During the 19th century, the so-called
Fennoman movement emerged, leading to the establishment of Finnish as a
national language. Many Finland-Swedes began to use Finnish, and the first works of
Finnish literature appeared. At the same time, Swedish continued to be used and has retained its status as an official national and literary language of Finland, constitutionally equal to Finnish. (, ) from the prologue to by
Johan Ludvig Runeberg Johan Ludvig Runeberg is primarily known as a poet of nature and the author of idyllic narrative poems. In Finland, however, he became famous through his later patriotic work (, 1848; second volume 1860), which idealised the image of the Finns in line with contemporary Fennoman ideals. The collection of popular-romantic war ballads in various verse forms depicts the heroic deeds of Finns in the
Finnish War of 1808–1809, focusing on simple, brave, and modest rural people, while also criticising the Swedish king and military leadership responsible for the defeat in the war against the
Russian Empire. Published in the revolutionary year 1848, the first volume established Runeberg as Finland's national poet. The work was translated into Finnish only in 1867 by
Julius Krohn. (1860–1898) is often regarded as the first modern Finland-Swedish author. Other important 19th-century authors include
Fredrika Runeberg,
Zacharias Topelius and
Josef Julius Wecksell. == 20th century ==