Living Well-Springs: The Hymns, Songs, and Poems of N. F. S. Grundtvig by Edward Broadbridge (review)

Edward Broadbridge, a teacher of English and Religious Studies at Aarhus University and the University of Michigan, served as the translator and editor of this book. He received help from John Nicholson who collaborated with him on the translation of every hymn, song, and poem in it. Nicholson, with an MA from Oxford and postgraduate studies at Sheffield and Southampton, worked in adult education and "probation and prison after-care" (15). Both men are from England, married Danish wives, and moved to Denmark.

In the Preface (19–29) Broadbridge describes the importance of Grundtvig's hymns and songs in Danish churches and schools. For example, Danish emigrants in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries—287,000 people, one tenth of the Danish population (21)—carried his hymns with them as "spiritual luggage" (19). He sees Grundtvig as a major poet beyond Denmark whose reputation remains "confined to a relatively small circle," calls the hymns chosen for this book classic ones of Grundtvig, and gives a history of translations. In the section called "Translation as an Art," he begins with Anne Schjoldager's "six competencies required of the translator: linguistic, cultural, textual, subject-specific, research, and transfer" (22). He describes "the present translation" (25–26); "Grundtvig, England, and the English Language" (26–27); and makes final comments about Grundtvig as "surprisingly" by "his own admission, unmusical," though he said, "I often wish among my confirmands that I too could sing a hymn" (28).

Uffe Jonas is a Danish singer, writer, and lecturer whose MA and PhD, from the University of Copenhagen, are on Kierkegaard and Nordic languages and literature. He provides a biographical study of Grundtvig (31–65). The remainder of the book (67–331) gives translations of 162 of Grundtvig's hymns (# 1–76), songs (# 77–103), and poems (# 104–162), followed by notes, a bibliography, and indexes (pp. 333–420).

Broadbridge's aim was "to produce precise, poetical translations that reflect Grundtvig's intentions with the original Danish" (25). Although he followed the Danish "rhythms and rhymes" (25), he did not set out to provide a collection of hymns for singing assemblies as hymnal editors seek to do. The hymns are organized as they appear in The Danish Hymnbook (2002), the songs are divided as in The People's High School Song Book (2006), and the poems are ordered according to the editor's choice.

Mythology, nature, history, poetry, Denmark, and England are all important to understanding Grundtvig. In his biographical sketch—titled "Earth and Heaven Be United, Grundtvig as poet and hymn-writer"—Jonas discusses all of these topics along with Grundtvig's "Christian breakthrough," his understanding of history as poetry, the constructive jurists and the creative poets in the nation-state, his positive view of women, and his place as one of the three great Danes of hymn writing in Denmark along with Thomas Kingo (1634–1703) and Hans Adolf Brorson (1694–1764). Word and sacraments are included in these discussions. Whether they are sufficiently emphasized will have to be judged by Grundtvig scholars.

This book will be of interest to hymn writers, editors, historians, and anybody who cares about hymnody, especially Danish hymnody and Grundtvig. Those less concerned about hymnody, but who study Denmark, Grundtvig, and the church in Denmark may also find this book to be of interest.