Danish literature: The Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries

The Reformation stimulated religious polemic and satire as well as the literary use of the Danish language. The Danish translation of the New Testament, completed in 1531 by the humanist Christian Pedersen (d. 1554), who also published an edition of Saxo (1514), greatly influenced Danish literature. In 1535 Hans Tausen (1494–1561) translated the Old Testament. From the Reformation also dates modern Danish drama, which was long a medium for religious moralizing. Fine poetry in the Renaissance manner was created in the early 17th cent. by Anders Arrebo, and baroque verse reached its zenith as rendered by the clergyman Thomas Kingo (1634–1703).

Sections in this article:

• Introduction
• The Twentieth Century
• The Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries
• The Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries
• Early Writings
• Bibliography

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