"När jag inte längre frågar varför, då är jag död" : Vuxenblivandets existentiella villkor utifrån två poesiantologier för unga

Sammanfattning: The aim of the study is to analyze the role of existential questions in two poetry anthologies for youth, Kärlek och uppror (published in 1989) and Berör och förstör (published in 2021). The study looks into which and in what way existential questions are described in the poetry, as well as if there are similarities or differences between the anthologies. By examining the role of existential questions in poetry for youth, the aim is furthermore to analyze how becoming an adult (vuxenblivande) is depicted in the selection of poetry that’s been chosen for the anthologies. To get an understanding for the process of becoming an adult, the study relates the depiction of emerging adulthood to research about youth and identity. The methodology used for analyzing the poetry is called a “livsåskådningsanalys”, which means that definitions of existential questions are at the center for how the analysis is constructed. The analysis of the anthologies shows that the existential questions that are described and discussed in the poetry for youth especially concern love and death. Existential questions about identity also play a big part in the poems, which is related to the themes of body as well as place and belonging. Poetry as an existential activity, both trough reading and writing, is also described in the poems. The depiction of becoming an adult in the anthologies can therefore be described as a process of constructing one’s identity where existential questions around love, death, body, place and belonging are central. Writing and reading poetry are described in the anthologies as ways of processing and handling the existential questions these themes evoke.