With his volume of poems, published in 1872, followed by skilful, realistic tales of fisherman life, the revolutionary march in Danish literature began, with Brandes as drum-major.
Drachmann’s stories are marked by sudden outbursts of real inspiration—by impulses rather than by principles—curiously combined with a strong feeling for form.
BJÖRN SIVERTSEN’S WEDDING TRIP
BY HOLGER DRACHMANN
Translated by Grace Isabel Colbron. Copyright, 1907, by P. F. Collier & Son.
The “strong Björn” was about to be married. The usual signs of such an occurrence had come to pass, even to the most important of them all; he had become engaged.
Exactly how this happened, however, history does not state. After the death of the head fisher-master he had inherited the house, and had paid off his brother Niels for his share with a good sum of money, so that the latter could build his own home farther off in the village. There sat Björn then with his house and his sail-maker’s outfit, very lonely in all his new glory.
He got into the habit of sauntering more frequently than usual down to the inn, to get his short pipe filled, to drink a glass and spin a yarn. The jolly innkeeper had been married about a year, and was as busy as could be, running in at the door of the inner room every few minutes “to look after something.”
“What is the matter there?” asked Björn. “Can’t you let the women attend to the child?”