In his _Children of the Lord's Supper_, so beautifully translated for
us by Longfellow, Tegnér conveyed a true image of Sweden's religious
life. The scene in the country church, decked out with flowers and
evergreens for the solemn ceremony, the rustic boys and girls bowing
and curtseying as they make their responses before the assembled
congregation, and the attitude and words of the patriarchal pastor are
all true to life. The somewhat declamatory tone of the oration is not
less consistent with the character of the rural parson, the trend of
Swedish religious thought, and the solemnity associated with these
occasions.

It was in his patriotic war-songs, however, that Tegnér roused the
greatest enthusiasm. His _Svea_, his dithryambic declamation _King
Charles_, and his _Scanean Reserves_, sent a thrill through young and
old. When _Svea_ was read at the Swedish Academy, which awarded the
poem its gold medal, the friends and opponents of Tegnér alike were
moved to undisguised admiration. In breadth and intrinsic power, and
in the beauty of its rythm, which seems to echo the clash of arms and
the marching of masses, this poem is unequalled in Swedish literature.
Tegnér's name soon became known far beyond the limits of the lands
where his language is understood. His works were translated into
almost all modern tongues, so that some fifty different translations
of the whole or parts of his poems now exist in eleven European
languages.

A new feature was introduced into Swedish poetry by Runeberg. Although
born of Swedish parents, he was brought up in Finland, his mind being
nurtured in the traditions and the mixed racial influences of his new
fatherland. Thus he breathed a new spirit, and a new inspiration,
drawn from the realities of life, into poetical fiction. He was a