Peter Sjökvist, Poetical Friends – and a Teacher in their Midst

Streszczenie:

Not until the middle of the 16th century authors started to compose Latin poems according to Renaissance standards in Sweden, and the peak, both in quality and quantity, was not reached until the last decades of the 17th century. Almost all is of occasional nature. The intention with my talk is to discuss and contextualize a selection of poetry from four of the most prominent Swedish authors in Latin from the end of the 17th century: Petrus Lagerlöf, Olof Hermelin, Torsten Rudeen and Gunno Eurelius Dahlstierna. These four shared a history that is vital for their literary eminence. They all had their origins in the same part of Sweden, and most importantly had studied at the gymnasium in Karlstad, with Johan Iser as their teacher of Latin eloquence. Three of them became professors of Latin poetry at Swedish universities. At the death of Iser in 1689, some published funeral poetry on him, where they acknowledged his importance for their literary careers. And all through their lives they exchanged occasional poems with each other.