Swedish lyrical poet whose early pessimistic and deterministic view of life gave way to a militant humanism under the pressures of the political and social dangers of his time; his simplicity and clarity of style greatly influenced 20th-century Swedish poetry.

Bergman began writing while an official of the Swedish post office, from which he retired in 1933. Marionetterna (1903; “Marionettes”), his first volume of poetry, was an expression of melancholy passivity, but each of the ensuing volumes increasingly attacked the political developments in Europe, particularly his last three volumes of verse: Trots allt (1931; “In Spite of Everything”), Gamla gudar (1939; “Old Gods”), and Riket (1944; “The Kingdom”). Bergman's prose works include five volumes of short stories, five novels, five monographs, and autobiographical fragments.