Johan Sebastian Welhaven

Johan Sebastian Welhaven was a prominent figure in Norwegian literature and culture in the 19th century. He was born in Bergen in 1807, where he attended the cathedral school and developed an interest in aesthetics and drawing. He moved to Christiania (now Oslo) in 1825 to study theology, but soon switched to philosophy. He became a leader of the Intelligenspartiet, a group of young intellectuals who opposed the extreme nationalism and romanticism of Henrik Wergeland and his followers. Welhaven and Wergeland had a famous feud that lasted for several years and involved personal attacks, satires, and polemics. Welhaven criticized Wergeland's poetry for being crude, chaotic, and lacking in form and taste. He also rejected Wergeland's vision of a culturally independent Norway, and advocated for a more cosmopolitan and European outlook. Welhaven published his first poetry collection, Digte, in 1838, which was well received by critics and established him as a leading poet of his generation. He followed it with several other collections, such as Nyere Digte (1844), Halvhundrede Digte (1848), and Norges Dæmring (1853). His poetry was influenced by Heiberg, Oehlenschläger, and the Danish Golden Age, and was characterized by elegance, harmony, and classical forms. He also wrote sonnets, elegies, hymns, and epigrams, and explored themes such as love, nature, history, and art. Welhaven was also a prolific critic and essayist, who wrote about literature, philosophy, art, and politics. He was a professor of philosophy at the University of Oslo from 1846 to 1866, and a director of the Society of Arts. He was also involved in the founding of several cultural institutions, such as the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters, the Norwegian Theatre, and the National Gallery. He died in Oslo in 1873, and was buried at Vår Frelsers gravlund. He is regarded as one of the greatest figures in Norwegian literature, and his poetry has been widely translated and anthologized.