Swedish Language and Literature

In prose the I 7th century produced but little of importance in Sweden. Gustavus Adolphus (1594-1632) was the most polished writer of its earlier half, and his speeches take an important place in the development of the language. The most original mind of the next age was Olof Rudbeck (1630-1702), the famous author of Atland eller Manliem, usually known as Atlantikan. A man of encyclopaedic interests, he spent nearly all his life in Uppsala, expending ceaseless energy on the practical improvement of the university. His Atland which appeared in Latin and Swedish, between 1679 and 1702 contains his antiquarian studies; it was an attempt to summon the past, all the sages of Greece and the bards of Iceland, to prove that Scandinavia was the lost Atlantis. Olof Verelius (1618-82) had led the way for Rudbeck, by his translations of Icelandic sagas, a work which was carried on with greater intelligence by Johan Peringskjold (1654-1720) the editor of the Heimskringla (1697). The French philosopher Descartes, who died at Christina's court at Stockholm in 1650, found his chief disciple in Andreas Rydelius (1671-1738), bishop of Lund, who was the master of Dalin, of the next epoch. His Nodiga f ornuf tsrif nin gar (5 vols.) , appeared in 1718-2 2.

The 18th Century.

A more brilliant period followed the death of Charles XII. The influence of France and England took the place of that of Germany and Italy. The taste of Louis XIV., tempered by the study of Addison and Pope, gave its tone to the academical court of Queen Louise Ulrica, who founded in 1758 the academy of literature, history and antiquities. Two writers in verse connect this Augustan period in Sweden with the school of the preceding century: Jacob Frese (1691-1729), a native of Finland, whose poems were published in 1726, was an elegiacal writer with an often strangely modern appreciation of nature; while Samuel von Triewald (1688-1743) was the first Swedish satirist ; he introduced Boileau to his countrymen. Both in verse and prose Olof von Dalin (q.v.; 1708-63) took a higher place than any writer since Stiernhielm. He was inspired by the study of his great English contemporaries. His Sviinska Argus was modelled on Addison's Spectator, his Thoughts about Critics (1736) on Pope's Essay on Criticism, his Tale of a Horse on Swift's Tale of a Tub. Dalin's style, whether in prose or verse, was of a finished elegance. As a prose writer Dalin is chiefly memorable for his history of Sweden, Svea rikes historia (1747 61). His allegoric epic Svenska friheten (Swedish Freedom, 1742) is in polished alexandrines. When in 1737 the new Royal Swedish theatre was opened, Dalin led the way to a new school of drama tists with his Brynhilda, a regular tragedy in the French style, and in his comedy Den afundsjuke (The Envious Man) he intro duced the manner of Moliere, or more properly that of Holberg.

His songs and satires enjoyed great popularity in their time.

The only poet of importance who contested the laurels of Dalin was a woman. Hedvig Charlotta Nordenflycht (1718-63), "The Shepherdess in the North," was the centre of a society which took the name of Tankebyggare Orden and included among its members Creutz and Gyllenborg. She wrote with facility and grace; and her collection of lyrics Den sorjande turturduva (The Sorrowing Turtledove, in spite of affectation, expressed her deep sorrow for the death of her husband after a brief happy married life. In 1744 she settled in Stockholm and opened her famous literary salon. Count Gustaf Philip Creutz (q.v.) (1731 85) was a Finlander who achieved an extraordinary success with his idyllic poems, and in particular with the beautiful pastoral of Atis och Camilla (1759), long the most popular of all Swedish poems. His friend Count Gustaf Fredrik Gyllenborg (1731 18o8) was a more rhetorical and artificial poet. His epic Tdget over Biilt (The Expedition across the Belt, 1785) is an imitation, in 12 books, of Voltaire's Henriade, and deals with the prowess of Charles X. He wrote fables, allegories, satires, and a successful comedy of manners, Den svenska spratthoken (The Swedish Fop). Anders Odel (1718-73) wrote in 1739 the famous Song of Mal colm Sinclair, the Sinclairsvisa. In spite of all the encourage ment of the court, drama did not flourish in Sweden. Among the tragic writers of the age we may mention Dalin, Gyllenborg and Erik Wrangel (1686-1765). In comedy Reinhold Gustaf Modee (1698-1752) wrote three good plays in rivalry of Holberg.

In prose, as was to be expected, the first half of the i8th century was rich in Sweden as elsewhere. The first Swedish novelist was Jakob Henrik Mork (1714-63). His romances have some points of resemblance with those of Richardson. Adalrik och Gothilda, which appeared between 1742 and 1745, is the best known; it was followed, between 1748 and 1758, by Thecla. Jakob Wallenberg (1746-78) described a voyage he took to the East China under the odd title of Min son pa galejan (My Son on the Galley), a work full of humour and originality. Johan Ihre (1707-8o), professor at Uppsala, was a philologist of dis tinction. His masterpiece is the Glossarium sueogothicum (1769), a historical dictionary with many valuable examples from the ancient monuments of the language. The chief historians were Sven Lagerbring (1707-87), Olof Celsius (1716-94) and Karl Gustaf Tessin (1695-1770) who wrote on politics and on aes thetics. Tessin's Old Man's Letters to a young Prince were ad dressed to his pupil, afterwards Gustavus III.