ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the reasons for Hans Christian Andersen's growing sense of insecurity. It describes the influence that Denmark's political struggles had on Andersen's view of the arts and his composition of texts for several patriotic songs and musical stage works from the late 1840s to the mid 1860s. 'The Volunteer' is more intimate in tone than Andersen's earlier patriotic poems. Reflecting the restless thoughts of an anonymous soldier, it offers an emotionally charged mix of anxious enthusiasm, melancholy for the past, and hope for the future. Andersen was criticized for being too patriotic, too assured of Denmark's victory and the superior status of its artists. He was accused of using the nation's stage as a propaganda tool. A patriot who still held warm affections for his German neighbors, Andersen found no shame in embracing, once again, his cosmopolitan lifestyle now that the war was over.
