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One more saga drama was to be written by Bjornson, but
"Sigurd Slembe" remains his greatest achievement in this
field of activity. Its single successor, "Sigurd Jorsalfar,"
was not published until ten years later, and may not be
compared with it for either strength or poetic inspiration.
The author called it a "folkplay," and announced the intention,
which was never fulfilled, of making several similar experiments
with scenes from the sagas, "which should appeal to every eye
and every stage of culture, to each in its own way, and at
the performance of which all, for the time being, would
experience the joy of fellow feeling." The experiment proves
interesting, and is carried out without didacticism or straining
after sensational effects; the play is vigorous and well
planned, but for the reader it has little of the dramatic
impressiveness of its predecessor, although as an acting drama
it is better fitted for the requirements of the stage.
The two volumes which contain the greater part of Bjornson's
poetry not dramatic in form were both published in 1870. One
of them was the collection of his "Poems and Songs," the other
was the epic cycle, "Arnljot Gelline," the only long poem
that he has written.
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