TEGNER, ESAIAS (1782-1846), Swedish writer, was born on Nov. 13, 1782, at Kyrkerud in Wermland. His father, a pastor, whose name had been Esaias Lucasson, took the surname of Tegnerus—altered by his fifth son, the poet, to Tegner—from the hamlet of Tegnaby in Smaland. In 1792 Tegnerus died. In 1799 Esaias Tegner, educated in the country, entered the Univer sity of Lund, where he graduated in philosophy in 1802, and continued as tutor until 181o, when he was elected Greek lecturer. In 1806 he married Anna Maria Gustava Myhrman. In 1812 he was named professor, and continued as a lecturer in Lund until 1824, when he was made bishop of Vexio. At Vexio he remained until his death, twenty-two years later. Tegner's early poems have little merit. He was comparatively slow in development. His first great success was a dithyrambic war-song for the army of 1808, which stirred every Swedish heart. In 1811 his patriotic poem Svea won the great prize of the Swedish Academy, and made him famous.
In the same year was founded in Stockholm the Gothic League (Gotiska forbundet), of young and patriotic men of letters, of whom Tegner quickly became the chief. The club published an excellent magazine, Iduna, in which it urged the study of old Icelandic literature and history. Tegner, Geijer, Afzelius, and
Nicander became the most famous members of the Gothic League. Tegner's fame rests principally on three longer poems Nattvards barnen ("The First Communion," 1820), well known in Long fellow's version; Frithjofs saga (182o-25), a romantic paraphrase of an old saga, which was translated into nearly every European language; and the romance, Axel (1822). In later years Tegner began, but left unfinished, two important epic poems, Gerda and Kronbruden.
The period of the publication of Frithjofs saga (1825) was the critical epoch of his career. It made him one of the most famous poets in Europe; it transferred him from his study in Lund to the bishop's palace in Vexiii; it marked the first breakdown of his health, which had hitherto been excellent ; and it witnessed his unhappy passion for Euphrosyne Palm. On Nov. 2, 1846, he died in Vexio. From 1819 he had been a member of the Swedish Academy, where he was succeeded by his biographer and best imitator Bottiger.
See Bottiger, Teckning of Tegners Lefnad; Georg Brandes, Esaias Tegner; Thommander, Tankar och Lojen; E. Book, Esaias Tegner (vol. i., 1917) .