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Half-Finished Heaven by Tomas Tranströmer
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Half-Finished Heaven (edition 2018)

by Tomas Tranströmer (Author)

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812,177,059 (3.17)2
Over the course of his career, Tomas Tranströmer - a poet who could look on the barren isolation of Sweden's landscapes and seascapes like no other, and find in them something hauntingly transcendent - emerged as one of the 20th century's essential global voices. By the time he won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2011, his luminous, almost mystical work had been translated into more than 50 languages. Gathering his poems from the early, nature-focused work to the later poetry's widening of the scope to take in painting, travel, urban life, and the impositions of technology on the natural world, and stirred throughout by the poet's profound love of music, The Half-Finished Heaven is a unique selection from Tranströmer's work. It is also, in its way, a deeply intimate one: the poems hand-picked here are not only the most beloved, but also those which were translated in the course of Tranströmer's nearly thirty-year correspondence with his close friend and collaborator, the American poet Robert Bly. Few names are more strongly associated with Tranströmer's; and few people have understood not only his poetry, but the processes behind it, more profoundly. The result is perhaps the best English-language introduction to this great and strange poet's work that there could be.… (more)
Member:AlisonY
Title:Half-Finished Heaven
Authors:Tomas Tranströmer (Author)
Info:Penguin Classics (2018), 144 pages
Collections:Read
Rating:***
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The Half-Finished Heaven: Selected Poems (Penguin Modern Classics) by Tomas Transtromer

2019 (1) in-translation (1) poetry (1) to-read (1)
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I've been reading this relatively slim volume of poetry for quite a long time. It felt challenging to my grey matter - I couldn't get the gist of what Tranströmer was getting at quite often.

When I first started this review, my thoughts were entirely negative. The poetry was pretentious, overwrought, the kind of poetry that made me think I would never enjoy poetry when I was younger. I started flicking back through the poems to validate my annoyance with it, but then to my surprise started to 'get' some of the poems a bit more. I wouldn't go so far as to say enjoy, but I understood and appreciated them the more I read them, and I realised I'd been speed reading a lot of them previously as I just wanted to finish the book.

I learnt a bit about myself and poetry in this little reading experience. I enjoy poetry that's straightforward and speaks to my heart. I'm not into poetry that requires me to 'figure it out'. I switch off; I lose attention.

Anyway, back to Tranströmer, I respect the abilities he had as a poet, but he's not for me.

3 stars - respectfully not for me. ( )
  AlisonY | May 12, 2024 |
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Over the course of his career, Tomas Tranströmer - a poet who could look on the barren isolation of Sweden's landscapes and seascapes like no other, and find in them something hauntingly transcendent - emerged as one of the 20th century's essential global voices. By the time he won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2011, his luminous, almost mystical work had been translated into more than 50 languages. Gathering his poems from the early, nature-focused work to the later poetry's widening of the scope to take in painting, travel, urban life, and the impositions of technology on the natural world, and stirred throughout by the poet's profound love of music, The Half-Finished Heaven is a unique selection from Tranströmer's work. It is also, in its way, a deeply intimate one: the poems hand-picked here are not only the most beloved, but also those which were translated in the course of Tranströmer's nearly thirty-year correspondence with his close friend and collaborator, the American poet Robert Bly. Few names are more strongly associated with Tranströmer's; and few people have understood not only his poetry, but the processes behind it, more profoundly. The result is perhaps the best English-language introduction to this great and strange poet's work that there could be.

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