves. To be sure I judge those popular prose poems,
legends, and especially folktales appearing abundantly among us far higher in this
respect than the only thinly appearing versified forms, because the former (i.e., in
prose), which to a great extent are Filosofemer (?) have a quite different profundity,
and because they are lighter in a technical sense, they far more purely and more
definitely express their idea, while the latter (i.e., versified) lie bound in the form's far
from inflexible and perfectly developed organism; but nevertheless these latter also
without a doubt fully deserve attention, and that the moreso as they are more rare.
They have besides something that must and will secure them access to eye and ear--
their melodies, these often so boundlessly delightful tones, whereby our mountain
valleys' desires and pains dissolve and die.
This is partly the meaning (betydningen) which has led to the publication of
this collection; still, it can be considered from another perspective, from that of the
language. Indeed, as far as that goes, the dialects--with which I do not have familiarity
enough to be able to judge--are reliable, yielding examples, remnants of which our
valley district still preserves of our glorious old Norse speech, and how these now
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