Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - Introduction
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
INTRODUCTION
xxiii
ful poem, his War-Song for the Seaman Reserves, a
stirring dithyramb which gained him nation-wide
popularity. In 1810 he was made lecturer in Greek at Lund, and
the next year he followed up his War-Song with another
patriotic poem, Svea, which won the coveted prize of the
Swedish Academy. In the same year arose the Gotiska
Forbundet, or Gothic League, an organization of zealous
young men of letters, who took patriotic pride in the study
of Old Norse literature and culture, in opposition to those
writers, the " Phosphorists," who looked to France for
inspiration. Tegner soon became head of the club, and, with
other notable members, like Geijer, Afzelius, and
Nican-der, made its power felt in literature. The following year
he was appointed professor of Greek at Lund and pastor
of Stafvie and Lackalange, two neighboring towns. This
was not a strange combination of offices, for it was not
then unusual in Sweden to give a professor
ecclesiastical preferment if he could discharge the attendant duties
without absenting himself from the university. Tegner
never regarded his posts as sinecures, and strove to be a
true friend of the peasants in his parishes. In 1819 he was
elected a member of the Swedish Academy. In 1820 he
wrote his famous Nattvardsbarnen (Children of the Lorets
Supper) and started Frithiofs Saga. The first nine cantos
of the latter appeared in the periodical Iduna, the official
publication of the Gothic League, and won immediate
applause. Meanwhile Tegner had composed numerous
brief lyrics, and in 1822 published Axel, a patriotic poem
based on events in the Russian war, and five more cantos
of Frithiofs Saga. In 1825 the entire Saga was issued.
Throughout Europe he was now acclaimed by critics,
Goethe among them, as a great poet. In his own country
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
