Up to a certain degree it therefore
became necessary to modernize; but the difficulty was to find the
golden mean. On the one hand, the poem ought not to offend too much
our more refined manners and gentler modes of thought; but, on the
other hand, the natural quality, the freshness, the truth to nature
ought not to be sacrificed."
Tegner fancies he has solved this problem by retaining in Frithjof the
fundamental traits of all heroism, viz., nobility, magnanimity, courage;
but at the same time nationalizing them by giving them a distinctly
Scandinavian tinge. And this he has done by making his hero almost
wantonly defiant, stubborn, pugnacious. As Ingeborg, lamenting his
fierce pugnacity, and yet glorying in it, says:
"How glad, how stubborn, and how full of hope!
The point he setteth of his trusty sword
Against the breast of Fate and crieth, Thou must yield."
"Another peculiarity of the Norseman's character is a certain
tendency to sadness and melancholy which is habitual with all
deeper natures.
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