mountain region where nature herself composes noble but wild music, and
where the ancient gods apparently still wander about on winter evenings."
His ancestry went back for several generations through the sturdy bonde
class, though his father was a preacher and his mother the daughter of a
preacher. The father's people dwelt in the province of Småland and the
mother's ancestors had lived in the picturesque province of Värmland. The
future poet was born on the 13 of November, 1782, at Kyrkerud, Värmland,
his father holding a benefice in that province. While he was yet a mere
child of nine the father died and the family was left in poverty. A
friend of the Tegnér family, the judicial officer Branting, gave the
young Esaias a home in his house. The lad soon wrote a good hand and was
given a desk and a high, three-legged chair in the office. Branting took
a fancy to the young clerk and soon fell into the habit of inviting him
to accompany the master upon the many official journeys that had to be
made through the bailiwick. Thus Esaias came to see the glories of nature
in his native province, and deep and lasting impressions were left upon
his mind. His quick imagination was further stirred by the heroic sagas
of the North, in the reading of which he at times became so absorbed that
the flight of the hours or the passing events were entirely unnoticed by
him.

Branting, who had become convinced that his young clerk was by nature
endowed for a much higher station than a lowly clerkship offered,
generously provided Esaias with an opportunity for systematic study. In
1796 he wrote a good friend in whose home an elder brother of Esaias was
then acting as tutor, suggesting that the younger brother be given a home
there also and thus have the advantage of the brother's tutelage. A ready
acquiescence meeting this proposal, Esaias now went to Malma, the home of
Captain Löwenhjelm, and at once plunged into the study of Latin, French
and Greek under the brother's guidance. Independently of the instructor