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N.S.F. Grundtvig
Søren Kierkegaard
K.E. Løgstrup
Nikolai Frederik Severin Grundtvig, 1783-1872, was a Danish author
for almost 75 years. Most of his many works have not been read by
great numbers either in his own day or subsequently. His ideas and
attitudes are more important than the individual titles. Grundtvig broke
through the framework of the literary institutions and encompassed
the entire population with his projects. His thoughts were first
disseminated through his highly singable poetry, and then the teachers
at the folk high schools; these taught according to no syllabus and led
to no examinations, and on the basis of Grundtvig's loosely formulated
plans they arose in various parts of the country, starting with Rødding
in 1844, but in particular experienced rapid growth after the defeat in
the 1864 war. Academic and narrow vocational training was here
replaced by a general preparation for everyday life as a Danish citizen.
As a rule, Grundtvig's patriotic songs combined a national historical
stance with a Christian view of mankind, and especially after the loss
of the fleet in 1807 and of Norway in 1814 this played an important
part in building up a new Danish identity based on a straightforward,
energetic, active role in society. In his many original and translated
hymns, which were mainly published in his Sang-Værk, 1-5 (1837-1881),
he brought renewal to the National Church of Denmark by imparting a
living, homely character to the great Christian festivals. Even today, his
hymns dominate the authorised hymn book, so much so that even
non-churchgoing Danes can scarcely imagine Christmas, Easter and
Whitsuntide, weddings or funerals without the inclusion of some
verses by Grundtvig.
Grundtvig's work as a theologian, scholar, poet and popular educator
was epoch-making. In Nordens Mytologi (1808, The Mythology of the
North), he was the first to see an inner cohesion in the pagan myths,
and in a greatly expanded, revised edition in 1832 he was able to turn
them into the paradigm of a modern Nordic view of life. In practice,
his theology concentrated on the experience of baptism and holy
communion, both proclaimed by words from the lips of Christ. From
the 1830s, on the background of a Christian faith brought to life in this
way, he placed increasing emphasis on conditions of life on earth,
keeping a suitable pace with the slow political developments in
Denmark towards democracy. He advocated a freedom that ensured
the individual citizen the same potential for life and action in everyday
life as that citizen would wish for his neighbours. By happiness, he
understood the right undisturbedly to be oneself, without an eye to
greatness and honour. He discovered the untapped abilities in the rural
population corresponding to the distribution of population: he was
talking about the majority of Danes. At a time which cultivated an
intellectual and artistic elite, he adopted the ordinary man's - and
woman's - point of view, for in the Danes he saw a loving people with
a patient female character that endures through some inner strength
and finally conquers.
Despite stormy transitions from one phase to another in the course of
his own life, he taught himself and others to look forward to a gentle
growth in nature's divinely created order. The way of the world he saw
as an enigma that would be made clear at the end of time. On the basis
of a kind of family feeling with everything human, he thought in terms
of comprehensive fellowships: that of the congregation stretching all
the way back to Christ, that of the history of the world stretching all
the way back to Paradise, that of the history of Denmark going all the
way back to King Dan. He saw every form of compulsion in
intellectual and spiritual life as being perverse. His great argument was
for choice cutting through congealed institutions and lifeless writing.
He advocated oral formulation, whether spoken or sung, and he made
conversation with a lively exchange of views between the parties into
his main educational tool. He stressed the significance of a native
language that had been handed down in its purest form by women and
unlearned peasants. As a poet he often combined content and form in
potent ../images, the intent and meaning of which were prophetically
obscure, and at other times he was able as no one else in his day to
speak simply and comprehensibly on the most elevated subjects. As a
politician he could be extremely realistic, always giving voice to an
anti-authoritarian attitude; he supported peaceful change rather than
revolution. With Grundtvig, compromise became a way of life in
Danish politics and society. He left behind him religious and popular
movements which in the folk high schools, the church, the parliament
and in the public at large are still influential in Danish society.
Flemming Lundgreen-Nielsen
Royal Library
Portrait of N.F.S. Grundtvig
© The Royal Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs
