Nils Edvard Fredin (8 June 1857 – 27 June 1889) was a Swedish playwright, actor, reviewer, and translator.

Biography

Nils Edvard Fredin, who used the name ''Edvard'', was born in

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

in 1857. The child of an administrator, he was quite sick as a child and quit school during the fifth grade. He continued to study privately, but never learned a trade. He began writing poems as a child, stating that he wished to be a poet. He gained early notoriety as a translator of poems, many of which are collected in a book ''Skilda stämmor'' ("different voices"), published in 1884. He was awarded the "Big Prize" of the

Swedish Academy The Swedish Academy ( sv, Svenska Akademien), founded in 1786 by King Gustav III of Sweden, Gustav III, is one of the Swedish Royal Academies, Royal Academies of Sweden. Its 18 members, who are elected for life, comprise the highest Swedish lang ...

in 1888 for ''Vår Daniel'' ("our Daniel"), a poetic cycle about the march of the minister Daniel Buskovius from Mora to Särna in 1644 with a company of soldiers, taking over the city of Särna without bloodshed. In 1889 Fredin translated the

Marseillaise "La Marseillaise" is the national anthem of France. The song was written in 1792 by Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle in Strasbourg after the declaration of war by France against Austria, and was originally titled "Chant de guerre pour l'Armée du R ...

into Swedish. His most famous translation is, however, the ''Nyårsklockan'' (New Year's Bells), a loose translation published posthumously in 1890 of

Alfred, Lord Tennyson Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson (6 August 1809 – 6 October 1892) was an English poet. He was the Poet Laureate during much of Queen Victoria's reign. In 1829, Tennyson was awarded the Chancellor's Gold Medal at Cambridge for one of his ...

's " Ring Out, Wild Bells" into Swedish.The text of the translation can be found a
Wikisource
(in Swedish) The poem is read aloud at the Skansen museum in Stockholm every year and broadcast by TV and radio. Fredin never married, and died in

Södertälje Södertälje ( , ) is a Urban areas in Sweden, city in Södermanland and Stockholm County, Sweden and seat of Södertälje Municipality. As of 2017, it has 72,704 inhabitants. Södertälje is located at Mälarens confluence in to the Baltic Sea ...

, he is buried outside of Stockholm at the North Cemetery. Two books of his poems were published after his death.

Bibliography

* ''Arbete : dikt''. Stockholm: Bille. 1883. * ''Biltog : drama i fem handlingar''. Stockholm: Bonnier. 1890. * ''Vår Daniel och andra dikter''. Stockholm: Bille. 1889. With J. A. Runström. * ''Om Jerfsö kyrka och hennes reparation : Historik och upplysn:r''. 1889-1895: Falun. 1889-1895. * ''Efterlemnade dikter''. Stockholm: Bonnier. 1890. * ''Stjärnornas mystik : posthuma dikter''. Stockholm: Fröken Anna Fredin. 1920. * ''Över Golgata. Robin Hood serien'', 99-2022701-3. Haparanda: Daisy. 1993. Libris länk.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fredin, Edvard 1857 births 1889 deaths Swedish translators Writers from Stockholm 19th-century Swedish poets 19th-century male writers 19th-century translators