[I]t’s clear this island has given him the notes to create such a magical, and enduringly beautiful score of poetry. And so questions about poetry, about its meaning, always wend their way back to the island, to Tranströmer’s grandfather, the poet’s hand often raising up to point out the objects and paintings around the room, as if they are the poems themselves, not the subject or inspiration of them.
A late-life portrait of Tomas Tranströmer illuminates the scenic ecosystem of his lived experience and the world of his poetry, the correspondences between the two, and the fusional unity of his voice. Translated from the Norwegian by John Freeman, over at Lit Hub.
