Page:History of the Literature of the Scandinavian North.djvu/372



HE development of Swedish poetry in the direction described in the preceding chapter attained its climax during the reign of Gustav III. Under the restrictions of the rigorously observed æsthetieal rules, the language, applied chiefly to empty forms, acquired a rare suppleness and flexibility, and it only needed great poets to unfold it in all its magnificence. The poets were not long in coming. The grandly gifted king, whose great ambition it was to shine prominently in the world of thought, gathered around him such a galaxy of brilliant talents that his epoch was compared with the age of Augustus. In this circle he was himself one of the leading spirits, and hence it was unavoidable that the king, whose taste had been developed in the French school, and who was absolutely devoted to its tenets, should by his example exercise a decided influence on the character of the literature which was produced under his leadership and patronage. The light, flippant style and the frivolous, playful manner, which essentially characterize the French literature of the eighteenth century, gradually monopolized the literary field, as did also the negative, revolutionary tendency which likewise hailed from France. But at the same time elements of a totally different character asserted their influence. In consequence of the political revolution (coup d'état) of 1772, by which the power was wrested from the nobility and placed in the hands of the king, an act