Natural History in Verse - Petter Dass’ Description of Nordland

Abstract

Nordland’s Description by Petter Dass (also known as Nordland’s Trumpet, written between 1670 and 1700, published in 1739) was perceived as both a work of poetry and natural history by the first readers of the book. But in Norwegian literary history, the status as a work of natural history has been undermined. How did this happen? In this article I point to two reasons: J.S. Welhaven’s definition of the work as folk poetry, and the way in which the term “baroque” has been used in Norwegian literary historiography. To demonstrate this, I examine the reception of Nordland’s Description in literary histories from the last hundred years. Finally, I will try to approach the historical situation of communication for Nordland’s Description. Here I also show how Dass uses poetic language to express natural history knowledge.