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

"thought-birds") usually have both beak and claws. In a second sense, namely in its
origins, however, the whole battle's series of stev is naturally, like all folk-poetry,
improvisation; not only by the Stever but also from the crowd. Accordingly the
custom that the Steverne have inherited from the old skalds, that they assiduously wet
the throat, so the song will not sound hoarse; but this is the only pause which dares
find a place, as long as the battle lasts.
From this brief discussion of the origin and use of the stev, one should expect a
more pointed and less intricate subject matter than that here communicated allows one
to conclude. But partly one must remember that a large part are written in another
time, and partly reveal these children of nature in the midst of the listening crowd, free
and unhindered, (expressing) what moves them then and there. On the girls' lips
especially therefore these small poems often overflow with a warmth of feeling and an
unmistakable sincerity; one can easily feel that here especially, as in other places, is
love's pleasure and pain, which brings the warm blood to rise and the song to emit a
fragrance. The prettiest of those here presented, those from Telemark, are almost all
serious, and with all their simplicity, many still have something which finds a way to
the heart. If the mind is to comprehend these poems, however, it must liberate itself
from the effort of reading modern refined poetry as a path to perceiving a hidden
meaning underneath their naive and unsophisticated expression; of such a betrayal--if I
may so call it--these small poems, in their innocence, know nothing. As an example I
shall mention the stev: "Ja Kjærlikheta, ho kan bedrøve" ("Yes Love, how it can
grieve"). In several of the gay and joyful expressions there is a good-natured teasing;
something could even be fine in suggestions for example "Om alle Guter sto i ei Line"
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