than forming a physical group they were grouped by their love of their native land and their love of writing about that land. As Jeppe grew older he wondered why the movement never had an actual leader. He states in his memoirs', Alle de andre Litteraturretninger havde fra første Færd haft en Fører. Romantikken havde Johan Ludvig Heiberg og adskillige andre. Realism fra '70erne havde altid Georg Brandes, den utrætteligste Lansedrager, for den ny Tid. Halvfemsernes Maaneskindsmænd havde C. E. Jensen ... Men den jydske Retning fik ikke sin egen Kritiker. Den Mand kom aldrig frem og har ikke vist sig endnu, der forstod den inderste Nerve i den jydske Retnings Litteratur. All the other Literary Movements had from the beginning a guide. Romanticism had Johan Ludvig Heiberg and assorted others. Realism from the 1870s had Georg Brandes, the most tireless point man for the new age. Nineties moonlight men had CE Jensen ... But the Jutlandic School never had his own critic. That man never came forward and still has not to this very day, who understood the inner nerve in the Jutland School's Literature. Notable works Aakjær's notable novels, including Bondens Søn ("The Peasant's Son") (1899) and Vredens børn, et tyendes saga ("Children of Wrath: A Hired Man's Saga") (1904), reveal his staunch social commitment. The latter is a rural Danish answer to Upton Sinclair's The Jungle and in many ways caused the same effect but on a lesser scale. He also wrote Hvor Bønder bor ("Where Farmers Live") (1908), Arbejdets Glæde ("The Joy of Work") (1914), and Jens Langkniv (1915), about a Danish highwayman becoming a guerrilla fighter against the Germans in the 17th century. Many tales and short stories tell about the humble, bad life of farm boys and grooms and are written with a visceral anger and a fighting spirit. He also wrote some plays, such as Livet paa Hegnsgaard, ("Life at the Hegn Farm") (1907), and a biography on his predecessor, Steen Steensen Blicher. Today, it is his poetry for which he is chiefly known. His poems, including the famous Fri felt ("Free Fields"; 1905), the Rugens sange ("Songs of the Rye"; 1906) and Heimdal's Wanderings (1924), reveal his appreciation for the harvest. Because of their lyrical quality, many of these poems were used as settings for songs by various 20th Century Scandinavian composers, such as Carl Nielsen. In these songs he sings of