Tomas Tranströmer (1931–2015)

A massive collection of poems and essays, rich with metaphor and imagery that will stop you in your tracks. Multiple times while reading through this collection, I found myself whispering, "Wow," as the words sank into my soul.

The author's powerful voice brings nature to life and connects disparate readers to a shared human experience. I didn't want this book to end.

Favorite Poems: Autumnal Archipelago, Mariner's Tale, Face to Face, Through the Woods, Lament, A Winter Night, Winter's show more Formula, The Outpost, Icelandic Hurricane, Black Postcards, The Nightingale in Babelunda, Snow Falling show less

In Sweden, Tranströmer was mandatory reading for anyone still interested in poetry by their mid-twenties, after strurming and dranging through Majakovskij, Öijer and the Dadaists. Me, always being stupidly reluctant to read what one “should” read, missed him then (save a handful of poems read during my time studying lit at university, which I enjoyed), and I haven’t read that much verse at all in the last ten years. The Nobel gave me the nudge I needed to finally pick up his work. show more I’m very happy I did. Tranströmer writes a stunning poetry, both accessible and original.

What really stands out is his way with the metaphor. The images he uses make you nod your head in agreement with the immediate sense they make. Yet they are so original they bewilder you or make you giggle. He’s especially good at describing nature, either in its own right or to capture a mood. For instance (bear in mind these are my clumsy translations now) an island is “pulling itself up by the grass”. The decay of a forest is “reading the protocol of the bark beetle through glasses of sap”. A seed is “kicking the dirt”. The morning is “putting its rays in the locks, swinging open the doors of darkness”. And the same simple, striking imagery applies for bigger, more abstract things. The poet meet people “with future instead of faces”. God’s energy is “curled up in the darkness”. And the only thing he really wants to say is “glimmering just out of reach, like silver in a pawn shop”.

It’s not really fair reading a thick volume of poetry back to back like this. There are a few collections in the middle that don’t appeal to me in quite the same way. Whereas many of his early works and his latest ones by themselves surely would render full marks from me. Still, poetry doesn’t get much better than this. Indeed, this could be a book to give someone as an introduction to the very artform. show less

Man känner sig alltid yngre än man är. Inom mig bär jag mina tidigare ansikten, som ett träd har sina årsringar. Det är summan av dem som är "jag". Spegeln ser bara mitt senaste ansikte, jag känner av alla mina tidigare.

56 sidor bara, från de tidigaste minnena till ögonblicket i en latinlektion där han förstår kopplingen mellan modern poesi och Horatius, där tiden upphävs och diktaren Tomas Tranströmer föds utan någon stor fanfar (som allt han gjorde).

Genom formen show more (Formen!) kunde något lyftas.

Det är en enkel liten berättelse, en pojke som växer upp, utan stora trauman, den vuxne som i efterhand förstår vad han plockade ihop av insektssamlande, museibesök och krig. Prosaisten Tranströmer är inte lika koncentrerad som diktaren, och ändå lyckas han utan några trumpeter och fanfarer skapa små bilder som står upp och lyser. show less

I really loved this volume. First and foremost because I am fascinated by the art of translation, and with language. Love word-wiggling. And it reminds me how many cultures have words and phrases that are untranslatable. That they have concepts that don’t exist in other languages. Bly and Tranströmer translate each others work and you can see this wiggling constantly as they both strive to find the intensions of each work in the language of the other.

Language is such a powerful show more instrument. Conquerors often imposed their language on the conquered in order to weaken them, which also lost concepts and perspectives that were original to that culture. We are poorer for that loss.

I also love this book for allowing you into a deep and meaningful friendship. I will be dipping into this book for years to come, not to mention, reading their poetry. I have read some Tranströmer, but until now, no Bly. show less