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A review by myweereads
The Half-Finished Heaven: Selected Poems by Tomas Tranströmer
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.