History of Literature, literature which might be regarded as historic
stopped with the year 1814.

The order in which in my private reading I became acquainted with Danish
authors was as follows: Ingemann, Oehlenschlaeger, Grundtvig, Poul
Moeller, many books by these authors having been given me at Christmas
and on birthdays. At my grandfather's, I eagerly devoured Heiberg's
vaudevilles as well. As a child, of course, I read uncritically, merely
accepting and enjoying. But when I heard at school of Baggesen's
treatment of Oehlenschlaeger, thus realising that there had been various
tendencies in literature at that time, and various opinions as to which
was preferable, I read with enthusiasm a volume of selected poems by
Baggesen, which I had had one Christmas, and the treatment of language
in it fascinated me exceedingly, with its gracefulness and light,
conversational tone. Then, when Hertz's [Footnote: Henrik Hertz, a
Danish poet (1797-1870), published "Ghost Letters" anonymously, and
called them thus because in language and spirit they were a kind of
continuation of the long-deceased Baggesen's rhymed contribution to a
literary dispute of his day. Hertz, like the much greater Baggesen, laid
great stress upon precise and elegant form.--[Translator's note.]]
_Ghost Letters_ fell into my hands one day, and the diction of them
appealed to me almost more, I felt myself, first secretly, afterwards
more consciously, drawn towards the school of form in Danish literature,
and rather enjoyed being a heretic on this point. For to entertain
kindly sentiments for the man who had dared to profane Oehlenschlaeger
was like siding with Loki against Thor. Poul Moeller's Collected Works I
had received at my confirmation, and read again and again with such
enthusiasm that I almost wore the pages out, and did not skip a line,
even of the philosophical parts, which I did not understand at all. But
Hertz's Lyrical Poems, which I read in a borrowed copy, gave me as much