ABSTRACT
A. O. Vinje was a pioneer in Norwegian literature. He was the son of farmers, but he aspired to intellectual excellence. The systematization of the various dialects spoken in the Norwegian countryside into a recognized, official language, with its own dictionary and rules of grammar, was in its infancy. Vinje was instrumental in creating a literary form of these dialects which would eventually achieve the stature of the official Dano-Norwegian. Edvard Grieg responded strongly to the spirit of Vinje’s poems, as well as to the exquisitely evocative descriptions of the Norwegian landscape. The poems were so inspirational, awakening in him the long-dormant creative impulse, that he composed thirteen of in all fifteen songs within a few days of April–May 1880. The songs are almost all unvaried strophic in form, rather unusual in Grieg’s production until now.
