Non Serviam (poetry collection)

Non Serviam
	First edition
Author	Gunnar Ekelöf
Country	Sweden
Language	Swedish
Publisher	A. Bonnier
Publication date	1945
Pages	98

Last updated April 28, 2019

Non Serviam is a 1945 poetry collection by the Swedish writer Gunnar Ekelöf. The title comes from the Christian phrase "Non serviam", which is Latin for "I will not serve" and is attributed to Lucifer. In the poems Ekelöf criticises the contemporary political climate of Sweden; in the titular poem he describes himself as "a stranger in this land", and in the satirical poem "Till de folkhemske" he ironizes the concept of Folkhemmet.^[1]

Bengt Gunnar Ekelöf was a Swedish poet and writer. He was a member of the Swedish Academy from 1958 and was awarded an honorary doctorate in philosophy by Uppsala University in 1958. He won a number of prizes for his poetry.

Non serviam is Latin for "I will not serve". The phrase is generally attributed to Lucifer, who is said to have spoken these words to express rejection to serve God in the heavenly kingdom.

Lucifer is a Latin name for the planet Venus as the morning star in the ancient Roman era, and is often used for mythological and religious figures associated with the planet. Due to the unique movements and discontinuous appearances of Venus in the sky, mythology surrounding these figures often involved a fall from the heavens to earth or the underworld. Interpretations of a similar term in the Hebrew Bible, translated in the King James Version as "Lucifer", led to a Christian tradition of applying the name Lucifer and its associated stories of a fall from heaven to Satan. Most modern scholarship regards these interpretations as questionable, and translates the term in the relevant Bible passage as "morning star" or "shining one" rather than as a proper name, "Lucifer".

Non Serviam includes three of Ekelöf's greatest poems: Samothrace , Gymnosofisten (the Gymnosophist) and Absentia animi .

Samothrace is a Greek island in the northern Aegean Sea. It is a municipality within the Evros regional unit of Thrace. The island is 17 km (11 mi) long and is 178 km² (69 sq mi) in size and has a population of 2,859. Its main industries are fishing and tourism. Resources on the island include granite and basalt. Samothrace is one of the most rugged Greek islands, with Mt. Saos and its tip Fengari rising to 1,611 m (5,285 ft).

Gymnosophy was a movement and a philosophy practiced in Europe and the USA from the end of the 19th century to the mid 20th century. The practice involved nudity, asceticism, and meditation.

A sculpture by Ernst Nordin, with the name Non Serviam, stands at Malmskillnadsgatan 25 in Stockholm since 1980, and features the first four lines of Ekelöf's poem.^[2]

Malmskillnadsgatan is a 650-metre long street in central Stockholm, Sweden. It stretches northward from the Brunkebergstorg square over Hamngatan; crosses Mäster Samuelsgatan and Oxtorgsgatan; passes over the bridge Malmskillnad Bridge passing over Kungsgatan; crosses Brunnsgatan and David Bagares gata; and finally ends at Johannes plan near Döbelnsgatan.

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References

↑ Andersson, David (2007). "Motståndsmannen Gunnar Ekelöf" (PDF). Neo. Stockholm: Neo samhällsmagasin, webb och idégalleri. 2 (4): 68–71. ISSN 1653-378X . Retrieved 2011-10-22.
↑ "Non Serviam". stockholm.se. Stockholm Municipality . Retrieved 2011-10-22.

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[1] Andersson, David (2007). "Motståndsmannen Gunnar Ekelöf" (PDF). Neo. Stockholm: Neo samhällsmagasin, webb och idégalleri. 2 (4): 68–71. ISSN 1653-378X . Retrieved 2011-10-22.

[2] "Non Serviam". stockholm.se. Stockholm Municipality . Retrieved 2011-10-22.