Erik Karlfeldt (1864-1931)

Swedish poet, master of rhyme and meter, who gained fame with his regional, tradition-bound poetry. Internationally unknown Karlfeldt won the Nobel Prize for Literature posthumously in 1931 – he had refused the honor in 1918 on the grounds of his position as a secretary of the Nobel Committee, and because of the high proportion of Swedish writers who had already received the award. Although Karlfeld's works were widely read in his country, he has also been called one of the most misunderstood writers. He was familiar with French symbolism, used its literary devices, but found his subjects from the traditional rural way of life.

Erik Axel Karlfeldt was born Erik Axel Eriksson in Folkärna in the rural province of Dalarna, central Sweden. His father, Erik Erson, was a lawyer. Anna Jansdotter, Karlfeldt's mother, was a devout Lutheran. Christian images also became part of the the poet's lyrical world. Shortly after entering the University of Uppsala, Karlfeldt's father suffered a financial ruin, and died soon after. In 1889 Erik Axel started to use the name Karlfeldt. While supporting himself as a teacher, Karlfeldt completed his university studies and graduated in 1902. He worked as a librarian at the Academy of Agriculture at Stockholm from 1903 to 1912 and secretary of Swedish Academy after the death of Carl David af Wirsén in 1912; since 1904 he had been its member. 'Till en sekreterare' is Karlfeldt's self-ironic poem on the appointement.

Karlfeldt's early works were influenced by Gustaf Fröding and the popular movement in Sweden which idolized simple life in the countryside. As a writer he started his career with VILDMARKS- OCH KÄRLEKSVISOR (1895), a group of romantic lyrics, which did not gain much attention. In these poems Karlfeldt depicted milieu, in which literature or academic learning did not play significant role. The collection is opened by 'Fäderna', a homage to his rural traditions, in which he said: "And should any poem of mine recall / The surge of the storm, the cataract's fall, / Some thought with a manly ring / A lark's note, the glow of the heath, sohehow, / Or the sigh of the woodland vast, – / You sang in silence through ages past / That song by your cart and your plough." (from Anthology of Swedish Lyrics from 1750 to 1915 by Charles Wharton Stork, 1917) Vildmarks was followed by so-called Fridolin collections, FRIDOLINS VISOR (1898) and FRIDOLINS LUSTGÅRD (1901). Fridolin, the title character, served as the poet's alter ego and his ideal – a fictionalized bachelor poet who returns to his rural heritage. "My muse dwelleth not on Parnassus, / Her home is on Purse-Maker's Nest. / Like sunset the cheek of the lass is, / When eve soothes the valley to rest." (from 'Prelude' to Fridolin's Pleasure-Garden, trans. Charles W. Stork) Although a simple peasant, Fridolin displayes deep learning. He discusses with peasant as a peasant, but uses latin with scholars. Comparisons have been made between Fridolin and Bellman's Fredman, to the advantage of the latter.

Another figure, 'Löserkarlen' (The Vagrant), represented uprootedness, another side of the poet, for whom the death of his father had been a shock. 'Dalmålningar' was inspired by naïve church paintings from his home region in Dalarna. 'Häxorna' series was based on a witch trial, which also the Nobel writer Eyvind Johnson described in his book Drömmar om rosor och eld. In England Aldous Huxley used the same French source in The Devils of Loudun (1952).

Karlfeldt's lyrics are characterized by purposely archaic style and influences from folklore and custom. Old names and words appear frequently in his poems, as in 'Nattyxne'. The title refers to a species of orchids (Butterfly Orchid), which was considered an aphrodisiac and was used in love potions. "Öfver dig, yxne, älskogsört, / susade Veneris flyende skört, / daggen som lopp af den hvita foten / göt dig i roten / sin vårliga vört." Karlfeldt was especially interested in Swedish baroque poetry – a period during which Sweden enjoyed the position of an European superpower. Dominating themes are nature and love, as in general in poetry at that time. FLORA OCH POMONA (1906) contains his most enduring work, in which the love themes and the nature motifs are deeply interwoven. Karlfeldt's use of concrete images to express an emotion or an abstract concept owed much to ideas developed by French Symbolist poets. In his last collection of verse, HÖSTHORN (1927), Karlfeldt took his subjects from the past and his rural background, expressing in 'Höstpsalm' his reconciliation of life and death.
 
In FLORA AND BELLONA (1918) Karlfeldt enlarged his themes – often poets write about experiences that are personal and universal at the same time, but in this collection he referred to contemporary issues. Bellona in the title of the book was the goddess of war. The figure was far from the usual attributes of Sweden – a neutral country during World War I. Karlfedt's darkening mood was not born from his war experiences; by nature he was a recluse. The values of industrial civilization, urbanism, dynamism, the cult of speed, which the Italian futurists extolled, and radio and jazz music, made him feel uncomfortable with his own time. "I am a stranger from far away," he once wrote. Karlfeldt rejected Communism and American materialism and saw that his world is doomed: "O Fridolin, din sång är tömd / och dömd och glömd också." Some critics did not approve Karlfeldt's deeply-rooted conservatism and pessimism, and he eventually lost his contact with modern literary trends. Although Karlfeldt was often restricted in expressing his inner feeling, he revealed his religious belief in the poem 'Sjukdom' (Sickness) in Flora och Bellona. He had been seriously ill in 1913, which made him study his beliefs more confessionally than in the earlier works.

In 1916 Karlfeldt married Gerda Ottilia Holmberg; they had four children. The marriage also calmed his vagrant soul. Karlfeldt published relatively little journalistic writings and he did not participate in contemporary literary discussion, except through his poems. Karlfeldt's prose works include the funeral address for the Swedish poet Gustaf Fröding, and his Nobel Prize presentation address to Sinclair Lewis. Karlfeldt died in Stockholm on April 8, 1931. His poetry have not been translated widely, although in Nordic countries his poems have appeared in different anthologies. The Finnish composer Jean Sibelius has set to music one of Karlfeldt's poems, 'Fridolins dårskap'. In 1938 Charles Warton Stork translated a selection of his verse under the title Arcadia Borealis. The literary association, Karlfeldt-samfundet, have published studies on his works.