Both editions contain notable things amid occasional
bits of what scarcely rises above doggerel. The sailor songs, though
rough, are true in tone and have a catching nautical swing; but of far
deeper ring and more intensely felt are the poems which deal with the
nocturnal sides of nature. These have at times a strange, shivering
resonance, like an old violin whose notes ripple down your spine. I
refer especially to such untranslatable poems as "Draugen," "Finn-Shot,"
"The Mermaid," and "Nightmare." The mood of these is heavy and uncanny,
like that of the "Ancient Mariner." But they are indubitably poetry. It
is by no means sure that the world has not lost a poet in Jonas Lie; but
probably a lesser one than the novelist that it gained.
As Jonas had been voted by his kin the family dullard, it was decided to
make a clergyman of him. But to this the young man objected, chiefly,
according to his own story, because the clerical gown looks too much
like a petticoat. At all events, after having equipped himself with a
set of theological tomes, and peeped cursorily into them, he grew so
discouraged that he went to the bookseller and exchanged them for a set
of law-books.
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