2 Myth of Spirit, Myth of Word in the Works of N. F. S. Grundtvig

Grundtvig intimated the magnitude and cultural importance of this body of literature early in his career in 1817, when he lamented the paucity of editions of it, as had Hans Gram, Jakob Langebek, and Peter Frederik Suhm (1728–98) before him.2 Grundtvig, draft letter to King Frederik VI, Christmas Eve 1828. Cited in Bradley, N. F. S. Grundtvig’s Transcriptions of the Exeter Book, p. 5. He intimated the significance of The Exeter Book as well and transcribed it during his trips to England in the summers of 1830 and 1831 in preparation for the edition he planned to produce of it.3 Bradley outlines “the considerable breadth” of Grundtvig’s transcriptions of and annotated material on OE literature well beyond The Exeter Book that the Grundtvig Arkiv in the Royal Library, Copenhagen, contains. “‘The First New-European Literature’,” p. 45. That edition would have occupied much of volume four of the collection of Old English (OE) texts described in his Prospectus but was blocked by the Society of Antiquaries from publication along with the rest of the collection, as we have seen. Grundtvig began his transcribing work in July 1830 during a trip to Exeter, continued it back in London and then in Copenhagen, and then filled in the missing parts of the transcription in the summer of 1831 in the British Museum, which had received The Exeter Book on loan from Exeter Cathedral by special dispensation to make a transcription of it.4 Ibid., pp. 8–12.

Apart from OE literature’s being the foundation of English literature, Grundtvig regarded it as having much greater significance. He regarded it as the foundation of all modern European literature, as being “the first new-European literature,”5 “den første nyeuropæiske Literatur.” Phenix-Fuglen, p. 11. bringing the pagan past into fruitful, enlivening contact with the Christian present. “Cædmon’s Hymn,” one of the earliest OE poems, if not the earliest, offers a prime example:

Here we have the essential features of Old Germanic verse established hundreds of years before the seventh century. Alliteration (marked in bold) binds each line together across a strong medial caesura (marked with a forward slash), and the poem depends on variation and traditional vocabulary, two standard features of classic OE poetry. The initial epithet for God, “Guardian of the heaven-kingdom,” becomes “Measurer,” “Glory-Father,” “eternal Lord,” “holy Creator,” “Guardian of mankind,” “eternal Lord,” and “Ruler almighty.” Here we also have a central tenet of the Judeo-Christian tradition expressed through variation, namely the ineffability of God. No one term for YAHWEH or “I am who I am” can capture the expansiveness and majesty of God’s being. This seemingly simple poem, then, becomes a profound blending of pagan, vernacular poetic technique and Christian or Judeo-Christian message, transplanted by Gregory the Great in the late sixth century, Grundtvig observes, “from Italy to England and thereby from the Romance to the Gothic circle of languages.”7 “fra Italien til Engeland, og dermed fra den Romantiske til den Gothiske Sprog-Kreds.” Grundtvig, Christendomens Syvstjerne, p. iv.

Grundtvig saw the same confluence in Beowulf and dozens of other OE texts, including homilies, as S. A. J. Bradley has masterfully documented.8 “‘The First New-European Literature.’” A very practical demonstration of Grundtvig’s having internalized all the OE material that he collected can be seen in the two OE poems he himself composed during his lifetime. They were attached to his two major publications on Beowulf, his translation of the poem from 1820 and his edition of it from 1861. The first of these poems is 98 lines long, with all but 24 of those lines coming from original OE texts, both poetry and prose. The other 24 lines Grundtvig created himself. Here is the poem, followed by a table that shows the depth and breadth of Grundtvig’s indebtedness to the OE tradition in composing his own OE verse.

