BOELLMAN Carl Michael (Bellman Karl Mikael)

(1740-1795)
Born Feb. 4, 1740 in Stockholm, in a religious family. Received a good education and seeks to raise the public service. He became known as a poet and singer-songwriter, but he was not well received in the literary community. Books of his best poems were published rather late, he was recognized only in 1790-ies and has since been considered an outstanding Swedish poet.
The first work of Bellman were satirical poems and songs, marked by the influence of Olof von Dalin (1708-1763). Finally he found himself in a parody of contemporary decorations and clubs (The Chapter of the Order of Bacchus - Bachi ordenskapitel). Since 1767 worked on his most important poetic cycle Epistles Fredman (Fredmans epistlar), which was published with a preface by Yu H. Chelgrena in 1790, a year later was followed by a collection of Songs of Fredman (Fredmans snger). For these ballads he composed music, mainly reworking the well-known tunes. Bellman died in Stockholm on February 12, 1795.