Why did Johan Henrik Kellgren disagree with Thomas Thorild about literature?

The disagreement between Johan Henrik Kellgren and Thomas Thorild was rooted in their conflicting literary philosophies during the Swedish Enlightenment.

Kellgren, the dominant literary figure of the era, served as an arbiter of taste who championed rationalism and Neoclassicism. He maintained that literature, particularly comedies and tragedies, should adhere to established French models and formal standards.1

In contrast, Thorild was a pre-Romantic critic who advocated for poetic freedom and the expression of individual genius. He rejected the rigid influence of French classicism on Swedish culture, positioning himself as a champion of subjective, emotional, and philosophical expression.21

As a rationalist and satirist, Kellgren used his polemical wit in the journal Stockholmsposten to attack Thorild’s ideas, viewing them as a departure from the "national good sense" he sought to uphold. This conflict represented the broader tension of the period as the structured ideals of the Gustavian epoch began to transition toward the emerging spirit of Romanticism.13