First, Church history. Grundtvig was deeply engaged in the Book of Revelation from early in his career and in 1810 began to “Danish” it in hexameter verse. He got to just chapter 8 of the twenty-two chapters, but by this time the beginnings of his historical vision had already taken root.14 Balslev, Christenhedens Syvstjerne, p. 259. In chapters 1 to 3 of the Book of Revelation, St. John the Divine introduces us to the mystery of the seven stars that he saw being held by “one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden girdle round his breast” and surrounded by seven lampstands (1:13).15 The Oxford Annotated Bible, p. 1492. All quotations from the Revised Standard Version of the English Bible are from this edition. John falls as though dead at his feet, and the “one like a son of man” says to him:

As early as 1810, Grundtvig included himself among the historicist interpreters of the seven churches, which he felt “reflect the course of history as far as each church corresponds to the seven ‘principal nations’ which, according to Grundtvig, shape world history from the birth of Christ to the Day of Judgment.”16 Broadbrige and Jensen, A Grundtvig Anthology, p. 89. He wrote an epic-length poem elaborating this view in the late 1850s. Christenhedens Syvstjerne (Christianity’s Seven Stars) consists of a lengthy introduction and 833 seven-line stanzas divided into seven songs, each devoted to a 300-year period in Church history. The first church or Ephesus represents the Hebraic period; the second or Smyrna, the Greek; the third or Pergamum, the Roman; the fourth or Thyatira, the Anglo-Saxon; the fifth or Sardis, the German; the sixth or Philadelphia, the Nordic (in the broadest sense, including the English); and the seventh or Laodicea, which had not yet taken place, the Indian. OE literature was a crucial area of study for Grundtvig because of the prominent place in Church history that the Anglo-Saxon church played. It supplanted the Roman church and adumbrated the Protestant Reformation and the Nordic church as well, having, for example, sent the missionaries Willibrord to Christianize the Frisians and Winfred (Boniface) to Christianize the Germans.17 Vind, Grundtvigs historiefilosofi, p. 316. Sardis, or the fifth church, stands for the Protestant Reformation, whose works would be completed in the phase represented by Philadelphia. The Anglo-Saxons were thus the first of the Germanic-speaking peoples who constituted the fourth principal people to carry out God’s plan in “universal history,” a term that Grundtvig borrowed from Friedrich Schiller (1759–1805).18 Holm, Historie og efterklang, p. 16. The other two are the Germans and the Scandinavians, and the three peoples preceding the Germans are the Jews, the Greeks, and the Romans.19 Vind, Grundtvigs historiefilosofi, p. 617.

For Grundtvig, the seven messages to these churches not only sketch out the spiritual history of the Church but also point to the seven great reformers of the Church central to each historical phase. The fourth reformer, aligned with Thyatira, was Bede (or possibly Cædmon);20 Ibid., p. 314. the fifth, aligned with Sardis, was Martin Luther; and the sixth, aligned with Philadelphia, was not yet known, but Grundtvig believed that he himself – an acknowledged Cædmon figure in his time21 In a letter dated 20 February 1876, the Swedish poet Viktor Rydberg described Grundtvig as “en väsentligen ursprunlgit kraft, en Cædmon i vårt århundrade” (a considerable original power, a Cædmon in our century). Quoted in Mjöberg, Drömmen, II, p. 53, and Nielsen, “Grundtvig set fra Sverige,” p. 19. and considered by some in the mid-twentieth century to be on a par with Luther22 Nielsen, “Grundtvig set fra Sverige,” p. 28. See also Holm, “The Luther of Denmark.” – was his forerunner.23 Holm, Historie og efterklang, p. 18. This belief informed and motivated much if not all of Grundtvig’s work, and only with that fact in mind and the fact that Pastor Grundtvig’s primary purpose in life was to serve God24 Holm, The Essential Grundtvig, p. 64. can we fully comprehend his excursions into OE studies. Nationalism was a major reason for Grundtvig’s studying OE language and literature, to be sure, but Grundtvig’s nationalism actually expands to embrace “the Nation of God,” to paraphrase St. Augustine, and the whole history of the Christian Church, and, thus to explain the world’s, and Denmark’s and Grundtvig’s, place in it.

