Nils Ferlin (11 December 1898 – 21 October 1961) was a Swedish poet and lyricist.

Biography

thumb|Ferlin (right) and [[Finland|Finnish poet Elmer Diktonius in Helsinki, 1936.]]

Nils Ferlin was born in Karlstad, Värmland, where his father worked at Nya Wermlands-Tidningen. In 1908, the family moved to Filipstad, and his father started his own newspaper. His father passed away the following year, and the family relocated from their comfortable home to a modest dwelling in the industrial district so that Ferlin could complete his education. He graduated at the age of sixteen.

Ferlin had a minor career as an actor and debuted at the age of seventeen in Salomé by Oscar Wilde. He continued his career with a traveling theater company.

Although many of Ferlin's poems are melancholic, they are not without humor. Several were set to music and became popular songs such as En valsmelodi, an attack on the music industry.

Several statues of Nils Ferlin have been erected in Sweden: one in Filipstad of him sitting on a park bench, one in the Karlstad city square of him standing on a table, and one near Klara kyrka in Stockholm of him lighting a cigarette. Fred Lane, Thord Fredenholm

Bibliography

  • 1930 En döddansares visor (Songs of a death dancer)
  • 1933 Barfotabarn (Barefoot children)
  • 1937 Lars och Lisa i Stockholm (Lars and Lisa in Stockholm)
  • 1938 Goggles
  • 1944 Med många kulörta lyktor (With plenty of colored lanterns)
  • 1951 Kejsarens papegoja (The emperor's parrot)
  • 1957 Från mitt ekorrhjul (From my squirrel wheel)

See also

  • Swedish ballad tradition

References

thumb|150px|Statue of Nils Ferlin in [[Stockholm]]

Swedish

  • Nils Ferlin sällskapet
  • Nils Ferlin at Swedish music and film.
  • Cirkusartisten som blev vår folkkäraste poet

English

  • Nils Ferlin at the Internet Archive.

Translations

  • Couplet and other poems

Videos

  • Song begins at 8:36 of medley.
  • Song begins at 7:42 of medley.