Le Nord : revue internationale des Pays de Nord - 01.06.1939, Page 229
PER HENRIK LING
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tude of the big forests with their atmosphere of majestic solemnity
which left its mark on Ling’s poetry, when at its best, is bound
up with influences from childhood and adolescence, from the
big silent forests near his home. From the forests the wolves
come prowling, those wolves which the poet hears howling in
the fields while the whirling snow covers the ground and he
sees “the eyes of wolves glittering in the stormy night.” The
fact that Ling grew up in a place, rich in memories of olden
days and where sagas from that time most likely were known,
was probably of greater importance to the kind of Swedishness
— called Gothic — which Ling represents.
Legends from the Northern mythology about Odin and Thor,
no doubt helped to form his early impressions, as well as stories
°f heroes and heroic deeds long past. He himself tells us that
already in his childhood he was filled with a Gothic, an old-
Swedish sense, inspite of the fact that the spirit of the age stood
ln complete opposition to it. One must not, however, draw the
conclusion that Ling in any way ignored the present and merely
escaped into the past. Far from it! There was probably nobody
ln Sweden in those days, whose activities were more directly
focussed on the welfare of the time and on seeking to inspire
!ts will-power and its energy.
Some miles east of Ljunga, the town of Vaxjö is situated,
the town of which Esaias Tegnér, later Ling’s friend, one of
Sweden’s most famous poets, became bishop. Here at Váxjö Ling
~7 nine years old — began school. He seems to have been a
tfiligent scholar during the greater part of his school-days. They
ended, however, sadly in 1792. Ling was expelled for a deplor-
nble breach of conduct. When reading the official records one
Lnds adequate justification for the expulsion of Ling as well
as of some other boys. We are also informed that Ling evidently
was not the inciting element, but that he, unbalanced as he may
have been in his youth, allowed himself to be drawn into an
nnfortunate outbreak.
Certain accounts of Ling’s life during the following years,
*9r instance those in some foreign encyclopaedias are without
historic foundation. The legend has remained that he has taken
Part in campaigns on the Continent under Condé and others. It
ls said that he visited many foreign countries. If we examine
^he reliable biographical documents that have been discovered,