![Terje Vigen Ombord på Korvetten](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b0/Terje_Vigen_Ombord_p%C3%A5_Korvetten.jpg)
''Terje Vigen'' is a poem written by
Henrik Ibsen, published in 1862. Much of the story and setting is from the area around the town of
Grimstad
Grimstad () is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Agder counties of Norway, county, Norway. It belongs to the geographical region of Southern Norway, Sørlandet. The administrative center of the municipality is the Grimstad (tow ...
in southern
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...
where Ibsen lived for a few years in his youth. It describes the dramatic saga of Terje who, in 1809, tried to run the British
blockade
A blockade is the act of actively preventing a country or region from receiving or sending out food, supplies, weapons, or communications, and sometimes people, by military force.
A blockade differs from an embargo or sanction, which are leg ...
of Norway's southern coast in a small rowboat in a desperate attempt to smuggle food from Denmark back to his starving wife and daughter. He was captured and imprisoned on a British
prison hulk
A prison ship, often more accurately described as a prison hulk, is a current or former seagoing vessel that has been modified to become a place of substantive detention for convicts, prisoners of war or civilian internees. While many nation ...
and released in 1814 after the
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...
were over, only to find that his family had died. He became a
pilot
An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators, because they a ...
, and years later rescued an English lord who turned out to be the commander of the ship that had captured him. The denouement, as in most Ibsen works, should be understood by reading the original (links provided below).
Inspiration
In Grimstad Ibsen was inspired by the stories of the Norse
maritime pilot
A maritime pilot, marine pilot, harbor pilot, port pilot, ship pilot, or simply pilot, is a mariner who maneuvers ships through dangerous or congested waters, such as harbors or river mouths. Maritime pilots are regarded as skilled profession ...
s. He became a close friend to one of the oldest and most experienced pilots, who had lived a remarkable life and had exciting stories to tell the young writer. His name was Svend Hanssen Haaø, from the island of Haaø (in modern Norwegian Håøya). The story of his life is often thought to be an important source for Ibsen when he wrote his famous poem Terje Vigen. ''See article "Who was Terje Vigen?"''
Svend Hanssen Haaø's life contains many of the essential elements of the story of Terje Vigen. Haaø made several trips by rowboat to Denmark through the British blockade, in the years 1807-14, to smuggle food back to his family and friends in Grimstad. The British captured him as many as four times, and some of his crew were put to prison in England as in the poem. It is well documented that Henrik Ibsen and Svend Hanssen Haaø became close friends. They made a lot of visits to each other, both at Svend’s house at the Haaø Island, and in Ibsen’s department at Grimstad Pharmacy.
Henrik Ibsen never revealed if he had a model when he wrote the story of Terje Vigen. However, the most important specialists on Henrik Ibsen’s life in Grimstad, were convinced that Ibsen’s friendship with Svend and Svend’s remarkable life as a pilot at the coast was the most important inspiration for Ibsen.
Ibsen painted Svend sitting at Haaø Island. The painting is called ''The Pilot from Haaø Island.'' This painting is placed in Ibsen's house in Grimstad, and is owned by Grimstad Museum.
Reception
In his biography of Ibsen,
Edmund Gosse
Sir Edmund William Gosse (; 21 September 184916 May 1928) was an English poet, author and critic. He was strictly brought up in a small Protestant sect, the Plymouth Brethren, but broke away sharply from that faith. His account of his childhoo ...
indicates:
:"He was perhaps momentarily saved by the publication of Terje Vigen, which enjoyed a solid popularity. This is the principal and, indeed, almost the only instance in Ibsen's works of what the Northern critics call "epic," but what we less ambitiously know as the tale in verse. Terje Vigen will never be translated successfully into English, for it is written, with brilliant lightness and skill, in an adaptation of the Norwegian ballad-measure which it is impossible to reproduce with felicity in our language."
