Gustaf Fröding

Born Aug. 22, 1860, in Alster, near Karlstad, Värmland; died Feb. 8, 1911, in Gröndal, Stockholm. Swedish poet and publicist.

Fröding studied at the University of Uppsala. In his collections Guitar and Concertina (1891) and New Poems (1894), folklore motifs and realistic portrayals of peasant life occupy an important place. Mystical motifs and a tragic perception of the world typify such collections as Splashes and Rags (1896). Fröding’s poetry, which is linked to neoromanticism, greatly influenced 20th-century Swedish poetry. In the critical essays “Naturalism and Romanticism” and “On Humor” Fröding rejected naturalism.