Nils Ferlin


Nils Ferlin was a Swedish poet and lyricist.

Biography

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 died the next year, however, and the family moved from their comfortable residence to a humbler dwelling in the industrial district so that Ferlin could finish 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. Ferlin sold over 300,000 volumes of his poetry during his lifetime. His lasting appeal is partly attributed to his vivid portrayal of central Stockholm before urban renewal and his association with the popular culture that flourished there then.
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.
Ferlin’s lyrics have been translated into English by Martin S. Allwood, Fred Lane, Thord Fredenholm and Roger Hinchliffe.