Hans Vilhelm Kaalund

Hans Vilhelm (H. V.) Kaalund 27 June 1818– 27 April 1885 was a Danish lyric poet.

Born as the son of a customs officer he spent his childhood at the border district near the walls of Copenhagen. Very early attempts of being an artist were interrupted by a nerve disease but after some various occupations he was at last employed as a teacher of a prison and was able to write besides.

First of all Kaalund is known for his "Fabler for Børn" (“Fables for Children”, 1845), a book of verses about animals. They are no real fables but small snapshots of several kinds of animals, some sentimental, some humorous (most famous is "Den dræbte And" - “The killed Duck”). Like the fairy tales of H. C. Andersen they testify the rising interest of children and nature in Danish literature and have several times been re-edited

Kaalund’s lyrics for adults is collected in two books "Et Foraar" (”A Spring” - 1858) and "En Eftervaar" ("An After-Spring" - 1877). Apart from love poetry and political statements they contain a lot of thought lyrics that is perhaps his most important legacy.

A very characteristic trace in Kaalund’s poetry is its almost demonstrative commitment to realities. Though a late romanticist himself he again and again stresses the need of building one’s life upon the base of facts – without giving up one’s idealism. It is felt in poems like "Jeg elsker den brogede Verden" (“I love the colourful World” - 1858) and especially in his often sung "Paa det Jevne" (“On the Ground” - 1872) that has been both lauded as a typical Danish expression of matter-of-fact attitudes and criticised as a just as typical lack of ambitions. This split makes him a poet of transition between romanticism and realism and his best poems are still quoted.

Literature

* "Dansk Biografisk Leksikon", vol. 8. Copenh. 1981. (entirely in Danish)