Tegnér, Esaias (1782–1846)

Swedish poet, literary critic, and Lutheran bishop. Tegnér's patriotic ode ‘Svea’ 1811 was awarded a prize by the Swedish Academy. Although he wrote first in the Romantic idiom, he gradually dropped its emotional excesses, as in Nattvardsbarnen/The Children of the Lord's Supper 1820. Frithiofs Saga 1825 is a paraphrase of an Icelandic saga.

Tegnér, born in Värmland, was professor of Greek at Lund University from 1812 to 1824, when he was made bishop of Växjö.