Jorgen Moe

Jørgen Moe was born on 22 April 1813 at the farm of Øvre Moe in Hole, Buskerud. He was the son of a farmer and politician, Engebret Olsen Moe, and his wife, Marthe Jørgensdatter. He had a strong attachment to his childhood home, which inspired some of his poems and stories. He studied theology at the University of Oslo and became a candidate in 1839. He met Peter Christen Asbjørnsen at Norderhov Rectory and they became lifelong friends and collaborators. They shared a passion for collecting and publishing Norwegian folk tales, which they did under the title Norske Folkeeventyr. The first edition came out in 1841-1844, and the main edition in 1851. Moe also collected folk songs, legends, and ballads. He was interested in the scientific study of folklore and became a university fellow in 1849-1850. Moe was also a poet and a writer of children's literature. He published a collection of poems, Digte, in 1848, and two books of stories for children, I Brønden og i Tjernet (In the Well and in the Tarn) in 1851, and En liden Julegave (A Little Christmas Present) in 1860. His poems are characterized by simplicity, lyricism, and religious sentiment. Some of his most famous poems are Den gamle Mester (The Old Master), Sæterjentens Søndag (Sunday at the Mountain Pastures), and Ungbirken (The Young Birch). Moe also wrote a biography of his friend Asbjørnsen, which was published in 1870. Moe became a priest in the Church of Norway in 1853. He served as a chaplain in Krødsherad and Sigdal, a parish priest in Drammen and Vestre Aker, and a bishop in Kristiansand from 1874 until his death. He was a respected and influential clergyman, who preached and wrote about social and moral issues. He was also involved in the education and cultural life of his country. He was a member of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters and the Royal Norwegian Society of Sciences and Letters. He died of pneumonia on 27 March 1882 in Kristiansand. He was buried at Vestre Aker Church graveyard in Kristiania (now Oslo). He was survived by his wife, Johanne Fredrikke Sophie Sørenssen, whom he married in 1854, and his son, Moltke Moe, who became a prominent folklorist and professor.