INTRODUCTORY SKETCH SWEDISH LYRIC POETRY FROM 1718 TO 1915 WEDEN, together with the other nations of the Scan SWED dinavian stock, inherited the splendid tradition of Old Norse literature, its eddas and sagas, both in verse and prose. In the thirteenth century the Swedish language began to develop a separate identity, but did not for a long time produce anything of special note. It is indeed remarkable that a country of such political importance as Sweden should have played so small a part in letters during the renaissance. Authors were few and, apart perhaps from Georg Stiernhielm (1598-1672), none became known beyond the borders of his native country. Period of Preparation, 1718-1771 It was not until the middle of the eighteenth century that Swedish literature began to be a real force. With the death of Charles XII in 1718 the hope of a Swedish Empire vanished and the Swedish people turned from foreign conquest to internal development. It must not be forgotten, however, that Sweden had already a brilliant past to celebrate in literature when the time of great doers gave place to a time of great writers. The inspiration and the models for a national literature were derived first from France and England; from the former for poetry and the drama, from the latter chiefly for prose. As in other countries of Europe, the main standards of writing were correctness and good taste. In poetry the qualities of clear thinking and graceful phrasing predominated strongly over those of sincere emotion and personal expression. In a word, Sweden evolved a "polite" literature. From time to time echoes of native folk-song crept into the lyric, but as a whole the period was chiefly valuable in fixing the character of the language and establishing patterns of smooth versification. Modern Swedish Literature, as critics call it, begins with Olof von Dalin (1708–1763). Dalin imitated Addison in the essay and Racine in the drama, besides writing a number of epic and lyric poems in approved Augustan style. His longer poems were allegoric or satiric, his famous epic Swedish Freedom (in praise of Queen Ulrica Eleanora) being written in Alexandrines on the model of Voltaire's Henriade. His lyrics, which alone properly concern us here, are mostly graceful pastoral pieces, with a freshness and lightness in part, at least, of native derivation. A literary salon was established about 1753 by Hedvig Charlotta NordenAycht, who introduced personal feeling into the Swedish lyric by her volume The Sorrowing Turtledove, a collection of lyrics the contents of which can be sufficiently well imagined from the title. To this salon came Gustaf Filip Creutz and Gustaf Fredrik Gyllenborg, authors of idylls, fables, and didactic poems. Gyllenborg wrote "The Seasons," in imitation of Thomson. Important as were all of these writers from a historical point of view, it can hardly be said that they exhibited anything like genius. |