page_title: Swedish literature
section_title: Poetry
hierarchical_section_title: Swedish literature / 20th century / Poetry
caption_attribution_description: Svenska: Tomas Tranströmer på Kulturhuset i Stockholm den 25 februari 2014 i samband med att Tucholskypriset delas ut. English: Tomas Tranströmer at Kulturhuset in Stockholm February 25, 2014 in connection with the Tucholsky prize is awarded.
context_page_description: Swedish literature refers to literature written in the Swedish language or by writers from Sweden.
  The first literary text from Sweden is the Rök runestone, carved during the Viking Age circa 800 AD. With the conversion of the land to Christianity around 1100 AD, Sweden entered the Middle Ages, during which monastic writers preferred to use Latin. Therefore, there are only a few texts in the Old Swedish from that period. Swedish literature only flourished when the Swedish language was standardized in the 16th century, a standardization largely due to the full translation of the Bible into Swedish in 1541. This translation is the so-called Gustav Vasa Bible.
  With improved education and the freedom brought by secularisation, the 17th century saw several notable authors develop the Swedish language further. Some key figures include Georg Stiernhielm, who was the first to write classical poetry in Swedish; Johan Henric Kellgren, the first to write fluent Swedish prose; Carl Michael Bellman, the first writer of burlesque ballads; and August Strindberg, a socio-realistic writer and playwright who won worldwide fame.
context_section_description: In the 1930s and 1940s, poetry was influenced by the ideals of modernism. Distinguishing features included the desire to experiment, and to try a variety of styles, usually free verse without rhyme or metre.
  The leading modernist figure soon turned out to be Hjalmar Gullberg (1898–1961). He wrote many mystical and Christian-influenced collections, such as Andliga övningar (Spiritual Exercises, 1932) and others. After a poetical break 1942–1952, he resurfaced with a new style in the 1950s. Atheistic on the surface, it was influential for the younger generation.
  Gunnar Ekelöf (1907–1968) has been described as Sweden's first surrealistic poet, due to his first poetry collection, the nihilistic Sent på jorden (1932), a work hardly understood by his contemporaries. But Ekelöf moved towards romanticism and with his second poetry collection Dedikationen in 1934 he became appreciated in wider circles. He continued to write until his old age, and was to attain a dominant position in Swedish poetry. His style has been described as heavy with symbolism and enigmatic, while at the same time tormented and ironical.
  Another important modernist poet was Harry Martinson (1904–1978). Harry Martinson had an unparalleled feeling for nature, in the spirit of Linnaeus. As was  typical for his generation, he wrote free verse, not bound by rhyme or syllable-count. He also wrote novels, a classic work being the partly autobiographical Flowering Nettles, in 1935. His most remarkable work was, however, Aniara, 1956, a story of a spaceship drifting through space.
  Arguably the most famous Swedish poet of the 20th century is Tomas Tranströmer (1931–2015). His poetry is distinguished by a Christian mysticism, moving on the verge between dream and reality, the physical and the metaphysical. At the same time there in the Sixties developed a strong tradition influenced by the historical avant-garde, and the Swedish movement of concrete poetry became one of the three global representants for experimental poetry at this time, with representatives like Öyvind Fahlström (who seemingly published the first manifesto for concrete poetry in the world 1954: "Hätila ragulpr på fåtskliaben"), Åke Hodell, Bengt Emil Johnson, and Leif Nylén. In a reaction against the experimental Sixties one in the Seventies took up the beat-tradition from the US, in a continued avant-garde effort which resulted in little magazines publishing poetry, a stencil movement out of which one of Swedish main poets of today – Bruno K. Öijer – grow, and developed a lyrical performance with inspiration from Antonin Artaud's "Theatre of cruelty", rock'n'roll and the avant-garde performance.
  Dan Andersson (born 6 April 1888 in Skattlösberg, Grangärde parish (in present-day Ludvika Municipality), Dalarna, Sweden, died 16 September 1920 in Stockholm) was a Swedish author and poet. He also set some of his own poems to music. Andersson married primary school teacher Olga Turesson, the sister of artist Gunnar Turesson, in 1918. A nom de plume he sometimes used was Black Jim. Andersson is counted among the Swedish proletarian authors, but his works are not limited to that genre.
caption: Tomas Tranströmer, 2014.
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