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IV. EDUCATION AND MENTAL CULTURE IN SWEDEN.
The French influence, which had begun to assert itself during the Era of
Liberty, reached its summit during the reign of Gwttavus III (born 1746,
reigning 1771/92), one of the »enlightened» rulers of this era. Gustavus III was
French in his education and inclinations, and during his reign French ideas and
French taste were dominant. But, though the culture was foreign, nevertheless its
tendencies were at the bottom Swedish, and the poets most frequently treated
patriotic subjects, even if the style showed signs of foreign impulse. Taking
the French Academy as a model, the King founded the Swedish Academy and
entrusted to its members the task of devoting themselves to rhetoric and poetry,
as well as to the cultivation of the language. Gustavus III above all took an
interest in the drama, and, jointly with his protégés among the poets, wrote several
dramas and opera librettos. Chief among these co-workers of the King was
J. H. Kellgren (1751/95) who, beside Gustavus III, is the most typical
representative of his period. By his study of French literature Kellgren had gained a
strong sense of form, hence, his poetic style is unusually perfect. Like a true
follower of Voltaire, he was a champion for civilization and humanity, and with the
sharp weapons of satire he fearlessly combated in his newspaper »Stockholmsposten»
all forms of ignorance, brutality, and superstition. All kinds of prejudice, all
egotism, and all abuse of power found in him an enemy ever on the alert.
Although Kellgren was French by education, there was nevertheless a Germanic
trait in him which could not be entirely effaced; and especially in his later
poetry, a depth of feeling and tender sincerity show that this pre-eminent
mastermind of his time had finally perceived the hollowness of an onesided intellectual
enlightenment.
K. G. af Leopold (1756/1829), the contemporary and fellow-poet of Kellgren,
was possibly superior to him in genius. Leopold’s poem-letters, tales, and odes are
more elegant in form than Kellgren’s, but lack their warmth of feeling and their
enthusiasm. In Anna Maria Lenngren (1755/1817), the third propagator of
the ideas of this era, it is difficult to decide which to admire most — her noble
heart or her mordant satire. Her strength lies in delicate genre-portrayal.
In opposition to Voltaire’s philosophical ideas, a school arose, represented in
France by J. J. Rousseau and in Germany by the »Sturm und Drang» authors. T.
Thorild (1759/1808) was the champion for this tendency in Sweden; he advocates
with enthusiasm the rights of feeling and of nature and in a powerful, though often
exaggerated way points out the limited perspective of the Franco-classic taste.
He also insists on the consanguinity which unites our people with the English and
the Germans, and which ought to induce us to take our models from them in
the first place. Nevertheless, Thorild was too obscure and paradoxical an exponent
and not a sufficiently true poet to be able to vanquish the old school. Likewise
was B. Lidner (1759/93), a poet of kindred spirit, a personality too weak and
too irregular of habit to be able to perform such a task, though possessing an
unusually rich, but unrestrained imagination.
For the space of a few years after the death of Gustavus III the French
academical school ruled supreme over polite literature, and poetry degenerated into
abstract formalism without any corresponding emotional contents, a circumstance
which proves that this tendency of the poetic taste had already had its best days.
But there was a crop of gifted poets even during this period, though, their
individuality and originality could not fully develop or mature under the sway of the
Academy. Such was the case with the two Bishops F. M. Franzén (1772 1847)
and J. O. Wallin (1779/1839). Franzén, a gentle and ardent spirit, created a
simple, purely idyllic lyric, limpid, translucent as a crystal spring, innocent as
the eyes of a child, and wistfully eager of celestial purity. Wallin, whose
temperament was stronger and more gloomy, is the greatest hymnologist of our
country; his principal work is the hymnbook of 1819, still in use.
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