Svarta ballader

Svarta ballader ('Black Ballads') is a 1917 poetry collection by the Swedish proletarian writer Dan Andersson, his third and the last to be published before his early death in 1920. It has become one of the most important texts in 20th century Swedish literature. The poems convey strong feelings about life's struggles, love, hate, suffering, and death. They are framed in nature-romanticism, set in Andersson's wild rural home region of Dalarna. Several have a musician as a central figure, close to Andersson himself, while others show social sympathy for beggars and outcasts. The core theme, however, is religious, with a combination of Christian longing for eternity and Indian nirvana mysticism.

Many of the poems have been set to music and recorded as songs by 20th century composers and singer-songwriters, including by Andersson, Gunnar Turesson, Gunde Johansson, Thorstein Bergman, and Sven Scholander. The singer Sofia Karlsson's 2005 album, Svarta Ballader, interpreted five poems from the book. The 1972 Hootenanny Singers recording of the first song in the book, "Omkring tiggarn från Luossa", remained on the Swedish charts for an exceptional 52 weeks.