Edvard Storm

Edvard Storm (August 21, 1749 – September 29, 1794), was a poet from Vågå, Oppland. He was the son of Johan Storm, the priest in Vågå, and his second wife, Ingeborg Birgitta Røring. The firs 12 years of his life were spent in the Vågå rectory, until he began school in 1756 in Christiania. In 1765 he took the entry examination for Copenhagen University, but waited until later to enter. For a period he was a teacher in Lesja, but he returned for the years 1766-1769 in his childhood home. His strong interest in nature and valley life were developed during these years.

In July 1769 Storm left home to begin serious study in Copenhagen; it is thought he pursued theology but he never took the official examination. It is possible that his interest in literature distracted him from his expected studies.

Despite being a Norwegian, he did not join the "Det Norske Selskab" ["Det Norske Selskab" (The Norwegian Society), formed in 1772, was a literary club for Norwegian students in København. It included authors, poets and philosophers. ] He was an admirer of the Danish poet Johannes Ewald though, and attached himself to his circle of friends who were members. But his upbringing in Norway had bound him firmly to the land. He wrote 9 songs in local dialect before the beginning of the 1770s. These songs were not only special as the first works he wrote, they were also among the seminal works of Norwegian literature in dialect, and are viewed as the best that Storm wrote.

Storm returned to his district in about 1785. From this point and forward, his work with education was of considerable value. In 1786 a circle of the area's more important men created a folk school. Storm was a member of the group and came to play an important role in the administration of the school.

His work included "Zinklars vise" ("The Ballad of Sinclair"), celebrating the defeat of a force of mercenary Scots under Captain George Sinclair's leadership by local forces led by a peasant girl "Prillar-Guri." She lured the Scots into an ambush by playing of the traditional ram's horn. This battle is referred to as the Battle of Kringen. [ "East Norway and its Frontier" by Frank Noel Stagg, George Allen & Unwin, Ltd. 1956] [ "The Heart of Norway" by Frank Noel Stagg, George Allen & Unwin, Ltd., 1953.] The poem is characterized by the National Romanticism of the age, as was the bulk of his work.

Works

* "Bræger", 1774.
* "Adskilligt paa Vers", 1775.
* "Infødsretten", 1778. Poem in 4 parts
* "Fabler og Fortællinger i den Gellertske Smag", 1778.
* "Samlede Digte", 1785.

References