In 1787, the prestigious Arnamagnæan Commission in Copenhagen, dedicated to the study of Old Norse-Icelandic literature, published the first volume of a 3-volume edition of “The Poetic Edda” (Edda Sæmundar hinns Fróda), containing the original Old Norse text, a Latin translation, extensive annotations, and a glossary. The second volume, overseen by the Icelander Finnur Magnússon (1781–1847), came out in 1818, the third in 1828. The ancient myths could, according to Finnur, not simply be dismissed as antiquarian curiosities, fit only for academic study. Rather, familiarity with the poems was a national commitment, since they were expressions of the original, uncontaminated national spirit that could assist modern Danes in identifying what was essentially Nordic. The Edda served as a benchmark for national authenticity, against which all aspects of modern Danish culture should be calibrated. Finnur also maintained that Old Norse mythology was at least as suitable for modern artistic expression as the dominant repertoire of classical antiquity. This stance put him in the forefront of the so-called “mythology feud”, which raged in Danish academia between 1812 and 1821, with, for his main opponent, the classicist and “anti-Eddist” Torkel Baden (1765–1849; secretary of the Danish Art Academy). The celebrated neoclassical sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen (1770–1844) was dragged into this dispute, his work being considered proof of classical art’s supremacy over Old Norse culture. Even though Thorvaldsen clearly preferred Greek mythology to the Eddas, his personal coat of arms – which he designed himself – includes the figure of Thor, standing with his hammer resting on his shoulder.

Even before the 1787-1828 re-edition, in 1778, Johannes Ewald (1743–1781) had brought out his singspiel libretto Balders Død, the first Danish theatre piece inspired by Old Norse mythology; it drew on the medieval chronicler Saxo Grammaticus rather than the Edda. Partly as a result of Finnur’s works and the new availability of the Icelandic Eddas, Eddic themes permeate the entire oeuvre of Denmark’s first Romantic, Adam Oehlenschläger (1779–1850), and provide him with a repertoire for expressing the transcendental idealism of his time. Some of his works constitute poetic re-renderings of Eddic myths, like the epic poem Thors Reise til Jotunheim and the play Baldur hin Gode, both published in his Nordiske digte of 1807 (in the preface of which he identifies the “peculiarly national” as the poet’s most important subject). In his signature poem Guldhornene (1802), inspired by the theft of two ancient drinking horns from the Royal Chamber of Art, he glorified the times when “Heaven was on Earth” and the ancient gods, with their “star-flashing eyes”, granted the first golden horn. Also in his tragedy Palnatoke (1809) about the legendary Danish hero Pálnatóki – a staunch defender of the ancient faith – the decline of paganism is equated with the end of Nordic greatness. The old faith is described as the “strong Light of Truth” that once taught the Saxons, Obotrites, and British alike what to believe, and that shone from the religious centres of Uppsala, Trondheim, and Lejre (a studiously Pan-Scandinavian threesome of localities).

Nevertheless, Oehlenschläger claims that ancient glory can still be experienced in the present-day landscape. The poem Der er et yndigt land (1819), which was adopted as the national anthem of Denmark in 1835, evokes the heroic Viking past and the “armour-suited warriors” of old and identifies Denmark with the idyllic image of “Freyja’s hall”.

The second towering figure of Danish Romanticism to channel Old Norse mythology was N.F.S. Grundtvig, who saw it as a Nordic symbolic language, or picture-language, capable of powerful revelations of universal truths. Grundtvig’s work focuses on the struggle between Thor and the giants, the quintessence of Romantic self-expression and self-development, and a rebellion against the restricting cultural boundaries and social conventions that obstruct this subjective development. Censorship, death, and “Rome” (signifying, for the committed Protestant Grundtvig, everything that was elitist, Latinate, southern-derived, and amoral in European culture) is symbolized in Loke (Loki), the problematic and Mephistophelian shape-shifter. Unlike previous promoters of Nordic culture – e.g. Klopstock – Grundtvig, who celebrated its demotic and non-elite “national” nature, did not seek to elevate Nordic literature to the classical status of Greek and Roman antiquity. For that reason, he also disliked what he saw as the classicist-elitist tone of Oehlenschläger’s treatment.

Grundtvig’s mythological philosophy is predicated on antagonistic oppositions: against elitist “southern” culture (Rome/Loki), but also Denmark’s arch-enemy Prussia – and German or “Teutonic” culture in general. Grundtvig was well aware of the enthusiasm among German philologists for Old Norse mythology, but resented their appropriations of the material as distortive and degenerate. For Grundtvig, the most authentic access to the old myths was provided by Saxo Grammaticus, who offered a Danish alternative to the Icelandic Eddas (of which he was very critical). Although Saxo’s Gesta Danorum, in which many of the Eddic themes appear in different guises, was generally considered contaminated and less authentic than the more overtly pagan Eddas, Grundtvig argued that, since Saxo wrote at a time when the Icelandic sources were unknown in Denmark, he must have drawn on another (Danish, pre-Christian, authentic) source. Even so, Grundtvig felt that Icelanders and Danes, the joint guardians of the original Old Norse tradition, should stand together in “some form of holy alliance” against the “fierce attacks of German scholars” (Lundgreen-Nielsen). His instrumentalization of the Eddas for national purposes is reflected in his title for a new version (though eventually unfinished) of the Prose Edda: “Snorri’s Edda for everyday use” (1847-48).

The first visual artists in Denmark to incorporate Eddic themes in their work were the sculptor Johannes Wiedewelt (1731–1802) and the painter Nicolai Abildgaard (1743–1809). The statues Odin (1828) and Thor (1829) by the German-born Danish sculptor Hermann Ernst Freund (1786–1840) still represent these deities in quasi-Greek mode; similarly classicist in style was his ambitious Ragnarök frieze, designed for Christiansborg Palace (begun in 1829, finished after his death in 1842, and destroyed by fire in 1884). Niels Laurits Høyen (1798–1870), the founding father of Danish national art, believed – like Oehlenschläger – that Old Norse culture should be the main source of inspiration for Nordic artists, and that a thorough examination of the ancient sources was indispensable. The ideals of Oehlenschläger, Grundtvig, and Høyen were disseminated  by the “Society for Scandinavian Art” (1847) and shaped the artistic climate of Denmark’s mid-to-late century.

Following the defeat of 1864 (marking the political demise of Scandinavism and the loss of the southern borderlands in Schleswig-Holstein), Danish-national usage of mythological tales focused on Gefjon, the goddess-figure who had ploughed the island of Sjælland loose from Sweden. She was depicted on a mural in Fredriksborg Palace in 1882 and on a fountain in Copenhagen in 1906.