''Non Serviam'' is a 1945 poetry collection by the Swedish writer

Gunnar Ekelöf Bengt Gunnar Ekelöf (15 September 1907, in Stockholm – 16 March 1968, in Sigtuna) was a Swedish poet and writer. He was a member of the Swedish Academy from 1958 and was awarded an honorary doctorate in philosophy by Uppsala University in 1958. ...

. The title comes from the Christian phrase "

Non serviam ''Non serviam'' is Latin for "I will not serve". The phrase is traditionally attributed to Satan, who is thought to have spoken these words as a refusal to serve God in heaven. Today "non serviam" is also used or referred to as motto by a nu ...

", which is Latin for "I will not serve" and is attributed to

Lucifer Lucifer is one of various figures in folklore associated with the planet Venus. The entity's name was subsequently absorbed into Christianity as a name for the devil. Modern scholarship generally translates the term in the relevant Bible passage ...

. In the poems Ekelöf criticises the contemporary political climate of Sweden; in the titular poem he describes himself as "a stranger in this land", and in the satirical poem "Till de folkhemske" he ironizes the concept of

Folkhemmet ''Folkhemmet'' (, "the people's home") is a political concept that played an important role in the history of the Swedish Social Democratic Party and the Swedish welfare state. It is also sometimes used to refer to the long period between 193 ...

. Non Serviam includes three of Ekelöf's greatest poems: ''

Samothrace Samothrace (also known as Samothraki, el, Σαμοθράκη, ) is a Greek island in the northern Aegean Sea. It is a municipality within the Evros regional unit of Thrace. The island is long and is in size and has a population of 2,859 (2011 ...

'', ''Gymnosofisten'' ( the Gymnosophist) and ''

Absentia animi is Latin for absence. , a legal term, is Latin for "in the absence" or "while absent". may also refer to: * Award in absentia * Declared death in absentia, or simply, death in absentia, legally declared death without a body * Election in absen ...

''. A sculpture by Ernst Nordin, with the name Non Serviam, stands at

Malmskillnadsgatan Malmskillnadsgatan (Swedish: "The Ridge Dividing Street") is a 650-metre long street in central Stockholm, Sweden. It stretches northward from the Brunkebergstorg square over Hamngatan; crosses Mäster Samuelsgatan and Oxtorgsgatan; passes ...

25 in Stockholm since 1980, and features the first four lines of Ekelöf's poem.

References

{{reflist 1945 poetry books Swedish poetry collections Albert Bonniers Förlag books