location, supported by Barfoed and Povelsen. A great cloak is draped
around him in artistic fashion. He has a staff in his hand. His face is con-
cealedbyamaskinwhichthereisasingleeye(theprofoundeyeforworld
history). A long, mossy beard with birds’ nests in it (he is so old—about
1,000 years). With a hollow voice that is melodramatically accompanied
byseveralblastsonaconchshell(asifcallingtovillagemeetings).Hespeaks
dithyrambically. When he is finished speaking (that is, when the festival
committeesays‘Enough,’forotherwisehewouldneverbefinished)abell
isrung,acordispulled,thebeardfallsoff,asdoestheenormouscloak.We
seeaslender youngpersonwithwings: ItisGrundtvigastheSpiritofthe
ScandinavianIdea.”
Kierkegaard in Church
WhiletheScandinavianbrothersandsistersweresprawledonthegrassout
at the Deer Park, Kierkegaard was in the Church of Our Lady in order—
yetagain—tohearMynsterpreach.Whenhereturnedhomehewrotehis
grotesque“apotheosis”aboutGrundtvig,andthenheappendedthefollow-
ing: “Oddly enough, Bishop Mynster preached that same Sunday. There
was no one in the church, and yet, as when a great congregation inspires
him to a splendid sermon, the empty church inspired him as well. When
hewasfinishedhegazedstraightaheadinsilence,andifthereisatransfigu-
ration when the dead go in behind the veil, then he was transfigured in
that manner—and in the manner of a deceased person.” It was here that
Kierkegaard belonged. Alone in the cool twilight of the church, together
withadeceasedperson,transfiguredaswashisownfather.
The son always remembered his father on the anniversary of his death,
August 9, which became a sort of day of rest in Kierkegaard’s life, sur-
rounded with a particular sort of ritual—thus in the manuscript ofThree
Edifying Discoursesfrom1843theprefaceisdated“August9th.”Onthefirst
anniversary of his father’s death Kierkegaard went to take communion at
the Church of Our Lady, but the reverential atmosphere dissipated when
several people, tourists perhaps, came plodding into the church right in
the middle of the distribution of the sacrament in order to admire Bertel
Thorvaldsen’sstatues.
AtothertimeshemerelywalkedouttothegraveatAssistensCemetery
andstoodtherelostinhisownthoughts.EarlyintheeveningonJune10,
1845,Kierkegaardnotedanabsurdincidentinhisjournal:“TodayIwanted
towalkouttoFather’sgrave.Ihadanunusualneedtodoso;Iwasunusually
withdrawn into myself. It happened that just as I reached the turn at the