So the second and intimately related item to the first that bears more scrutiny is how Grundtvig reads history. We have already had a glimpse of the way he reads the Book of Revelation. The assurance he finds in that reading of the centrality of both himself and Denmark in the history of the Church gives rise to a typological view of Danish and Nordic myth, literature, and history. Nordic myth and literature, for example, anticipates the Christian myth that replaced it. For the trinity of Odin, Thor, and Freyja, for instance, we get the real Trinity of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, and for Odin’s gallows and Thor’s hammer, we get the Cross. In Nordic history in the broad sense, Cædmon, who introduced to the world the new-European literature, can be said to foreshadow Grundtvig, Denmark’s prophet, who “stands as a sign for a time of flowering in the North.”25 “stander som et Tegn / For en Blomster-Tid I Norden,” quoted from Grundtvig’s Paaske-Lilien in Holm, Historie og efterklang, p. 129. This typological or mythical view, as I loosely call it, was validated for Grundtvig both by Revelation 2–3, where the sixth reformer of the Church was foretold, and by 1 Cor. 13:9–12, where the opacity of the present and the relative lucidity of the future were likewise foretold (“for we know in part and we prophesy in part [9] … we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face [12]”). This typological view reveals itself dramatically in and helps determine the form of Grundtvig’s work on “The Battle of Brunanburh,” Beowulf, and The Phoenix. It embodies, for one thing, a doctrine of redemptive progress that moves from the literal OE text to its reincarnation in Grundtvig’s Danishing of it and finally to the echo poem reflecting on the present state of the text in the modern, Danish world, and moving us into the future.26 “fører os ind i fremtiden.” Holm, Historie og efterklang, p. 137.

The typological view also embodies a deep-rooted nationalism that emphasizes the centrality of the Germanic languages, especially Danish, in universal history, where the Danes enjoyed being one of God’s chosen people.27 Holm, Historie og efterklang, p. 19. As soon as the biblical or Christological typology developed by the Church Fathers – the science of studying how real historical figures in the Old Testament such as Adam, Isaac, Moses, and Jonah prefigured the historical Christ28 Auerbach, “Figura,” p. 29. – moved to sacramental typology, which asserted the connection of events in the Old Testament, such as the Flood or the Crossing of the Red Sea, to the sacraments of the Church, such as baptism, the gate was open for exploiting typology’s conjunctive power. From a mere tool for observing historical reiterations and thereby establishing the intimate relationship between the Old Testament and the New, it was elevated to an allegorical or symbolic plane. From validating the historical unity of scripture, it could be pushed to show the unity of scripture with things outside of scripture, such as the sacraments or national histories. By connecting Denmark’s history and language with the Bible in this way, Grundtvig connected them to the divine.

The third and last item to consider is how Grundtvig thought language works. He believed deeply in the creative power of “the living word” (det levende ord), a concept that Grundtvig first mentions in an unpublished document from 1811,29 Vind, Grundtvigs historiefilosofi, p. 102. which is grounded in belief in the Logos, a belief shared by Heraclitus, the authors of the Old and New Testaments, and OE poets. Heraclitus, for example, considered the Logos to be universal reason that both governs and permeates the world, and Old Testament authors refer to its creative powers (Wisdom 18:14–16; 2 Samuel 15:10; Isaiah 55:11; Jeremiah 23:29).30 Cross and Livingstone, Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, s.v. “Logos.” The doctrine of the Logos continues in the New Testament, where it becomes identified with Christ: “in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God,” John 1:1). While the doctrine undergirds Grundtvig’s understanding of Scripture, his notion of “the living word” has even broader implications for both his own language and his own poetry as they participate in the typological dance of universal history. The “word,” he wrote in 1817, is the highest expression of human life, and without it there could be no progress or history.31 Quoted in Vind, Grundtvigs historiefilosofi, p. 102. Furthermore, for Grundtvig, the salvific truth of John 1:14 (“the word was made flesh”) at once remains constant and transmutes into “the word was made song.” For it is the articulated word, the living word, liberated from the deadening confines of script, that carries the greatest force of all. Grundtvig expounds on this matter in his introduction to the 1832 edition of his Nordens Mytologi eller Sindbilled-Sprog (Nordic Mythology or Symbolic Language), where he observes that the difference between word and script is as enormous as that between life and death.

