Vilhelm Ekelund was a Swedish poet

Poet

A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...

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The works of Ekelund were influenced by Friedrich Hölderlin

Friedrich Hölderlin

Johann Christian Friedrich Hölderlin was a major German lyric poet, commonly associated with the artistic movement known as Romanticism. Hölderlin was also an important thinker in the development of German Idealism, particularly his early association with and philosophical influence on his...

, Friedrich Nietzsche

Friedrich Nietzsche

Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche was a 19th-century German philosopher, poet, composer and classical philologist...

, and Emanuel Swedenborg

Emanuel Swedenborg

was a Swedish scientist, philosopher, and theologian. He has been termed a Christian mystic by some sources, including the Encyclopædia Britannica online version, and the Encyclopedia of Religion , which starts its article with the description that he was a "Swedish scientist and mystic." Others...

. His early career was lyrical, and though not widely recognized at the time, his poetic work, almost wholly produced in the first decade of the century, became a formative influence on many later Swedish poets. His grasp of rhythmic and musical qualities in verse and his concentrated imagery propelled his poetry into increasingly ambitious forms, soon moving from bound to free verse, and making it a vital model for later writers such as Karin Boye

Karin Boye

was a Swedish poet and novelist.- Career :Boye was born in Gothenburg , Sweden and moved with her family to Stockholm in 1909. She studied at Uppsala University from 1921 to 1926 and debuted in 1922 with a collection of poems, "Clouds"...

, Erik Lindegren

Erik Lindegren

J. Erik Lindegren was a Swedish author, poet, critical writer and member of the Swedish Academy . Grandson of composer Johan Lindegren....

, Gunnar Björling and others.

From 1907, after a passionate love affair with Amelie Posse

Amelie Posse

Amelie Posse was a Swedish author. She is also known for her work against nazism during World War II.Amelie Posse was the daughter of Baron Fredrik Arvidsson Posse and Auda Gunhild Wennerberg...

 and an increasing conviction that poetry was an unsatisfactory, vain medium, he turned away from poems and devoted himself to essays and aphoristic prose

Aphorism

An aphorism is an original thought, spoken or written in a laconic and memorable form.The term was first used in the Aphorisms of Hippocrates...

in a highly personal and sometimes near impenetrable style.

Works

• Melodier i skymning ("Melodies at Dusk", 1902)
• Havets stjärna ("Star of the Sea", 1906)
• Antikt ideal ("The Ancient Ideal", 1909)
• Böcker och vandringar ("Books and Wanderings", 1910)
• På havsstranden ("On the Sea Shore", 1922)