Johan Henric Kellgren

In 1779, he wrote a poem portraying the young and popular actress Ulrica Rosenblad's funeral, a verse quoted in the press.

[1] From about 1788 a graver feeling pervades Kellgren's verses, owing partly to the influence of Lessing and Goethe, but probably more directly due to his controversy with Thorild.

The best productions of what is called his later period are the satire Ljusets fiender, the comic poem Dumboms lefverne, the warmly patriotic Kantat d. 1.

Jan. 1789, the ode Till Kristina, the fragment Sigwart och Hilma, and the beautiful song Nya skapelsen, both in thought and form the finest of his works.

His earlier efforts, indeed, express the superficial doubt and pert frivolousness characteristic of his time; but in the works of his riper years he is no mere "poet of pleasure," as Thorild contemptuously styled him, but a worthy exponent of earnest moral feeling and wise human sympathies in felicitous and melodious verse.