Grundtvig, then, certainly believed passionately in the power of “the living word.” He also believed in the revelatory nature of poetry, discourse sent by God, and, within poetry, he discerned three levels. Earthly poetry deals with the sensible world, and historical poetry deals with the movements of the spirit within the sensible world. Lyspoesi, luminous poetry, states Grundtvig, “clarifies the Word and the history thereof and the Voice of the word and the nature thereof, what one calls poetry in the first instance and music in the second, the context of history and the harmony of nature, both as effects of the almighty word of God.”35 “Lys-Poesien skal da først forklare Ordet og Historien af det, og dernæst Røsten og (af) Naturen af den, først hvad Man kalder Poesien og dernæst Musiken: Historiens Sammenhæng og Naturens Harmoni begge som Virkninger af det almægtige Guds-Ord.” Quoted in Holm, Historie og efterklang, p. 105. The word in luminous poetry becomes yet more luminous when accompanied by music. Grundtvig explains this further:

Grundtvig put these insights as well as those concerning theology and history into extremely practical use in his Sang-Værk til den danske Kirke (Song Work for the Danish Church, 1836–37). He was a hugely prolific and continuously popular hymn and song writer and composed some 1,600 of them during his lifetime,37 Holm, The Essential Grundtvig, p. 128. thus abundantly demonstrating his belief that word and song have their great reunification in humanity. Of the 754 hymns in the current Danish hymnal, 271 are by Grundtvig;38 Lawson, “N. F. S. Grundtvig.” several of the 601 songs in the Folkehøjskolens sangbog (Folk High School’s Song Book), which in 2020 was in its nineteenth edition since 1894, are also by him.

The 401 songs in the Sang-Værk, however, distinguish themselves from the rest in their adhering to and illustrating Grundtvig’s view of the development of Church history from the first iteration of it to Grundtvig’s day.39 Vind, Grundtvigs historiefilosofi, p. 43. To represent the Anglo-Saxon Church, he transmutes parts of three OE poems into six church hymns in volume one of his Sang-Værk. Hymn 124 is a free rendition or adaptation of antiphon 1 in The Advent Lyrics; hymn 158, a Christmas hymn, is a free rendition of antiphons 8 and 9 but with “a long stretch of congruities”40 “en lang række overensstemmelser.” Noack, “Den oldengelske digtning,” p. 149.; hymn 243 is a free rendition of Christ and Satan, lines 398–596 (the Harrowing of Hell);41 For a full English translation, see Broadbridge, Living Wellsprings, pp. 94–97. For a discussion of hymns 243, 244, and 245 and their relationship to the OE poems that inspired them, see Bradley, “Grundtvig’s I Kveld.” hymn 244 is a verse paraphrase of parts of Christ II;42 For a full English translation, see Broadbridge, Living Wellsprings, pp. 106–08. hymn 245 is a rendition of Christ II, lines 720–44 (the six leaps of Christ); and hymn 355 is a rendition of Christ II, lines 600 ff., where Christ is the sun and the Church, the moon.43 Noack, “Den oldengelske digtning,” p. 150. Take hymn 243 on the Harrowing of Hell as an example. Here are lines 398–404 of Christ and Satan, juxtaposed with my literal translation below them:

Grundtvig’s translation of Beowulf participates in the same vision of the living word and its enhancement through music as well as in Grundtvig’s view on universal history, where Beowulf came to play a central role.47 Vind, Grundtvigs historiefilosofi, p. 172. His first mention of the poem appears in Nordens Mytologi of 1808, where he expresses great enthusiasm for Thorkelin’s forthcoming edition of the poem:

