Danish Literature and the Bible

Abstract

The Bible has delivered linguistic images, phrases, motifs and attitudes to Danish literature ever since the Reformation and the first Bible translated in Danish by request from Christian III in 1550. Hardly surprising, the rich Danish hymn tradition has passed on biblical history in literary form, and in that respect the important hymn writers Thomas Kingo, H. A. Brorson, B. S. Ingemann and N. F. S. Grundtvig are central, though hymns are still written within Danish literature. In the romantic era, in Denmark often referred to as The Golden Age, the inspiration from the Bible’s large store of parables, tales and evangelical texts are also pronounced and visible. This is the case with St. St. Blicher and Hans Christian Andersen, both using the Bible as an inspiration and a reference for values and conceptions. By the end of the 19th century, as secularisation and a scientific point of view break through, the Bible still plays a significant role as a point of departure for stories and tales, for instance those by Jeppe Aakjær. During the 20th century, biblical motifs are still pronounced in the works by Martin A. Hansen, Ole Sarvig and more, though these features are weakened strongly in the texts of modernism. However, the Bible is still an important literary reference in contemporary literature for example in the work of Klaus Høeck. The article draws long lines in the conversation between the Bible and Danish literature, and it is the attempt to demonstrate how The Big Code is unfolded as motifs in the individual literary works. The Canadian literary scholar Northrop Frye depicts what he names The Big Code. It is this code, the heritage and the inspiration and its significance for Danish literature I seek to encircle and describe.