Swedish Poetry 1
THE POETS OF THE 1940s A peculiarity of Swedish l
iterature is the division of writers’ careers into decades rather than eras or genres. This does, however, allow a pattern to emerge when writers who were active at the same time are grouped together. The decade that would have a more lasting impact than any other on the history of Swedish poetry was that of the “Forties”, whose prominent exponents included Erik Lindegren. The choice of subjects in his poetry resonated with the spirit of the times, and the writers who are considered to belong to this decade are also often associated with anguish and pessimism. What sets Lindegren’s poetry apart is his astonishing imagery and melodic word choice. The young Werner Aspenström also forms part of the same group, the 40-talister, although his pessimism was considerably more subdued when compared with his contemporaries. Erik Lindegren Erik Lindegren is not one of those poets who write quickly and easily. His poems are most often alloys, created at a temperature he appears to have only been able to reach by a reckless process of spontaneous combustion. /…/ Lindegren’s images have attained above all such an extraordinary intensity and his alloys such a density that they might for a time seem impenetrable /…/. The concept of “difficult poetry” lost ground, and this change has been of benefit to many. Bengt Holmqvist, from Kritiska ögonblick (1987) SWEDISH POETRY 16