DASS, PETTER (1647-1708), the "father" of modern Nor wegian poetry, was the son of a Scottish merchant, Peter Dundas, settled in Bergen. He was born on the island of Nord HerO, on the north coast of Norway, studied at Copenhagen, and was or dained priest in 1672. In 1689 he received the important living of Alstahoug in the north of Norway, with jurisdiction over the neighbouring districts. His writings passed in ms. from hand to hand, and few of them were printed in his lifetime. Nordlands Trompet (The Trumpet of Nordland), his greatest and most famous poem, was not published till 1739; Den norska Dale-Vise (The Norwegian Song of the Valley) appeared in 1696; the Aandelig Tidsfordriv (Spiritual Pastime), a volume of sacred poetry, was published in 17ii. Tke Trumpet of Nordland remains as fresh as ever in the memories of the inhabitants of the north of Norway; boatmen, peasants, priests will alike repeat long ex tracts from it at the slightest notice, and its popularity is un bounded. It is a rhyming description of the province of Nordland, its natural features, its trades, its advantages and its drawbacks, given in dancing verse of the most breathless kind, and full of humour, fancy, wit and quaint learning.
The collected writings of Dass were edited (3 vols., Christiania, 1873-77) by Dr. A. E. Eriksen.