NORDENFLYCHT, HEDVIG CHARLOTTA

born Nov. 28, 1718, Stockholm, Sweden died June 29, 1763, Lugnet, near Stockholm Swedish poet considered to be Sweden's first feminist and remembered for her sensitive love poems. Though influenced by Enlightenment ideas, she was largely self-educated and had a distinct pietistic and sentimental side; both the intellectual and the highly emotional strain are evident in her work. The deaths of a fianc in 1737 and of her husband in 1741 (seven months after their marriage) inspired her earliest poems, some of which were published in Den srjande turturduvan (1743; The Mourning Turtledove). She settled in Stockholm and became a leading literary figure, publishing four volumes of poetry in the next six years. During the 1750s she formed a literary society, Tankarbyggarorden (Order of the Thought Builders), with Finnish-born Gustav Philip Creutz and Gustaf Fredrik Gyllenborg. Their literary collaboration resulted in two anthologies, the first (in three volumes) was entitled Vra frsk (1753, 1754, 1756; Our Attempts), the second (in two volumes) Witterhetsarbeten (1759, 1762; Literary Works). In 1761 she fell in love with a man much younger than herself. This love was unrequited, and Nordenflycht's poems of this period are tender and controlled and are considered to be her highest achievement. Her collected works were edited by Hilma Borelius in three volumes (192438).