Early orphaned, Johansson was reared by an uncle and educated both in Sweden and abroad. He returned to Sweden and became known as a writer of funeral elegies and epithalamiums. His most personal poems are drinking songs and funeral hymns—a typically Baroque combination. His models were the German Baroque poets, but his best poems surpass theirs in intensity of feeling and power of expression. His most famous song is “Skulle jag sörja så vore jag tokot” (“Were I to grieve, then I were a fool”). Johansson's poetry was posthumously published in Helicons blomster (1689; “Helicon's Flower”). His collected poems were edited by F. Sandwall in an edition with commentary (1914–30).