Bertel Gripenberg

Bertel Johan Sebastian, Baron Gripenberg (19 September 1878 in Saint Petersburg – 6 May 1947) was a Finland-Swedish poet. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature fourteen times.

Career His early poetry was inspired by fin de siècle eroticism, which was followed by an interest in ethics in the poetry published between 1908 and 1917. After that came a more militaristic and political period, in collections such as Under fanan (1918), Efter striden (1925) and Den stora tiden (1928). In a fourth and last period Gripenberg's poetry became more introspective.

Gripenberg's 1925 poetry collection Den hemliga glöden, published under the pseudonym Åke Erikson, is a parody of modernist poetry. He also translated English and Finnish works into Swedish. Among his more prominent translations are Johannes Linnankoski's novel The Song of the Blood-Red Flower and Edgar Lee Masters' Spoon River Anthology.

From an early age Gripenberg had a disdain for egalitarian thought and parliamentary democracy, and participated on the White side in the Finnish Civil War. His 1918 poem "Den drömda armén" (The dreamed army) has been interpreted as a prediction of the Winter War. He joined the Lapua Movement but looked down on the Fascist and National Socialist movements which he found to be plebeian. Regardless he enthusiastically supported Germany in the Second World War. He participated in the Peasant March to Helsinki in the summer of 1930, but after that rarely took part in any public political activity.

Selected works

Poetry 1903 – Dikter 1904 – Vida vägar 1905 – Gallergrinden 1907 – Rosenstaden 1908 – Svarta sonetter 1909 – Drifsnö 1911 – Aftnar i Tavastland 1918 – Under fanan 1922 – Kanonernas röst 1923 – Efter striden 1925 – Den hemliga glöden (under the pseudonym Åke Erikson) 1925 – Skymmande land 1928 – Den stora tiden 1930 – Vid gränsen 1933 – Livets eko 1941 – Sista ronden 1947 – Genom gallergrinden (posthumous)

Prose and drama 1909 – Vid mörkrets portar 1910 – Det brinnande landet 1918 – En dröm om folkviljan 1925 – På Dianas vägar

Accolades 1913 – Tollanderska priset 1916 – De Nios Stora Pris 1930 – De Nios Stora Pris 1940 – De Nios Stora Pris