Swedish Poetry 1
How hard everything is how stiffened, black and s
ilent! Pär Lagerkvist, from Ångest (Anguish), 1916 Pär Lagerkvist (1891-1974) Ångest (Anguish, 1916) Few books of Swedish poetry have made as decisive an impact as Pär Lagerkvists Ångest, an early publication in a long career that would subsequently see him awarded the Nobel Prize. His multifaceted writing also encompasses some of the twentieth-century’s most significant novels, short stories and plays in Swedish. The young poet was influenced by German Expressionism and, as the title of the work indicates, this collection is concerned with the most extreme emotional states. Only death can relieve the suffering. The desolate landscapes depicted are both spiritual and geographic. The self-imposed agonies risk tipping over into bitterness and self-pity, but these aspects take on a broader perspective in the longing for religious truth that can be discerned in an approach to existence the poet likened to that of a “believer without faith”. God may be silent but that is where the poetic ego directs his heartfelt interest. In its portrayal of the puniness of the human being when confronted by the universe, Lagerkvist’s book has retained its capacity both to shock and to provide the reader with an experience of intensity. Selected Collections of Poetry: Motiv (1914) Ångest: dikter och prosastycken (1916) Den lyckliges väg (1921) Hjärtats sånger (1926) Vid lägereld (1932) Genius (1937) Sång och strid (1940) Hemmet och stjärnan (1942) Aftonland (1953) 31 SWEDISH POETRY