Page:History of the Literature of the Scandinavian North.djvu/374

356 och Johan Gyllenstjerna." The king usually wrote his compositions in prose, whereupon the poet Kellgren was ordered to reproduce them in verse, and after that music was arranged for them, and they were played as operas.

The poets of the Gustavian period form two groups according to the prevalence, respectively, of the French and the national element. The first group consisted of the "Gustavians" proper, among whom must be remembered Creutz and Gyllenborg (mentioned in the preceding chapter), in spite of their more rigid form. Gyllenborg was made a member of the academy. Johan Henrik Kellgren (1751-95) is the most eminent member of this group. He was not only one of the most remarkable poets of his age, but he was also regarded as authority in æsthetical matters and enjoyed high reputation as a critic. At the outset of his career he professed the philosophical views which prevailed in his time, the philosophical system promulgated by Locke and interpreted by Voltaire. His scathing, though always light and sparkling criticism was directed chiefly against errors in form. This satisfied the intellectual capacity of the age, which could not comprehend criticisms of a higher order. The periodical "Stockholmsposten," edited by him and his friend Lenngren, was accordingly very popular and was regarded as the highest court of appeal in all æsthetical questions. His great poetical talent was not utterly smothered by the narrow-breasted French system of æsthetic principles to which he was for a long time wedded, but it frequently severed the French fetters of formality, and especially in the last years of his life, when there probably arose in his mind doubts concerning the correctness of the principles which he had so zealously defended; his poems were frequently written in a noble and sublime style. Kellgren was preeminently a lyric poet, and to the king's dramas, which he transversed (changed into verse), he also gave the lyric form. The most of his poems are either satirical or erotic.