Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 18.djvu/857

* SWEDISH LANGUAGE. 749 SWEENY. (Upsala, 1541). The lirst secular author of any note in the new eia is the historian ilessenius, who also wrote six "school coiiieilics' on subjects from Swedish history. The best known is Disa, which was played by L'psala students in Kill. The period of Swedish expansion (11)30-1730) is marked by the widcniiii; of the literary horizon through the introduction of new ideas and forms from Germany, France, Italy, and Holland. The prominent figure is Stjernhjelm (1.598-1(172), the 'father of Swedish poetry.' He did a work like that of Opitz in Germany, by whom he was influenced; that is, he sought to give his country a worthy poetic literature by imitating good models, old and new. He laid great stress on metrical regularity and ornateness of diction. His poem llci-ciiles, a didactic allegory on the conllict of Pleasure and Duty, may fairly be said to have nationalized the dactylic hexameter. It is metrically elegant, but rather florid. Stjern- hjelm also experimented with alexandrines, the ottaia rinia, the sonnet, and the ballad. His most noteworthy disciple was the poet-scholar Colum- bus (1642-79). An opponent of Stjernhjelm, Rosenhane (1619-84), won fame especially as a sonneteer. A jovial and facile rhymester who stood apart from the schools was Johansson, called Lucidor (died in 1684). The eccentric polyliistor Rudbeck (1G30-1702), with his amaz- ing Atlantika. belongs to the history of literary curiosities rather than of literature. In the ensuing epoch (1730-1772) the great Swedisli names are Swedenborg and Linnaeus; but they belong, respectively, to the history of re- ligion and of science. In belles lettres the ideals of Sweden were substantially those of contempo- rary France and England. The presiding genius is Dalin (1708-63). whose Swedish Argus, started in 1732 in imitation of the Spectator, became the rallying-point of the dominant ideas. Dalin had something of Voltaire's versatility and cleverness. He wrote much poetry, but is best remembered as an elegant stylist in prose, the first in Swedish annals. Opposed to Dalin in some of his tendencies was the coterie of Fru Nordenflycht (1718-63), the 'Northern Aspasia.' Her salon in Stockholm wa.s not inworthy of its Parisian models. To her circle belonged Creutz (1729-85). best known for his pleasant pastoral Atis och Camilla, and Gyllenborg (1731-1808), author of many ratiocinative poems. All these niid-ccntury writers were strongly influenced by their contemporaries in England. The Gustavian epoch (1772-1809) is marked by royal patronage of letters on a large scale. Gus- tavus III., himself a playwright and a prize orator, assembled an academic court of talent, which continued the French tradition of the Old R(''gime. The leading Gustavians were Kell- gren (1751-95), Leopold (1756-1829), and Oxenstjerna (1750-1818). all poets o"f consider- able talent and devoted to the ideals and senti- ments of the expiring Age of Enlightenment. Here belongs also the name of the gifted poetess Fru Lenngren (1754-1817). famed for her idyls and satires and her literary salon. Quite un- touched by academic influence was the much ad- mired Beilnian (1740-95), a genial humorist of Anacreontic tendencies, who turned his observa- tions of Stockholm low life into wonderfully tuneful verse. To the Gustavian period belongs, finally, though not of its spirit and distinctly prophetic of a new era, the best work of the eminent lyric poet Franzen (1772-1847). The great Romantic movement of (he nine- teenth cenlury. wi(h the concomitant renais- sance of na(i<iual feeling, allVcted Swedish litera- ture profoundly. The now ideas, coming from Germany by way of Denmark, precipitated at first a wordy war of various scliools and ten- dencies, after which came a season of really brilliant production. In the soulful verso of Wallin (1779-1839); in the best work of the arch-Romanticist Atterbom (1790-1855); in the fine spirituality and exijuisite workmansliip of Stagnelius (1793-1823); in the stirring North- ern poems of Geijer (1783-1847), who was des- tined to b(>come, next to Fryxell, perhaps, his country's greatest historian; in the |)roduclions of the brilliantly endowed l)ut erratic and un- even Ainiqvist ( 1793-1866) ; and of several minor poets like Sjiiberg (1794-1828) and Nicander (1799-1839) ; but above all in the splendid talent of Tegnfr (1782-1846), who won world-wide fame with his romanticized Frithiof's Sar/a — the national genius found a richer expression than at any time before or since. In the mid-century period the prominent names are Fredrika Bremer (1801-05), once widely read at home and abroad, and Kiineberg (1804- 77), a strong rival of Tegngr for the first place of lionor in the whole Swedish Parnassus. Some- what later come Topelius (1818-98), best known for his novels of Finnish history, and Rydberg (1829-95), eminent as poet, novelist, and trans- lator of Goethe's Faust. The newer realism is most conspicuously represented by Strindberg (1849 — ), and recent poetry by Count Snoilsky (1841-1903). BiBi,ioGR.pnY. A good anthology of Old Swedish will be found in Noreen's" All.sdiuc- dischcs Lcschuch (Halle. 1892-94), and of the en- tire literature (to 1830) in the Liisebol: i sicnsk litteruliir of Hildebrand, Bergstadt, and Bendix- son (Stockholm, 1897-98). The old laws have been edited by Sehlyter, much of the religious mediajval literature by Klemming. See also the publications of the Sven.ilcn. Fornskriftssallska- pet. Of older works on the history of literature the best are Wieselgren. Si-rrifies .'•■Jciina litteratur (Lund, 1833-49) ; and Malmstrom, Gruiukhagen af svenska vitterlielens hislnn'a ((irebo. lS(i6- 69). The best work up to date is the lUustrated svensk litteratur-historia of Schiick and War- burg (Stockholm, 1896 et seq.). SWEDISH MOVEMENT. See Movejient Cl-RE. SWEDISH MUSIC. See Scandinaviaw IMusic. SWEDISH NIGHTINGALE. A popular name given to the Swedish singer .lenny Lind. SWEETfY, TiioMA.s William (1820-92). An American soldier, born at Cork, Ireland. He came to the United States in his boyhood ; in 1846 enlisted as second lieutenant in Burnett's Xew York Volunteers, and fought under General .''cott in Mexico. At the outbreak of the Civil War he w,as in command of the arsenal at Saint Louis, Mo. In reply to efforts of Confederate sympathizers to induce him to surrender that important post he declared that before he would do so he would blow it up. As second in com-