The directory «Plots»

Dalin Olof von
(1708–1763)

Olof von Dalin, the Swedish poet, was born on 29 August 1708 in the parish of Vinberg in Halland, where his father was the minister. He was closely related to Andreas Rydelius, the philosophical bishop of Lund, and he was sent at a very early age to be instructed by him – Linnaeus being one of his fellow-pupils.

While studying at Lund University in 1723, Dalin visited Stockholm, and in 1726 he entered into public office there. Under the patronage of Baron Claes Rålamb he rapidly rose to favour, and his skill and intelligence won him a golden reputation. In 1733 he started the weekly Svenska Argus, on the model of Joseph Addison's The Spectator, writing anonymously till 1736. His next work was Tankar öfver Critiquer (“Thoughts about Critics”, 1736).

With the avowed purpose of enlarging the horizons of his cultivation and tastes, Dalin set off, in the company of his pupil, Baron Rålamb's son, on a tour through Germany and France, in 1739-1740. Upon his return, the shifting political life at home caused him to write his famous satirical allegories, The Story of the Horse and Aprilverk (1738), that were very popular and inspired countless imitations.

His didactic epos of Svenska Friheten (“Swedish Liberty”) appeared in 1742. Hitherto, Addison and Alexander Pope had been his models; in this work he draws his inspiration from Thomson, whose poem, Liberty, he emulated.

On the accession of Adolphus Frederick in 1751, Dalin received the post of Tutor to the crown prince – afterwards Gustavus III. He had enjoyed the confidence of Queen Louisa Ulrika, sister of Frederick the Great of Prussia, while she was crown princess, and she now made him secretary of the Swedish Academy of Letters, founded by her in 1753.

His position at court involved him in the queen's political intrigues, and separated him to a vexatious degree from the studies wherein he had hitherto been absorbed. He held the post of Tutor to the crown prince until 1756, when he was arrested on suspicion of taking part in the attempted coup d'état that year, and was tried for his life before the diet. He was acquitted, but was forbidden to show himself at court on any pretense. This period of exile, lasting until 1761, Dalin spent in the preparation of the third volume of his great historical work, the Svea Rikes historia (“History of the Swedish Kingdom”), that related events up to the death of Charles IX in 1611. The first two volumes appeared in 1746-1750; the third, in two parts, in 1760-1762.

Dalin had been made a noble in 1751, and made privy councillor in 1753; and now, in 1761, he once more took his place at court. During his exile, however, his spirit and his health had been broken; in a fit of panic, he had destroyed some manuscripts of his best unpublished works, and this he constantly brooded over. On 12 August 1763, he died at his house in Drottningholm.

In the year 1767, his writings in belles lettres were issued in six volumes, edited by J. C. Bökman, his half brother. Amid an enormous mass of occasional verses, anagrams, epigrams, impromptus and the like, his satires and serious poems were almost buried. But some of these former, even, are found to be songs of remarkable grace and delicacy, and many display a love of natural scenery, and a knowledge of its forms, that is truly remarkable in that artificial age.

His dramas are also of interest, particularly his admirable comedy of Den afvundsjuke (“The Envious Man”, 1738); he also wrote a tragedy, Brynilda (1759), and a pastoral in three scenes upon King Adolphus Frederick's return from Finland. During the early part of his life, he was universally admitted to be facile princeps among the Swedish poets of his time.

Sweden, 2008, Letter D

Sweden, 2008, Illustration from Svenska Argus

Sweden, 2008.01.24, Falkenberg. Olof von Dalin