Gunnar Ekelöf (1907–1968) has been described as Sweden's first surrealistic poet, due to his first poetry collection, the nihilistic Sent på jorden (1932), a work hardly understood by his contemporaries.Lundkvist, Martinsson, Ekelöf, by Espmark & Olsson, in Delblanc, Lönnroth, Göransson, vol 3 But Ekelöf moved towards romanticism and with his second poetry collection Dedikationen in 1934 he became appreciated in wider circles. He continued to write until his old age, and was to attain a dominant position in Swedish poetry. His style has been described as heavy with symbolism and enigmatic, while at the same time tormented and ironical.Hägg (1996), pp. 528–524
