_Poems_, published in 1902, contain appeals for democracy and universal suffrage, in the verses, “Fellow-Citizens,” and other lines. Like his predecessor, Björnson, he is both national and universal in his idealism. With honor and love he has written the elegy of Björnson as “Norway’s Father,” with the closing lines: Yet the soul of the people deep within Still breathes the eternal brother-song, We stand and gaze at the sunset long And grieve for thee as one of our kin.[113] Verner von Heidenstam must be included on the lists of novelists as well as poets. In 1889 he published his first romance, _Endymion_, a new treatment of an old theme. With a painter’s glow of fancy he sought to depict, through a love story of moderate interest, the atmosphere of the East, when it is clouded by restraints of Western civilization. He had registered rebellion against the growth of naturalism in fiction: in _Pepita’s Wedding_ (1890) he urged idealism, and search for inner truth. The term, “imaginative realist,” which has been used to classify Heidenstam, is especially applicable to the fantastic, emotional tale, _Hans Alienus_ (1892). As writer of fiction, however, the name of Heidenstam will always be linked most closely with _The Charles Men_ (_Karolinern_)--stories of Charles XII and his wars--a series of prose-poems depicting Swedish heroism, written with fervor and artistic finish. A translation by Charles Wharton Stork, with introduction by Fredrik Böök, has been added to the _Scandinavian Classics_ (American-Scandinavian Foundation, New York, 1920). Among the best of several dramatic tales are “French Mons,” “The Fortified House,” and “Captured.” Like Rolland, Heidenstam is a pacifist yet he has written a vigorous tribute to this “King who lived his whole life in the field and died in a trench,” the man who was a genius in war but, like his heroic men, gentle as well as brave, with lofty visions. Other romances followed this major work, _The Charles Men_--tales and folklore, sagas and modern applications in _Saint George and the Dragon_, _Saint Briggitta’s Pilgrimage_, and _Forest Murmurs_. In fiction and essays the writer has attacked naturalism that “lets the cellar air escape through the house.” Some of his significant essays are collected as _Classicism and Teutonism_. It is unfortunate that so few of his works are adequately rendered into English. He has contributed to liberal and reform journals. In 1900, marrying for a third time, he bought a home near Vadstena, the place of his childhood, and with his wife, a woman of broad culture and social charm, he has exerted a wide influence upon Swedish life. In 1912 he was elected a member of the Swedish Academy which honored itself, as well as him, by the award of the Nobel prize four years later, after his candidacy had been urged throughout Scandinavia and elsewhere.