This collection of poetry, from the whole of Transtromer's career, more than justifies the stamp of "Nobel Prize Winner" that is printed on the cover. Shamefully, I had never heard of this Swedish born poet until the week before he won the prize. I had read an article that highlighted him as a frontrunner for the prize this year and I began to seek out his poetry. It took a bit of patience, and I urge anyone to first flip around in the book for awhile until they find the right poem that speaks t More...

TOMAS TRANSTROMER TASTES TRIUMPH WITH NOBEL PRIZE

PGR Nair

The poet Tomas Transtromer has finally tasted triumph by winning the Nobel Prize for literature for 2011. The Swedish Academy praised Mr. Tranströmer, saying that “through his condensed, translucent images, he gives us fresh access to reality.” This is absolutely true of his serene poetry.

The 80-year-old Tomas Transtromer is one of the greatest Scandinavian poets and has had a profound influence in the literary world as Sweden’s most imp More...

Seeing as this is poetry, I don't read straight through it as I would prose, so to be honest I haven't completely finished this book, but I've read enough of it in my opinion to have "read" it.
Tomas Transtroemer is phenomenal. Rarely have I found language so powerful and intimate that resonates as deeply within me as Transtroemer's work does. The Blue House on page 169 is probably my favorite poem, at least currently. I'm crazy about the line "I am grateful for this life! But still I miss the al More...

My only regret after finishing this fascinating book of poetry is that I would have read the very last chapter, a prose memoir piece called "Memories of Me," prior to reading any of the poetry. I encourage new readers of this book to read the last chapter first. Transtromer's poetry is beautiful but abstruse, his images powerful but multi-layered. At times, I felt as if I were reading a poetic form of stream-of-consciousness, or a transcription from a hypnotic state of mind. In his memoir, Trans More...

I picked this up mostly because it was convenient (my local public library had it) and because it is the 2011 Nobel Prize in Literature. So, given I had not really heard of this author before, I was curious. I gave it a low rating because, for me, the book was just ok. I think other people may have a higher opinion, and that is ok. This book has some positives and some negatives. On the positive, when the author is good, he is good. There are some very rich images, very evocative of dreams and i More...

I'm not much of a poetry buff (and the poetry I do like emphasizes meter and rhyme), but a Swedish friend gave this slim volume to me as a Christmas present and so I dutifully plowed through it. I suppose I'm glad I did. I read it back to front (in reverse chronological order), as the foreword recommended, and I'm glad I did since his later work appealed to me more.

I think Transtromer's strength is in creating these vivid images that reach up and grab you, even through translation. I would be r More...

Чела съм части от тази книга на английски, сега, за радост, поживях в нея и на български. По какво долових, че ме е доближила съвсем и съм я заобичала дори повече, отколкото предполагам.

Първо. Не мога да чета, без да подчертавам. Не знам защо, все едно не чета органично и нямам контакт, ако не пиша, подчертавам и рисувам на места. НО ТАЗИ КНИГА аз направо я илюстрирах - сега гледам, какво ли няма - човечета с щръкнали коси (тях ги ползвам като NB), детелини, вълни, пр. Явно толкова ме е придърп More...

Poems should be experienced, not talked about. But I will say that these austere, quiet poems from the Nobel Prize winner bring a vision of a lonely soul communing with nature and trying to understand the vagaries of his fellow human beings. A haiku from the "Sad Gondola" series seems to sum up his world view:

Oak trees and the moon.
Light. Silent constellations.
And the cold ocean.

Sigh. I am having major difficulties liking this book. Maybe the translations are bad. The writing did not engage me. Maybe after a pot of coffee, some donuts (for their sugar content) and a few more years, I'll be wedded to Tranströmer's poetry. It's not happening now. It's like waiting for the light to come on and I'm just really stumbling around in the dark trying to get my bearings.

Tranströmer has managed to capture all of my most private, profound thoughts, wrap them up in loving words, and send them back to me. The Blue House in particular has great significance for me: "It’s always so early in here, before the crossroads, before the irrevocable choices. Thank you for this life! Still I miss the alternatives. The sketches, all of them, want to become real."

Really loved Transtromer's work. He's a Swedish poet whose work has been translated into over 50 languages. He's won the Nobel prize. His work is amazing- he's a plain language poet, who writes both about nature and the urban cityscape. His images were dark and haunting, but easy to understand.

Really loved this. I'm glad that I decided to explore Swedish writers as part of my research for my upcoming trip.

The shorter poems are much more engaging than the longer poems. Mr. Tranströmer does well with sparse lines, but the longer they are, I can see than a few more edits would have unpacked what he wanted to say, or make the reader feel, in the longer poems. But this is the collection for fans of contemporary poetry to begin with, in my opinion.

Transtromer is unique and mysterious, translucent, bright, and dense. It took me months to finish this slim volume, as his work demands (and justifies) reflection. Its been a real joy discovering his work and his voice-- the Nobel committee was spot-on with this choice.

How do you translate poetry? Poetry relies so heavily on the sounds of words and subtle meanings.

It's hard to get a sense of Transtromer. I think it's only because he gets lost in translation. Everyone once in awhile I would read a line and think...ah! there it is!...only to be let down two lines on. But those few glimmers of Transtromer, they were brilliant!

One of the wonderful books of poems I have read recently.

Not for speed reading. Wait for lonely nights. Patience will be answered.

It s complicated, dense with unmeasured depths. It s for wandering souls

I remember loving Transtromer a few years back, but this book wasn't as riveting as I remembered. Still good, though. I love his images. I am more a fan of his shorter poems than his longer poems. The memoir in the back was kind of dry and unnecessary. I can't wait to go through all the poems again!

Some good poems here but all in all I was surprised at the sentimentality. The opposite of the Wallace Stevens "let things be things" dictum. Consequently, not much to my taste.

There is only word that I can think of that adequately describes the awesomeness that is Transtromer. WHOA!! Highly recommended. Note that this is the best translation of his work that I have read. Robin Fulton does an excellent job with these translations.

The best translation of any of the books I've read by Transtromer. Read this one, don't bother with the others.

The autobiographical section was particularly interesting. The rest didn't totally resonate with me.

Gray until the lights come on. Humming. Idiosyncratically strange. But I found myself often doubting the translation.

Excellent book all around: inspired the title for a new exhibition!

I discovered Transtromer before the Nobel. Great work.

Outstanding and breathtaking poetry.

Amazing Book

Transtromer MIGHT be a robot in disguise, his poems are so incredible. They grabbed me and throttled me and burrowed into my skin and broke out all over me and I think Transtromer will be a chronic affliction.

Long, wandering, often missing a point, much like middle age!? Could have been a third as long and still made the same points. I'm glad there's some research being done on what the middle of life looks like, but by the time we get here, we don't want to waste our time. Or, we want to waste our time in ways that are more interesting.

I guess I'm the only person in the world who didn't love this. Some good stuff but on the whole I found it prosy and bloodless.

I have never read anything like this. That doesn't happen very often.

Better than most contemporary poetry books, hence four stars, but I agree with Jarrell--a great lyric poet only gets struck by lightning (inspiration) maybe a dozen times in life, and Transtromer is probably a near great and not a great. When he is "on", however, it is quite good. The closing prose memoir is also very interesting.