Holger Drachmann

[3] Owing to the early death of his mother, he was left much to his own devices and developed a fondness for semi-poetical performances, organising his companions in heroic games, in which he himself took such roles as those of Royal Danish Naval heroes Peder Tordenskjold and Niels Juel.

At various periods he travelled very extensively in England, Scotland, France, Spain and Italy, and his literary career began by his sending letters about his journeys to the Danish newspapers.

By this time he had enjoyed a surprising experience of life, especially among sailors, fishermen, students and artists, and the issues of the Franco-German War and the Paris Commune had persuaded him that a new and glorious era was at hand.

[citation needed] But he returned to his true field in his most famous work, the collection of poems Sange ved Havet; Venezia (Songs of the Sea; Venice, 1877),[13] and won the passionate admiration of his countrymen by his prose work, with interludes in verse, called Derovre fra grænsen (Over the Frontier there, 1877), a series of impressions made on Drachmann by a visit to the scenes of the war with Germany.

[4] Drachman's novel En Overkomplet (1876) was followed by Tannhäuser (1877), which despite reference to the medieval legend and Wagner's opera from 1845, is a contemporary love story set in Fredensborg.

During the succeeding years he visited most of the principal countries of the world, but particularly familiarizing himself, by protracted voyages, with the sea and with the life of man in maritime places.

In 1879 he published Ranker og Roser (Tendrils and Roses), amatory lyrics of a very high order of melody, in which he showed a great advance in technical art.

To the same period belongs Paa sømands tro og love (On the Faith and Honor of a Sailor, 1878), a volume of short stories in prose.

In 1885, his romantic play Der var engang (Once upon a Time) had a great success on the boards of the Royal Danish Theatre in Copenhagen, and has remained a classic.

[4] His novel Med den brede Pensel (With a Broad Brush, 1887) was followed in 1890 by Forskrevet, the history of a young painter, Henrik Gerhard, and his revolt against his bourgeois surroundings.

His personal appearance often almost overshadowed his literary merits and in many ways he played the role of the "typical" bohemian poet with a turbulent private life.

His often rhetorical approach to poetry and occasional "wordiness" has led some critics to compare him with English poet, playwright and novelist Algernon Charles Swinburne (1837–1909).