The Warrior’s Barrow

By Henrik Ibsen

"The Warrior’s Barrow" (or, "The Burial Mound") was Henrik Ibsen's second play and his first play to be performed. Written in 1850 when Ibsen was 22 years old, the play was first performed at the Christiania Theater on 26 September 1850, under Ibsen's pseudonym Brynjolf Bjarme.

"The Warrior’s Barrow" is a one-act dramatic poem that portrays an incident from the heroic age of Norse conquest.
Landing on an island off the coast of Sicily, Gandalf, a young pagan chieftain who personifies the rough Viking tradition, confronts the tempering Mediterranean influence of Christianity in young, innocent Blanka. Sworn to avenge his father's death, Gandalf learns Blanka has in fact saved his life, and he subsequently returns to Norway with her so that her faith may be "transplanted in the north."

Henrik Johan Ibsen was a major 19th-century Norwegian playwright, theatre director, and poet. He is often referred to as "the father of realism" and is one of the founders of Modernism in theatre. 

• Language: English
• Publisher: E-BOOKARAMA
• Release date: Feb 22, 2023
• ISBN: 9791220214445

Henrik Ibsen

Born in 1828, Henrik Ibsen was a Norwegian playwright and poet, often associated with the early Modernist movement in theatre. Determined to become a playwright from a young age, Ibsen began writing while working as an apprentice pharmacist to help support his family. Though his early plays were largely unsuccessful, Ibsen was able to take employment at a theatre where he worked as a writer, director, and producer. Ibsen’s first success came with Brand and Peter Gynt, and with later plays like A Doll’s House, Ghosts, and The Master Builder he became one of the most performed playwrights in the world, second only to William Shakespeare. Ibsen died in his home in Norway in 1906 at the age of 78.

Book preview

Table of contents

Dramatis Personæ

SCENE I

SCENE II

SCENE III

SCENE IV

SCENE V

SCENE VI

THE WARRIOR'S BARROW

Henrik Ibsen

A Dramatic Poem in One Act

Dramatis Personæ

Roderik, an old recluse.

Blanka, his foster-daughter.

Gandalf, a sea-king from Norway.

Asgaut, an old viking.

Hrolloug, "

Jostejn, "

Several Vikings

Hemming, a young scald in Gandalf’s service.

The action takes place on a small island off the coast of Sicily shortly before the introduction of Christianity into Norway.

An open place surrounded by trees near the shore. To the left in the background the ruins of an old temple. In the center of the scene a huge barrow upon which is a monument decked with flower wreaths.

SCENE I

[ At the right of the stage sits RODERIK writing. To

the left BLANKA in a half reclining position.]

Blanka. Lo! the sky in dying glory

Surges like a sea ablaze —

It is all so still before me,

Still as in a sylvan maze.

Summer evening’s mellow power

Settles round us like a dove,

Hovers like a swan above

Ocean wave and forest flower.

In the orange thicket slumber

Gods and goddesses of yore,

Stone reminders in great number

Of a world that is no more.

Virtue, valor, trust are gone,

Rich in memory alone;

Could there be a more complete

Picture of the South effete?

[ Rises.]

Blanka. But my father has related

Stories of a distant land,

Of a life, fresh, unabated,

Neither carved nor wrought by hand!

Here the spirit has forever

Vanished into stone and wave —

There it breathes as free as ever,

Like a warrior strong and brave!

When the evening’s crystallizing

Vapors settle on my breast,

Lo! I see before me rising

Norway’s snow-illumined crest!

Here is life decayed