Ferrysong

Gunnar Ekelöf (1907–1967) is without doubt Sweden’s finest poet of the twentieth century, though he never felt at home in his native Sweden or in France, Greece, and the Middle East, where he also lived. His first collection, Late on the Earth, was published in 1932, but it is in his collection Ferrysong, written during World War II, that one finds the essential Ekelöf, the learned and the wise, the simple and clever, who became the model poet for later generations.

Brita Stendahl, born in Stockholm, Sweden, has taught Scandinavian literature in the Harvard Freshman Seminar program and in the Radcliffe Seminars program. Her books include Søren Kierkegaard (Twayne, 1976), Sabbatical Reflections (Fortress Presss, 1978), The Force Tradition (Fortress Press, 1984), and Fredrika Bremer 1801– 1865 (Mellen Press, 1994).