368 Norway and the Norwegians 



his age. There is no great beauty in the versi- 

 fication of this play. 



Fru Inger til Osteraad (Lady Inger of Osteraad). A 

 prose historical drama of the early years of the 

 sixteenth century. The characters — or at any 

 rate the names of the characters — and the gene- 

 ral setting of the play are historical. But there 

 is little historical in the development of the plot. 

 It is a work of great power. 



Gildet pact Solhaug (The Feast of Solhaug). A 

 mythico-historical drama in verse. 



Hcermccndene pa a Hdgcland (The Heroes of Halo- 

 galand). This is the finest of the historical or 

 quasi-historical dramas which belong to Ibsen's 

 earlier period. It is in prose, and the plot is 

 chiefly founded on the Volsunga Legend, with a 

 touch borrowed (and not well borrowed) from the 

 Njals Saga, and another, better adapted, from 

 the riyting of Loki (ZoJcasenna) in the Edda. 



Kj'cerlighedens Ko7nedie (Love's Comedy). This drama 

 in verse puts forth views against love-marriages, 

 resemblimr those to which Tolstoi has given ex- 

 pression in the Kreutzer Sonata. 



Kongs Emnerne (The Rivals for the Throne). An- 

 other prose historical drama. The period in which 

 the action takes place lies in the early years 

 of Hakon Hakonsson, the grandson of Sverri. 



De Unges Forbund (The League of Youth), the fore- 

 runner of Ibsen's social dramas. These social 

 dramas turn mainly upon the play of two forces 

 (tendencies) in social life : the force of public 

 opinion (especially as this is wielded by the 



