Bellman was sung "with delight" by students and schoolchildren from the start of the 19th century.
The Romantic movement treated Bellman as an inspired genius, whereas later he was admired more for his artistic skill and literary innovation.
Research into Bellman's work began in the 19th century; the Bellman Society formalised Bellman studies with their standard edition and their Bellmansstudier publications in the 20th century.
Towards the end of the 20th century, an increasing number of doctoral theses have been written on Bellman's life and work.

Many of the songs have remained culturally significant in Scandinavia, especially in Sweden, where Bellman remains "widely popular to this day".
In 1989, the Swedish government subsided an edition of Bellman's Epistles and Songs, with illustrations by Peter Dahl, to bring the texts to a wide audience.

Bellman has been compared with poets and musicians as diverse as Shakespeare and Beethoven.
Åse Kleveland notes that he has been called "Swedish poetry's Mozart, and Hogarth", observing that
The comparison with Hogarth was no accident.
Like the English portrait painter, Bellman drew detailed pictures of his time in his songs, not so much of life at court as of ordinary people's everyday.

Britten Austin says instead simply that:
Bellman is unique among great poets, I think, in that virtually his entire opus is conceived to music.
Other poets, of course, notably our Elizabethans, have written songs.
But song was only one branch of their art.
They did not leave behind, as Bellman did, a great musical-literary work nor paint in words and music a canvas of their age.
Nor are their songs dramatic.

Charles Wharton Stork commented in his 1917 anthology of Swedish verse that "The anthologist finds little to pause over until he comes to the poetry of Karl Mikael Bellman (1740-1795), but here he must linger long."
Describing him as a "master of improvisation", he wrote:
Like all great masters, Bellman reconciles the opposing elements of style and substance, of form and fire.
His content reminds one somewhat of the pictures of Rome in Horace's Epistles.
Fredman, who is the poet himself, introduces his readers to an intimate circle of friends: to Movitz, to Mollberg, to Amaryllis, to Ulla Vinblad, and the rest.
With them we witness the life of Stockholm : the world awakening at daybreak after rain, a funeral, a concert, a visit to a sick friend, and various idyllic excursions into the neighboring parks and villages.
The little world lives and we live in it.
Considering this phase of Bellman's genius, the critic will pronounce him a realist of the first order.
But when one notes his dazzling mastery of form, his prodigal variety of meter and stanza, his ease and spontaneity, one is equally tempted to call him a virtuoso of lyric style."
Bellman was sung "with delight" by students and schoolchildren from the start of the 19th century. The Romantic movement treated Bellman as an inspired genius, whereas later he was admired more for his artistic skill and literary innovation. Research into Bellman's work began in the 19th century; the Bellman Society formalised Bellman studies with their standard edition and their Bellmansstudier publications in the 20th century. Towards the end of the 20th century, an increasing number of doctoral theses have been written on Bellman's life and work.
Many of the songs have remained culturally significant in Scandinavia, especially in Sweden, where Bellman remains "widely popular to this day". In 1989, the Swedish government subsided an edition of Bellman's Epistles and Songs, with illustrations by Peter Dahl, to bring the texts to a wide audience.
Bellman has been compared with poets and musicians as diverse as Shakespeare and Beethoven. Åse Kleveland notes that he has been called "Swedish poetry's Mozart, and Hogarth", observing that
The comparison with Hogarth was no accident. Like the English portrait painter, Bellman drew detailed pictures of his time in his songs, not so much of life at court as of ordinary people's everyday.
Britten Austin says instead simply that:
Bellman is unique among great poets, I think, in that virtually his entire opus is conceived to music. Other poets, of course, notably our Elizabethans, have written songs. But song was only one branch of their art. They did not leave behind, as Bellman did, a great musical-literary work nor paint in words and music a canvas of their age. Nor are their songs dramatic.
Charles Wharton Stork commented in his 1917 anthology of Swedish verse that "The anthologist finds little to pause over until he comes to the poetry of Karl Mikael Bellman (1740-1795), but here he must linger long." Describing him as a "master of improvisation", he wrote:
Like all great masters, Bellman reconciles the opposing elements of style and substance, of form and fire. His content reminds one somewhat of the pictures of Rome in Horace's Epistles. Fredman, who is the poet himself, introduces his readers to an intimate circle of friends: to Movitz, to Mollberg, to Amaryllis, to Ulla Vinblad, and the rest. With them we witness the life of Stockholm : the world awakening at daybreak after rain, a funeral, a concert, a visit to a sick friend, and various idyllic excursions into the neighboring parks and villages. The little world lives and we live in it. Considering this phase of Bellman's genius, the critic will pronounce him a realist of the first order. But when one notes his dazzling mastery of form, his prodigal variety of meter and stanza, his ease and spontaneity, one is equally tempted to call him a virtuoso of lyric style."
Fredmans epistlar