It is all very lovely and
edifying; full of sacred eloquence and a grand amplitude of phrase which
is distinctly clerical.
The romantic tale of "Axel" (1822), modelled after Byron's narrative
poems, rejoiced in a greater popularity, in spite of the carping
criticism with which it was received by the _Svensk Litteratur-Tidning,_
the organ of the Phosphorists. Though, to be sure, the merits of the
poem are largely ignored in this review, it is undeniable that the
faults which are emphasized do exist. First, the frequent violations of
probability (which, by the way, ought not to have been so offensive to a
romanticist) draw tremendous draughts upon the reader's credulity; and
secondly, the lavish magnificence of imagery rarely adds to the
vividness of the situations, but rather obscures and confuses them. It
reminds one of a certain style of barocque architecture in which the
rage for ornamentation twists every line into a scroll or spiral or
arabesque, until whatever design there originally was is lost in a riot
of decoration.
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