1882.
Beyond his fatherland Björnstjerne Björnson is known as a great poet.
To Norway he is more than a poet. Not only has he written beautiful
stories, songs, and dramas for his people; he lives the daily life of
this people, and holds unbroken intercourse with them. He who has it in
his power to create the most refined, the most delicate poetry, does
not esteem himself above the rudest tasks, those of the journalist and
the popular orator, where there is a question of furthering the moral
and political education of the Norwegian people, by combating an error
or a lie, or by ensuring the propagation of some simple, but as yet
unrecognized truth. There emanates from him a breath of life. Where his
spirit now penetrates there follows a development of self-knowledge
and love of truth, national faults are shaken off, a growing interest
is manifested in all intellectual topics, all public affairs, and a
wholesome self-confidence appears side by side with this interest. He
has grasped the significance of the poet's mission in its broadest
sense.
In his oration at the unveiling of the Wergeland monument, May 17,
1881, Björnson said of his great predecessor, the European poet, who
ranks next to Shelley:--
"You have all heard how Henrik Wergeland, during one period of his
life, was in the habit of carrying his pockets full of the seeds of
trees, ever and anon strewing a handful of these about him in his daily
walks, and how he endeavored to persuade his associates to do the
same, because no one could know what the results might be. This is so
true-hearted, so touchingly poetic an instance of patriotism, that it
stands on the pinnacle of the best he has written."
What is here related in a literal sense of Wergeland may be told in a
higher sense of Björnson. He is the great seed-sower of Norway. This
country is a mountainous land; it is rocky, rugged, and barren. The
seed falls on stony ground, and many a grain is blown away by the wind.
Nevertheless, Björnson perseveres unweariedly in his labors. A large
quantity of his seed has already sprouted; many a tree planted by his
hand is already in blossom, and so far as the fruit is concerned, his
efforts were never designed for the present generation alone.