The article focuses on the concept of time in human and global perspective in the poetry of two Swedish authors of the 19th century: Per Atterbom and Viktor Rydberg. These two poets belong to different branches of the Romantic movement. Atterbom represents the early mystic Romanticism and he is one of the first Romantic authors in Sweden. Rydberg is a post-Romantic poet: his poetic works contain features that are characteristic of the literature of Romanticism, but they were written in the last decades of the century. The theme of the power of time is one of the most important for both authors, it determines characters of lyrical heroes and poetics in many of their poems but in different ways. Atterbom represents the destructive power of time. Thus, the main characters of his fairy tale play “The Isle of Bliss”, Hyperborean king Astolf and nymph Felicia, live on a magical island and aspire to escape from Time, but Time overcomes them. Atterbom shows in his poetry that time hasn’t its limits in the world beyond. Rydberg represents the characters who try to apprehend the rules of time. The immortal mythological creatures in his poems (the Tomten, the elf of a river) cannot explain why time has such an influence on man and mankind. This theme corresponds with a philosophical matter of the meaning of human life. The humans in Rydberg’s lyrics do not try to overcome time as they perceive the nature and its rules throw their senses.
The legend of the Wandering Jew, which appeared in the Middle Ages, attracted the attention of writers and artists in many countries during several centuries. Ahasuerus has become one of the eternal images of world literature. This image was especially often used in the works of Romantic writers in the early 19th century. A Swedish poet Viktor Rydberg who was influenced by Romanticism used this character in several poetic works such as the ballad The Flying Dutchman (Den Flygande Holländaren, 1876) and two poems: Prometheus and Anasuerus (Prometeus och Ahasverus, 1882) and New Song of Grotti (Den nya Grottesången, 1891). In Rydberg’s lyrics, the Wandering Jew interacts with other eternal images of world culture such as the Flying Dutchman and Prometheus. His role as a stranger who witnessed a lot of different epochs and nations is emphasized in Rydberg’s poetry. Ahasuerus expresses critical judgments about modern people and actually opposes society which is the feature of Romantic characters. In the poem New Song of Grotti the image of Ahasuerus is connected with social problems. It might have been the influence of Sue’s novel The Wandering Jew. In contradiction to Romantic characters, Ahasuerus in Rydberg’s interpretation appears to be a sustainable person, which is specific to heroes of Naturalistic and Neo-Romantic Scandinavian works