carlaespi's review against another edition
4.0
Often I have to say nothing. Voluntarily!
Because the "last word" can be spoken again and again.
Because hello and good-bye...
Because this day that has at last come today...
crec q amb aquest llibre he apres a llegir poesia, gràcies tranströmer (i a robert bly per traduir-lo) !!! <3
Because the "last word" can be spoken again and again.
Because hello and good-bye...
Because this day that has at last come today...
crec q amb aquest llibre he apres a llegir poesia, gràcies tranströmer (i a robert bly per traduir-lo) !!! <3
myweereads's review against another edition
5.0
"Halfway through your life, death turns up and takes your pertinent measurements. We forget the visit. Life goes on. But someone is sewing the suit in the silence."
I stumbled upon Tomas Tranströmer about 11 years ago through a conversation with a friend. It was about one of his poems called “The Clearing” it begins “In the middle of the forest there's an unexpected clearing that can only be found by those who have gotten lost. The clearing is surrounded by a forest that is choking itself.”
Tomas Tranströmer was one of Sweden’s leading poets of his generation who worked as a psychologist, he won the Nobel Prize in 2011, after suffering a stroke in 1990 he passed away in 2015.
His style of poetry often focused on nature and in this collection he merges his signature stye with several themes. He had a way of portraying messages in subtle ways which left you re-reading lines to feel that first impact again and again.
I usually take note of quotes whilst reading and with this collection I have several poems I definitely wish to remember. His words have a way of surfacing feelings which will relate to individuals in a different way. I find his words comforting because they felt like he was resonating with me in that moment. One can put it down to right book right time or pure coincidence but when it happens rarely it sticks with the reader.
This edition collects some of his well known and much loved works along with those translated over the course of thirty years during his correspondence with his friend, the American poet, Robert Bly.
I do not read as much poetry as I would like to but rarely do I find a poet who I can read time and time again and Tranströmer is one of them.
I stumbled upon Tomas Tranströmer about 11 years ago through a conversation with a friend. It was about one of his poems called “The Clearing” it begins “In the middle of the forest there's an unexpected clearing that can only be found by those who have gotten lost. The clearing is surrounded by a forest that is choking itself.”
Tomas Tranströmer was one of Sweden’s leading poets of his generation who worked as a psychologist, he won the Nobel Prize in 2011, after suffering a stroke in 1990 he passed away in 2015.
His style of poetry often focused on nature and in this collection he merges his signature stye with several themes. He had a way of portraying messages in subtle ways which left you re-reading lines to feel that first impact again and again.
I usually take note of quotes whilst reading and with this collection I have several poems I definitely wish to remember. His words have a way of surfacing feelings which will relate to individuals in a different way. I find his words comforting because they felt like he was resonating with me in that moment. One can put it down to right book right time or pure coincidence but when it happens rarely it sticks with the reader.
This edition collects some of his well known and much loved works along with those translated over the course of thirty years during his correspondence with his friend, the American poet, Robert Bly.
I do not read as much poetry as I would like to but rarely do I find a poet who I can read time and time again and Tranströmer is one of them.
maddykpdx's review against another edition
4.0
the sea, the woods, the city streets -- and the most astounding imagery and similes I've ever seen...
cameliarose's review against another edition
5.0
I am perpetually reading and re-reading The Half-Finished Heaven.
Robert Bly, the translator, says in the introduction: "Tomas Transtromer has a strange genius for images". Genius indeed. Strangely enough, quite a lot imageries in his poems are familiar to me, even in the first reading, as if I have travelled inside his poetry world before.
Robert Bly, the translator, says in the introduction: "Tomas Transtromer has a strange genius for images". Genius indeed. Strangely enough, quite a lot imageries in his poems are familiar to me, even in the first reading, as if I have travelled inside his poetry world before.
mlindner's review against another edition
2.0
So I have now read about half (I'm guessing) of his work and I simply don't see what the big deal is. Out of ~125 poems, I liked three. There are some nice lines and images sprinkled throughout, but he simply does not speak to me. At least, his work up to the mid-1980s does not.
This is not to make any sort of judgment regarding the quality of his poetry. Perhaps it *is* great poetry. I can live with that judgment by others. Nonetheless, it does not speak to me.
This is not to make any sort of judgment regarding the quality of his poetry. Perhaps it *is* great poetry. I can live with that judgment by others. Nonetheless, it does not speak to me.
lichenbitten's review against another edition
5.0
"Tourists have crowded into the half-dark of the enormous
Romanesque church.
Vault opening behind vault and no perspective.
A few candle flames flickered.
An angel whose face I couldn’t see embraced me
and his whisper went all through my body:
“Don’t be ashamed to be a human being, be proud!
Inside you one vault after another opens endlessly.
You’ll never be complete, and that’s as it should be.”
Tears blinded me
as we were herded out into the fiercely sunlit piazza,
together with Mr. and Mrs. Jones, Herr Tanaka and Signora
Sabatini;
within each of them vault after vault opened endlessly."
-- "Romanesque Arches"
Romanesque church.
Vault opening behind vault and no perspective.
A few candle flames flickered.
An angel whose face I couldn’t see embraced me
and his whisper went all through my body:
“Don’t be ashamed to be a human being, be proud!
Inside you one vault after another opens endlessly.
You’ll never be complete, and that’s as it should be.”
Tears blinded me
as we were herded out into the fiercely sunlit piazza,
together with Mr. and Mrs. Jones, Herr Tanaka and Signora
Sabatini;
within each of them vault after vault opened endlessly."
-- "Romanesque Arches"
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