DALIN, OLOF VON

(1708-1763)

   A Swedish essayist and poet, Dalin is his country's most important Enlightenment figure. The son of a minister and educated at Lund University, he did not get a degree but was asked to serve as a private tutor to a noble family. For two years he also wrote the content for and anonymously published a journal called Then Swanska Argus (1732-1734; The Swedish Argus), much in the style of Joseph Addison and Richard Steele's The Tatler (1709-1711) and The Spectator (1711-1714). Like an argus, a giant with many eyes in Greek mythology, Dalin's journal was to see things of importance and bring them to the attention of the readers in well-formed and clever essays.The style was satirical and at times a bit chatty; the attitude behind it was witty and urbane.

   His work with the Argus gave Dalin an important position in Swedish society and letters. He first became the royal librarian and later the tutor of Crown Prince Gustav, the future king Gustav III. When a theater named the Swedish Comedy was formed in 1737, he contributed two plays to its repertoire, a comedy entitled Den afvund-siuke (1738; tr. Envy, 1876) and the tragedy Brynhilda (1738), a reworking of Old Norse material.

   Dalin's most enduring prose work is the brief Sagan om hasten (1740; The Tale of the Horse), an allegory of the relationship between Sweden and its kings. He wrote an elegy at the death of Queen Ulrika Eleonora, Swenska friheten (1742; Swedish Liberty), and he produced satires, pastorals, and a large amount of occasional poetry. Although not trained in history, Dalin spent the years 1747-1762 writing a Swedish history in four volumes.