digtning

Digtning is the Danish term for poetry—the art and practice of composing poems, as well as the body of poems produced in Danish literature. It denotes both the act of writing verse and the poetic works themselves, across historical periods and styles.

Forms and techniques in digtning range from traditional structures such as ballads and sonnets to modern free verse. Sound devices—alliteration, assonance, rhyme—along with imagery, metaphor, and symbol, shape meaning and mood. Danish digtning often emphasizes cadence and phrasing, with line breaks and stanzaing playing a key role in its rhythm.

Historically, Danish poetry has roots in medieval lyric and folk balladry, moving through Renaissance and Baroque, into Romanticism and later modernism. The 19th and 20th centuries saw experimentation with voice, national identity, and social topics, leading to diverse strands in contemporary digtning that engage with urban life, politics, and global culture.

Today digtning is studied in Danish literature and criticism as both a historical archive and a living practice. The term is geographically specific to Danish, while closely related concepts in Norwegian and Swedish are usually expressed as diktning. The field intersects with translation, performance, and digital media as poets explore new forms and audiences.