:"Among Ibsen's writings Terje Vigen is unique as a piece of pure sentimentality carried right through without one divagation into irony or pungency. It is the story of a much-injured and revengeful Norse pilot, who, having the chance to drown his old enemies, Milord and Milady, saves them at the mute appeal of their blue-eyed English baby. Terje Vigen is a masterpiece of what we may define as the "dash-away-a-manly- tear" class of narrative. It is extremely well written and picturesque, but the wonder is that, of all people in the world, Ibsen should have written it."
The poem and the character of Terje Vigen has become a core icon of Norwegian coastal culture and a sense of a national identity. Every year the poem is read at festivals and included in dance and music performances. Best known are the wood boat festival at
Risør
is a municipality in Agder county, Norway. It is located on the Skagerrak coast in the traditional region of Sørlandet. The administrative centre of Risør municipality is the town of Risør. There are many villages in Risør such as Akland, ...
and the Ibsen festival in
Grimstad
Grimstad () is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Agder counties of Norway, county, Norway. It belongs to the geographical region of Southern Norway, Sørlandet. The administrative center of the municipality is the Grimstad (tow ...
. Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation,
NRK
NRK, an abbreviation of the Norwegian ''Norsk Rikskringkasting AS'', generally expressed in English as the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation, is the Norwegian government-owned radio and television public broadcasting company, and the largest ...
, broadcasts on the radio a reading of Terje Vigen on New Year's Eve at midnight.
Notable adaptations
In 1917,
Victor Sjöström
Victor David Sjöström (; 20 September 1879 – 3 January 1960), also known in the United States as Victor Seastrom, was a pioneering Swedish film director, screenwriter, and actor. He began his career in Sweden, before moving to Hollywood in ...
directed an eponymous
Swedish
Swedish or ' may refer to:
Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically:
* Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland
** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...
film based on the poem, retitled ''
A Man There Was'' in English-speaking territories. A German remake of 1933, ''Das Meer ruft'' aka ''
The Lake Calls'', starred
Heinrich George
Georg August Friedrich Hermann Schulz (9 October 1893 – 25 September 1946), better known as Heinrich George (), was a German stage and film actor.
Career Weimar Republic
George is noted for having spooked the young Bertolt Brecht in his first ...
and was set on a fictional Baltic island under Russian occupation during the First World War.
The Norwegian composer
Guttorm Guttormsen wrote his ''Terje Vigen'' for bass soloist and orchestra in 1977. In 1994/5,
Jon Mostad
Jon Mostad (born 21 April 1942) is a composer from Fredrikstad, Norway. He received the Norwegian state three-year scholarship for artists from 1982 until 1984.
Musical style
In his early compositions Mostad is moving from a linear-expressionist s ...
wrote music for ''Terje Vigen'' for recitation, choir (SSA) and symphonic wind band.
Film maker
Torstein Blixfjord directed a major multimedia adaptation in Yokohama, Japan in November 2006. The production involved a film projected across five cinema screens set up on Shinko Pier, which was accompanied by dancers. The film featured the poem narrated by Masato Ibu. The project formed the basis of Blixfjord's 2008/9 project ''
Id - Identity of the Soul'', which also featured contributions from the great Palestinian poet
Mahmoud Darwish
Mahmoud Darwish ( ar, محمود درويش, Maḥmūd Darwīsh, 13 March 1941 – 9 August 2008) was a Palestinian poet and author who was regarded as the Palestinian national poet. He won numerous awards for his works. Darwish used Palestine ...
.
Also in 2006, composer and producer
Kjell-Ole Haune developed ''Terje Vigen'' into a multimedia musical. This production went on tour in Norway and USA in 2006 and 2007 and was staged in London's West End in 2008.
References
External links
Provides a Norwegian version of Ibsen's poem ''Terje Vigen''Link to the article: Who was Terje Vigen?*''Terje Vigen by Henrik Ibsen. KOH Ltd, London 2006
A video from Torstein Blixfjord's multimedia productionWebsite for filmmaker Torstein Blixfjord{{Henrik Ibsen
Works by Henrik Ibsen
Norwegian poems
1862 poems
Epic poems
Fictional Norwegian people