fashion that out of his untiring labors at last springs a new
work, the mood of which differs essentially from that of the
first prose version. These two versions--the first and the final
--are the results of diametrically opposed methods of work. The
first was written with a certainty and swiftness of inspiration
that raised the young poet far above the productive powers
generally characteristic of his years. The subsequent modifications
prove merely how futile are the efforts of reason to improve
what intuition has inspired. But gradually it seems to have
dawned on the poet that he was about to evolve a wholly new
work--that what he had come to aim at was quite distinct from
what he had been aiming at in the beginning, and from that moment
his artistic reasoning carried him onward until at last a new
inspiration brought the work to its completion."

Concerning the final metrical version, I can give only a few
outstanding and rather superficial facts, hoping that I may some
time have the opportunity of presenting it entire to the American
public. Like the prose version, it has five acts, but these are
not subdivided into scenes. It is briefer, more concentrated both
in spirit and in form, and may he said to display a greater unity
of purpose. It is more human, too, and less titanic. The change
shows itself strikingly in a figure like that of Marten, who in
the metrical version has become softened into an unconscionable
but rather lovable rapscallion. The last remark but one made by
Marten when driven from Dame Christine's deathbed by Olof is:
"Talk to your mother, son--the two of you have so much to forgive
each other."

In strength and passion and daring, on the other hand, the final