Sanct Hansaften-spil

work by Oehlenschläger

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July 16, 2026

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Sanct Hansaften-spil is a lyrical drama by Adam Gottlob Oehlenschläger, a leading figure of the Romantic movement in Denmark. Written in 1802 and published in his first volume of poetry, Digte (1803), the play is characterized by literary satire and poetic discussions on love and nature. Oehlenschläger, often considered Denmark's great national poet, was inspired by the philosopher Henrik Steffens to break from 18th-century literary traditions. Sanct Hansaften-spil is an example of his early Romantic works, which also included the symbolic poem "The Golden Horns".1

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Adam Gottlob Oehlenschläger
…not only “Guldhornene” but also Sanct Hansaften-spil (“A Midsummer Night’s Play”); this latter work is a lyrical drama combining literary satire with poetic discourses on love and nature. His Poetiske skrifter (1805; “Poetic Writings”) contains two long cycles of lyric poems and Aladdin, a poetic drama on the writer’s own…
Read More
…not only “Guldhornene” but also Sanct Hansaften-spil (“A Midsummer Night’s Play”); this latter work is a lyrical drama combining literary satire with poetic discourses on love and nature. His Poetiske skrifter (1805; “Poetic Writings”) contains two long cycles of lyric poems and Aladdin, a poetic drama on the writer’s own…
Read More