Tillfällesdikt och politik i Dagligt Allehanda 1770

Abstract

Occasional Poetry and Politics in Dagligt Allehanda 1770

This article discusses three different examples of occasional poems that deviate from the traditional function and form of the genre. In the late 1760s, Sweden saw the launch of its first daily newspaper, Dagligt Allehanda [The Daily Variety]. During the ensuing decades the content of the newspapers differed from that of today: a large number of poems were included, on average one per day. Traditionally, occasional poetry had a socially preserving function, as it described and reflected ceremonies in the Swedish society of four estates. But the end of the Age of Liberty was a turbulent time in Sweden, socially and politically. The Freedom of Speech Act was passed in 1766 and the periodical press soon became a forum for political discussions in print. It also facilitated a new public sphere, a commoner’s sphere where occasional poetry was employed as a political tool to celebrate people outside the nobility as well as members of other socially and economically successful groups. These new groups required different tropes and virtues; in short, laudation based on a different principles of decorum. The poems and discussions included in this article form examples of how political ideas were introduced into occasional poetry and how the notion of decorum changed when the daily newspapers were used as a public sphere to reach a new and broader audience for the poems.