Karlfeldt, Erik Axel

The Swedish poet Erik Axel Karlfeldt was born as Erik Axel Eriksson in the village of Karlbo in the province of Dalarna. His father, Erik Eriksson, was a wealthy farmer and lay assessor. His mother, Anna Jansdotter, was a deeply pious woman. Karlfeldt attended school in Västerås until 1885. The same year, his father went bankrupt after having speculated in the mining industry and the family farm was sold at auction. Erik Eriksson was sentenced to two years of forced labour for forgery and died in 1889, and that was when Erik Axel changed his surname to Karlfeldt; a name inspired by his native village. He later rarely talked about his youth, and he suffered a few years of rootlessness and poverty after the bankruptcy.