Portrait of Verner von Heidenstam

Verner von Heidenstam (July 6, 1859 – May 20, 1940) was a Swedish poet and novellist, a laureate of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1916. He was a member of the Swedish Academy from 1912. Most of his works are passionate depictions of Swedish character, life and traditions, often from a clearly patriotic point of view.

He was born in Olshammar to a noble family. He studied paintings in the Academy of Stockholm, but soon left to travel longly in Europe, Africa and Eastern countries. His work Vallfart och vandringsår (Pilgrimage: the Wander Years, 1888) is a collection of poems inspired by his experiences in the Eastern travels, and marks an abandon of naturalism then dominant in Swedish literature.

His love for beauty is showed also by the allogeorical novel Hans Alienus (1892). Dikter ("Poems", 1895) and Karolinerna (The Charles Men, 2 vols., 1897-1898), an historical novel, shows a strong nationalistic passion. The two volumes of Folkunga Trädet (The Tree of the Folkungs, 1905-07) are the inspired, epic story of a clan of Swede chieftains in the Middle Ages.

His poetical collection Nya Dikter, published in 1915, deals with phylosophical themes, mainly concerning the elevation of man to a better humanity from solitude. He died at his home Övralid in 1940.

Works

• Från Col di Tenda till Blocksberg (1888)
• Vallfart och vandringsår (1888)
• Renässans (1889)
• Endymion (1889, novel)
• Hans Alienus (1892)
• Dykter (1895)
• Karolinerna (The Charles Men, 1897-98, novel)
• Sankt Göran och draken (1900)
• Heliga Birgittas pilgrimsfärd (Saint Bridget's Pilgrimage, 1901)
• Ett folk (1902)
• Skogen susar (The Forest Whispers, 1904)
• Folkunga Trädet (The Tree of the Folkungs, 2 volumes, 1905-1907)
• Svenskarna och deras hövdingar (1910, historical lectures)
• Nya Dikter (1915).

See also

• List of Swedish language writers
• List of Swedish language poets
• Oscar Levertin