Arcadia Borealis

by Erik Axel Karlfeldt, Charles Wharton Stork (Editor, Translator)

Arcadia Borealis was first published in 1938. Minnesota Archive Editions uses digital technology to make long-unavailable books once again accessible, and are published unaltered from the original University of Minnesota Press editions.

The specimens of Karlfeldt's lyrics here presented are from the six volumes published during his lifetime, dating from 1895 to 1927 and from a posthumous collection of 1934. The grouping is under the various moods of the poems rather than under their dates or subjects. All the narrative pieces have been included, together with a disproportionately large number of the "Dalecarlian Frescoes in Rhyme." For the rest, an attempt has been made to represent every aspect of Karlfeldt's interest and thought.

Genres: Nobel Prize, Poetry

162 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1938

About the author

Posthumously awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1931 for "the poetry of Erik Axel Karlfeldt." (He had refused the Prize in 1918.)

Reviews

[Schehani · Rating 4 out of 5]

Selected Poems (a translation) by Erik Axel K., a popular, well known, Nobel laureate Swedish Poet, was,worth a read for those who happen to have poetic interest in nature, beauty and death.

Erik Axel belonged to late 19th- early 20th century. He came from a rural family and, then despite odds, went on to go to university. He later went on to become Secretary of Nobel Committee. He refused prize while he was in office. However, in 1931, he was awarded Nobel posthumously for his innovative poetry n contribution to Swedish literature.

Erik Axel composed verses with aesthetic sense of nature and beauty. He used to loudly sing his verses. The secret of his popularity as,a poet perhaps lies in the fact that most of his verses are melodious and can be sung with music.

The simplicity of genres and language used by him, is simply outstanding. His choice of words is really mesmerising and captivating.

[Old Man JP · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very nice collection of lyrical poems. The book I read is, also, beautifully illustrated with colorful folksy woodcuts. Some of the poems that stood out most to me are:
"My Forefathers" A tribute to the long line of unnamed individuals who worked the fields in the past.
"Minstrel Songs" About a young fiddler, written in a very musical manner.
"The Mirror of Life" Written in two parts. The first titled The Man is about the glory and splendor of life seen through young eyes and the second part titled The Old Man is about remembering the past and an awareness of the end nearing.
"Winter Leisure" Sitting by a warm fire as winter rages outside.

[Dolf van der Haven · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nobel Prize in Literature 1918 and 1931.
The only person to win the Nobel prize in Literature twice declined it first (because he was a member of the Swedish Academy at the time) and died before he could pick up his prize on the second occasion. No luck either way.
His works are extremely hard to find (at least in translation), so thanks archive.org for making some bits of it available. Arcadia Borealis is partly available in one of the Swedish Academy's collections of Nobel Prize winners.
The poetry itself, if technically good, is hopelessly romantic, focusing on the Swedish countryside and Greek and Roman mythology. The translation doesn't help either, putting every poem into plain rhyme.

[Ali Nazifpour · Rating 3 out of 5]

Erik Axel Karlfeldt is an inexplicable Nobel laureate in my mind, not because I think his poetry is bad, just because it's hard for me to believe there weren't more deserving options available. His poems are inoffensive, light reading. They're mostly about nature or rural life and sometimes about love. They're mostly jovial and tender. But in the end they're like works of a forgettable 19th century poet who feels outdated for someone in the early 20th century. I can't say anything bad about his poems but I also didn't find anything outstanding and I'm pretty sure in two weeks I'll forget all of them.

[Eduardo Ramos · Rating 1 out of 5]

Maybe it is the unbelievable English translation, but this has to be the worst Nobel ever: mock-archaic Romanticism with exclamation marks aplenty, northern lights, dawns, dusks, raindrops, Biblical namedropping and disparaging references to the ways of womenfolk, what was it all for?

[Elibardo Villegas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book, beautiful, simple and brilliant poetry.

[S Cearley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Occasional flashes of depth are most likely marred by being of the time as well as a translation focused more on meter and rhyme than meaning and structure.

[Michael Pennington · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very Swedish but ultimately very beautiful.

[Lisajean · Rating 4 out of 5]

Erik Karlfeldt won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1931 for "the poetry."

That's quite a flat rationale for the usually effusive Nobel committee. Karlfeldt is #66/121 on my Nobel laureate reading challenge and, while I don't think he's up to the general standard of the prize, I did like his poetry. It didn't feel particularly deep or complex, but it was pretty, and the simplicity of the language and images was effective.

[Valerie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eh. I know this guy was very popular in his day, so I'm going to go out on a limb and say these poems just don't translate well. At least this translation, which retains the meter and rhyme did not strike me as anything special.

As far as content the first half of this collection was outrageously naive and the second half was barely less so. I liked a few of the poems from "Flower and Dove" and a few near the end about seasons.

[William Romsek · Rating 5 out of 5]

This may be a bit of an overreaction to my struggle with a lot of the Nobel Laureate poets, but I found this collection by the Swedish poet to be very accessible and moving. I can only attribute this to the translation by Charles Wharton Stork.