"Om bergvisjoner og diktning hos Ibsen"

Abstract

This article examines some connections between rock and mountain visions and poetry in Henrik Ibsen’s writings. The article argues that the poem «Paa Vidderne» and also the poem «Bergmanden» thematizes the poetic call, where the starting point of the poetry is analogous to ascending a mountain or penetrating into a dark rock room below the ground. Also in several of Ibsenʼs dramas (Keiser og galiæer, Peer Gynt, Brand, John Gabriel Borkman), the rock motif is of considerable importance, both related to cognition and poetic inspiration. In Når vi døde vågner, the rock and mountain motif is linked to the metapoetic on a number of levels. Not only does Irene insist on calling Rubek – stonemason by profession – a poet. The drama as such, and perhaps in particular Professor Rubekʼs marble stone group, can also be considered as a kind of meditation over Ibsenʼs life work. Not least, the high mountains play a dominant role as a room of the dramatic action in the dramaʼs final act. The drama ends high in the mountains, and with it also Ibsenʼs writing, as a last testimony to the fundamental significance of this topos in Ibsenʼs oevre.