Literature

Danish. The first Danish author of prominence is Arreboe (1587-1637), whose World's First Week displays learning and poetic beauty. Tycho Brahe of the same period performed a great service for science and literature. The first poet who belongs to the modern epoch is Evald (1743-1780). He produced poems beautiful in sentiment and artistic in form. He was also the author of Balder's Death, the first Danish tragedy, and of the Fishermen, a lyrical drama of power. By the beginning of the nineteenth century Germany was exerting a decided influence upon Danish literature, causing a new school of poets to appear. The greatest of this school is Oehlenschlager (1779-1856), who, besides poems, produced many romances. His chief work is Gods of the North, in which the legends of the Edda are united into one poem. Of all Denmark,s writers Hans Christian Andersen is the best known to English and American readers. His stories have been translated into many languages.