- Birger Sjöberg
Birger Sjöberg (
December 6 ,1885 -April 30 ,1929 ) was a modern Swedishpoet and songwriter.Originally a journalist, Sjöberg wrote songs in his spare time. His first collection "Frida's Book" (Fridas bok, 1922) was extremely popular. After initiating a series of concert tours, he withdrew from public life and focused on poetry and prose writing.After his death in 1929, a new series of songs (1929) and a selection of poems were published.
Works
*"Fridas bok", 1922, poetry
*"Kvartetten som sprängdes", parts 1 and 2, 1924, novel
*"Kriser och kransar", 1926, poetry
*"Fridas andra bok", 1929, poetry
*"Minnen från jorden", 1940, poetry
*"Syntaxupproret", 1955, poetry
*"Fridas tredje bok", 1956, poetry
*"Samlade dikter", 1973, collected poetry
*"Samlade visor", 1981, collected song lyricsHis works in English
*Anthology Of Swedish Lyrics (1930) - (trans. by Charles Wharton Stork)
*Modern Swedish Poetry Part 2 (1936) - (trans. by C.D. Locock)
*Scandinavian Songs And Ballads (1950) - (trans. by Helen Asbury)
*20th Century Scandinavian Poetry (1950) - (trans. by Helen Asbury and Martin S. Allwood)
*12 Pieces From Frida’s Book (1975) - (trans. by Michael Roberts)
*LP: When First I Ever Saw You (1980) - (trans. by Tom Fletcher and Michael Roberts)His life in English
*A History of Swedish Literature (1961) - (Alrik Gustafson)
*A History of Swedish Literature (1989) - (Ingemar Algulin)
*A History of Swedish Literature (1996) - (Lars G. Warme)
= Frida Cleans House= :Something angel-like you may be certain, :Makes a halo round my Frida's head, :When behind the Spring's new flowered curtain :Swift and light I hear her busy tread. :Never crashing with a din dismaying, :Soft she goes as rushes' whispered song. :Yet she does not stand, as is the saying, :On the social ladder's highest rung.:
:How she makes a thing of grace and beauty :Of a task so worldly, I'm afraid :Science must explain, for that's a duty, :Loving her so much, I must evade. :With her brimming pail she kneels to scour; :Then she dries the prisms round the light. :Dainty as a butterfly or flower, :Gentle as the wavelet gleaming bright.:
:Winter's padding from the windows tearing,:Breathing on the pane she rubs it clean.:Quick and strong, her little hands unerring,:Find again the copper's hidden sheen.:"Charles XII's Last Journey" next is dusted:To a lively Boston's gay refrain.:Happy should the soldiers be, entrusted:To those hands, where fain they would remain.:
:While a song the gusty breeze composes:In the wires strung across the roof,:On a chest the china cat reposes, :From the rush and flurry quite aloof. :Now my angel must a hammer borrow :While she nails the sampler on the wall: :"Leave beneath the threshold care and sorrow, :And your hat and cane out in the hall.":
:Surely now my loving words have taught her:That no bitterness my lot may bear;:Even with the Judge's lovely daughter:Gentle Frida safely can compare.:If, in frock-coat hung with decoration,:He should say "My daughter you may wed,":I should run where Frida has her station,:Hunting moths in draperies outspread.:
:Though a worldly wind may stir her curtain,:Worldly dust may gather in her tread,:Still an angel light, you may be certain, :Shines about my Frida's lovely head. :See her like a queen her realm surveying :Though mid steaming buckets she be found. :No, she does not stand, as is the saying, :On the social ladder's highest round.:
:Birger Sjöberg "Frida's Book":English lyrics by Helen Asbury 1950:
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