Swedish Poetry 1
Gunnar Ekelöf It has almost become a truism to sa
y that Gunnar Ekelöf is one of the most important Swedish poets of our century and not only by virtue of his undisputed and incontrovertible verbal skill– his “technique”– but also by the force and distinctive character of his personality. Göran Printz-Påhlson, from Solen i spegeln. Essäer om lyrisk modernism (1996) Gunnar Ekelöf (1907-1968) Vägvisare till underjorden (Guide to the Underworld, 1967) Gunnar Ekelöf is one of the most multifaceted figures in Swedish letters. He can shift at will between high and low, the spiritual and the physical, and from religious mysticism to blasphemous attacks. There is as much snobbery in his work as there is nonsense, and it encompassed membership of the Swedish Academy as well as psychological alienation. Besides introducing the concepts of Modernism to Sweden in his work as translator and critic, poetry would prove his primary interest. Although his style and temperament change throughout the various books, what provides the unifying thread is a sense of impudence and a defiant No! More powerful than any pessimism, however, is his SWEDISH POETRY 10 genuine belief in the strength of the individual human being to break free of anything that holds him back. This is why he has remained, perhaps, the most influential Swedish poet of the twentieth century. Selected Collections of Poetry: sent på jorden (1932) Dedikation (1934) Färjesång (1941) Non serviam (1945) Strountes (1955) En Mölna-elegi: metamorfoser (1960) Diwan över fursten av Emgión (1965) Sagan om Fatumeh (1966) Vägvisare till underjorden (1967)