(1829-1907), king of Sweden and Norway from 1872 to 1905; from the latter date, king of Sweden only. Although he showed himself from the first willing to grant concessions to the Norwegians, he steadily opposed their efforts for independence. Despite his opposition, however, matters came to a crisis in 1905, and Norway was lost to him. Oscar was a writer of some merit; he translated Goethe's Tasso into Swedish, and published several volumes of lyric poetry.