KELLGREN, JOHAN HENRIK (1751-1795), Swedish poet and critic, was born at Floby in West Gothland, on the 1st of December 1751. He studied at the university of Åbo, and had already some reputation as a poet when in 1774 he there became a “docent” in aesthetics. Three years later he removed to Stockholm, where in conjunction with Assessor Carl Lenngren he began in 1778 the publication of the journal Stockholmsposten, of which he was sole editor from 1788 onwards. Kellgren was librarian to Gustavus III. from 1780, and from 1785 his private secretary. On the institution of the Swedish Academy in 1786 he was appointed one of its first members. He died at Stockholm on the 20th of April 1795. His strong satiric tendency led him into numerous controversies, the chief that with the critic Thomas Thorild, against whom he directed his satire Nyt försök till orimmad vers, where he sneers at the “raving of Shakespeare” and “the convulsions of Goethe.” His lack of humour detracts from the interest of his polemical writings. His poetical works are partly lyrical, partly dramatic; of the plays the versification belongs to him, the plots being due to Gustavus III. The songs interspersed in the four operas which they produced in common, viz., Gustaf Vasa, Gustaf Adolf och Ebba Brahe, Aeneas i Kartago, and Drottning Kristina, are wholly the work of Kellgren. From about the year 1788 a higher and graver feeling pervades Kellgren’s verses, partly owing to the influence of the works of Lessing and Goethe, but probably more directly due to his controversy with Thorild. Of his minor poems written before that date the most important are the charming spring-song Vinterns välde lyktar, and the satirical Mina löjen and Man eger ej snille för det man är galen. The best productions of what is called his later period are the satire Ljusets fiender, the comic poem Dumboms lefverne, the warmly patriotic Kantat d. 1. jan. 1789, the ode Till Kristina, the fragment Sigwart och Hilma, and the beautiful song Nya skapelsen, both in thought and form the finest of his works. Among his lyrics are the choicest fruits of the Gustavian age of Swedish letters. His earlier efforts, indeed, express the superficial doubt and pert frivolousness characteristic of his time; but in the works of his riper years he is no mere “poet of pleasure,” as Thorild contemptuously styled him, but a worthy exponent of earnest moral feeling and wise human sympathies in felicitous and melodius verse.
His Samlade skrifter (3 vols., 1796; a later edition, 1884-1885) were revised by himself. His correspondence with Rosenstein and with Clewberg was edited by H. Schück (1886-1887 and 1894). See Wieselgren, Sveriges sköna litteratur (1833-1849); Atterbom, Svenska siare och skalder (1841-1855); C. W. Böttiger in Transactions of the Swedish Academy, xlv. 107 seq. (1870); and Gustaf Ljunggren’s Kellgren, Leopold, och Thorild, and his Svenska vitterhetens häfder (1873-1877).
KELLOGG, CLARA LOUISE (1842- ), American singer, was born at Sumterville, South Carolina, in July 1842, and was educated in New York for the musical profession, singing first in opera there in 1861. Her fine soprano voice and artistic gifts soon made her famous. She appeared as prima donna in Italian opera in London, and at concerts, in 1867 and 1868; and from that time till 1887 was one of the leading public singers. She appeared at intervals in London, but was principally engaged in America. In 1874 she organized an opera company which was widely known in the United States, and her enterprise and energy in directing it were remarkable. In 1887 she married Carl Strakosch, and retired from the profession.
KELLS, a market town of county Meath, Ireland, on the Blackwater, 9¾ m. N.W. of Navan on a branch of the Great Northern railway. Pop. of urban district (1901), 2428. The prosperity of the town depends chiefly upon its antiquarian remains. The most notable is St Columbkille’s house, originally an oratory, but afterwards converted into a church, the chancel of which was in existence in 1752. The present church is modern, with the exception of the bell-tower, rebuilt in 1578. Near the church there is a fine though imperfect specimen of the ancient round tower, 99 ft. in height; and there are several ancient crosses, the finest being that now erected in the market-place. Kells was originally a royal residence, whence its ancient name Ceanannus, meaning the dun or circular northern fort, in which the king resided, and the intermediate name Kenlis, meaning head fort. Here Conn of the Hundred Fights resided in the 2nd century; and here was a palace of Dermot, king of Ireland, in 544-565. The other places in Ireland named Kells are probably derived from Cealla, signifying church. In the 6th century Kells, it is said, was granted to St Columbkille. Of the monastery which he is reported to have founded there are no remains, and the town owes its chief ecclesiastical importance to the bishopric founded about 807, and united to Meath in the 13th century. The ecclesiastical establishment was noted as a seat of learning, and a monument of this remains in the Book of Kells an illuminated copy of the Gospels in Latin, containing also local records, dating from the 8th century, and preserved in the library of Trinity College, Dublin. The illumination is executed with extraordinary delicacy, and the work is asserted to be the finest extant example of early Christian art of this kind. Neighbouring antiquities are the church of Dulane, with a fine doorway, and the dun or fortification of Dimor, the principal erection of a series of defences on the hills about 6 m. W. of Kells. Among several seats in the vicinity is that of the Marquess of Headfort. Kells returned two members to the Irish parliament before the Union.