What, now, is the content that finds expression in this form?
As we turn the pages from the beginning, we first meet lyrics that
may be called personal, not utterances of Björnson's individual
self, but taken from his early tales and the drama _Halte Hulda_,
with strains of love, of religious faith, of dread of nature, and
of joy in it, of youthful longing; then after two patriotic choral
songs and a second group of similar personal poems from _A Happy Boy_
follow one on a patriotic subject with historical allusions, a
memorial poem on J. L. Heiberg, and one descriptive, indeed, of
the ocean, but filled with the human feelings and longings it arouses;
then come a lyric personal to Björnson, and one that is not. As we
progress, we pass through a similar succession of descriptive,
personal, or memorial poems, some of religious faith, historical
ballads, lyrical romances, patriotic and festival choral songs,
poems in celebration of individual men and women, living or dead,
and towards the end poems, like the _Psalms_, of deep philosophic
thought suffused with emotion.

Now these subjects may be gathered into a small number of groups:
love, religious faith and thought, moods personal to the poet,
patriotism,--love of country, striving for its welfare, pride in
Norway's history, and joy in the beauty and grandeur of its scenery.
The occasional songs and poems in celebration of great personalities,
--whether they were of high station and renown, or lowly and unfamed,
--or for festivals, earnest or jovial, are nearly all conceived in the
spirit of patriotism,--love of Norway, its historic past, its present,
its future. They may be social songs memorial or political poems,
ballads or lyrical romances,--all are inspired by and inspire love of country.