Swedish Poetry 1
“Attacking poets in particular is a bad idea, bec
ause they make sure they get the last word” The Traditional Looking back is not something contemporary Swedish poetry is inclined to do to any great extent. One poet who has made a name for himself as a nostalgist, however, is Bruno K. Öijer, particularly in the poems that heralded his comeback at the beginning of the 1990s. He has also contributed greatly to the popularisation of poetry through his reading tours, which have proved such a hit with audiences. The plundering of nature by civilisation lies at the heart of his poems’ frenzied showdowns with the lack of respect for its origins shown by the contemporary world. Magnus William-Olsson, too, writes a traditional form of poetry with a decided penchant for metrical forms based on ancient patterns. And yet the work of neither poet can be reduced simply to backward-looking, as they have both chosen to comment on the contemporary world in their poems. It is rather that both show respect for a traditional way of writing poetry, while taking a cleareyed view of contemporary life in thematic terms. 41 SWEDISH POETRY Contemporary Poetry