For Grundtvig, Beowulf was a lifetime preoccupation because it offers confirmation of his views on Church and human history and on language functioning within history. It was the “missing link” that tied Denmark’s and the North’s ancient history with development of the mainstream of universal history from Babel, Hellas, and Rome, the most decisive factor being that the Nordic Anglo-Saxons adopted Christianity early. In their earliest poetry, “Hebraic poetry was transferred to a Nordic mother tongue – long before Luther.”55 “den hebræiske poesi overført til et nordisk modersmål – længe før Luther.” Vind, Grundtvigs historiefilosofi, p. 172. As an expression of pan-Scandinavianism and the notion of a unified northern people, Beowulf affirms Denmark’s place in the history of the Church (where it is central in the sixth phase) even as it provides what Grundtvig calls in 1817 “a visible, collective picture of the whole of history.”56 “synligt, sammentrængt Billede of hele Historien.” “Om Bjovulfs Drape,” p. 273. “Skjold,” for example, is “the country’s gracious father, and the Danish people are dear to him and faithfully devoted”57 “den Landets milde Fader, og det ham kiærlig, tro hengivne danske Folk.” Ibid., p. 219.; Beowulf incorporates within himself all the virtues of heroism and stands at least occasionally in a typological relationship with Christ and perhaps even Grundtvig; and the monsters express through their horrific acts all the evil and death in the world, anything that hinders spiritual development. Grendel could even signify the Catholic Church, the Latin Letter Troll that we will meet in the next chapter and that Grundtvig had so often railed against. In his edition of Beowulf from 1861, he calls the poem an instrument for “enlightenment of life” (livsoplysning) and his edition a means of awakening the “spirits of the people” by appealing directly to “the hearts of the people.”58 “Folke-Aander,” “Folke-Hjerterne,” Beowulfes Beorh, p. xxiv. That direct appeal occurs through language that is suffused with “the power of the spirit of the people,”59 “Folke-Aandens Kraft,” Beowulfes Beorh, p. xxvii. which moves the reader to a “living connection with the world-historical life of the old Angles.”60 “levende Sammenhæng med den gamle Anglers verdenshistoriske Liv,” Beowulfes Beorh, p. xxiv.

Before Howard Hanson in 1925 composed his choral work, “Lament for Beowulf”;63 See Bjork “The Reception History of Beowulf,” pp. 6–10, for a discussion of musical adaptations and interpretations of Beowulf. before Ezra Pound in 1928 after hearing a performance of the songs of the Hebrides decided that Beowulf should be sung to one of those songs;64 “The Music of Beowulf.” before John C. Pope in 1942 published his Rhythm of Beowulf, where he uses musical notation to chart the meter of the poem; before Thomas Cable in 1974 produced his The Meter and Melody of Beowulf, where he postulates the melodic basis of meter in the poem; and before Benjamin Bagby’s musical performances of the poem beginning in 1990, Grundtvig intuited the happy union of word and music in Beowulf. For example, in the first song listed above, we find Grendel starting his feud with Hrothgar. Here’s the first stanza of Grundtvig’s translation:

As we have seen in Grundtvig’s multiple excursions into OE literature, his scholarship on the subject – as philologically precise and innovative and groundbreaking as it may be – is really only the kernel, the quiescent worm (to look forward to his work on the mythical Phoenix), of a coherent program. That program is one of fulfilling biblical prophecy, of creating worldly prophecy by seeing ancient Nordic (including OE) texts as foreshadowing the sixth stage of the Church in Denmark, of viewing language as sacramental and giving vibrant, winged voice to the living word. This program may seem eccentric, even inimical to our contemporary way of conducting rational, objective, empirical research. But we do Grundtvig – this major voice in the development of OE studies, a founding father of modern Denmark, an educational reformer venerated around the world and honored alongside Gandhi in progressive schools in India67 Holm, The Essential Grundtvig, pp. 192, 204. – a great disservice if we ignore it. S. A. J. Bradley sagely observes that Grundtvig