Modern Swedish - Late Modern Swedish

Late Modern Swedish

Late Modern Swedish is considered to have begun in 1732 when Olof von Dalin published the weekly publication "The Swedish Argus" in Stockholm. It dealt with current events in Sweden, mainly Stockholm with its population of 50,000, in a publicly appealing way. Often it used irony and satire to portray royalty and other notable people.

This popular style characterizes the entire period. Bellman was a Stockholm poet of the late 18th century whose poetry represented the drinking habits of the time.

In 1825 a professor of Lund University and later Bishop of Växjö, Esaias Tegnér, published Fritiof's Saga, a Viking epic directed to a general audience. It gained great popularity and was later set to music and sung in the homes of the Swedish middle class. It was reprinted several times in the 19th century, up until the 1880s when the newer realistic poetry set the mark with names such as Strindberg.