The Half-Finished Heaven: Selected Poems

by Tomas Tranströmer, Robert Bly (Translator)

Overview

From the Winner of the 2011 Nobel Prize in Literature

The contemporary Swedish poet Tomas Tranströmer is a recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature and has a prestigious worldwide reputation. Robert Bly, a longtime friend and confidant of Tranströmer's, as well as one of his first translators, has carefully chosen and translated the finest of Tranströmer's poems to create this cherished and invaluable collection.

Contents

Introduction: "Upward into the Depths" by Robert Bly

1

From

17 Poems (1954)

Secrets on the Road (1958)

The Half-Finished Heaven (1962)

Evening—Morning

Storm

The Man Awakened by a Song above His Roof

Track

Kyrie

After the Attack

Balakirev's Dream (1905)

The Couple

Allegro

Lamento

The Tree and the Sky

A Winter Night

Dark Shape Swimming

The Half-Finished Heaven

Nocturne

2

From

Resonance and Footprints (1966)

Night Vision (1970)

Open and Closed Space

From an African Diary

Morning Bird Songs

Summer Grass

About History

After a Death

Under Pressure

Slow Music

Out in the Open

Solitude

Breathing Space July

The Open Window s26Preludes

The Bookcase

Outskirts

Going with the Current

Traffic

Night Duty

A Few Moments

The Name

Standing Up

3

From

Pathways (1973)

Truth Barriers (1978)

Elegy

The Scattered Congregation

Snow-Melting Time, '66

Further In

Late May

December Evening, '72

Seeing through the Ground

Guard Duty

Along the Lines (Far North)

At Funchal (Island of Madeira)

Calling Home

Citoyens

For Mats and Laila

After a Long Dry Spell

A Place in the Woods

Street Crossing

Below Freezing

Start of a Late Autumn Novel

From the Winter of 1947

The Clearing

Schubertiana

4

From

The Wild Market Square (1983)

For the Living and the Dead (1989)

Grief Gondola (1996)

From March '79

Fire Script

Black Postcards

Romanesque Arches

The Forgotten Commander

Vermeer

The Cuckoo

The Kingdom of Uncertainty

Three Stanzas

Two Cities

Island Life, 1860

April and Silence

Grief Gondola #2

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781555973513
Publisher:	Graywolf Press
Publication date:	10/03/2001
Pages:	122
Product dimensions:	5.98(w) x 8.94(h) x 0.36(d)

About the Author

Tomas Tranströmer (1933-2015) received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2011. His books of poetry, which have been translated into sixty languages, include The Deleted World and The Half-Finished Heaven, and he received numerous international honors during his lifetime. Tranströmer, a trained Swedish psychologist, worked for years in state institutions with juveniles and the disabled, and his work was often praised for the inventive ways in which it examined the mind. When he was awarded the Nobel Prize, the Swedish Academy stated that "through his condensed, translucent images, he gave us fresh access to reality."

Read an Excerpt

The Half-Finished Heaven

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By Robert Bly Tomas Transtromer

Graywolf Press

ISBN: 1-55597-351-5

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Chapter One

Storm The man on a walk suddenly meets the old giant oak like an elk turned to stone with its enormous antlers against the dark green castle wall of the fall ocean. Storm from the north. It's nearly time for the rowanberries to ripen. Awake in the night he hears the constellations far above the oak stamping in their stalls. The Half-Finished Heaven Cowardice breaks off on its path. Anguish breaks off on its path. The vulture breaks off in its flight. The eager light runs into the open, even the ghosts take a drink. And our paintings see the air, red beasts of the ice-age studios. Everything starts to look around. We go out in the sun by hundreds. Every person is a half-open door leading to a room for everyone. The endless field under us. Water glitters between the trees. The lake is a window into the earth. Two Cities There is a stretch of water, a city on each side-one of them utterly dark, where enemies live. Lamps are burning in the other. The well-lit shore hypnotizes the dark shore. I swim out in a trance on the glittering dark water. A steady note of a tuba comes in. It's a friend's voice: "Take up your grave and walk."

(Continues...)

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Excerpted from The Half-Finished Heaven by Robert Bly Tomas Transtromer Excerpted by permission.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Table of Contents

Introduction: "Upward into the Depths" (2001) Robert Bly ix

Introduction to the Expanded Edition (2017) Robert Bly xxiii

1 Poems From

17 Poems (1954)

Secrets on the Road (1958)

The Half-Finished Heaven (1962)

Evening-Morning 5

Storm 6

Sailor's Tale 7

The Man Awakened by a Song above His Roof 8

Track 9

Kyrie 10

After the Attack 11

Balakirev's Dream (1905) 12

Prison 14

The Couple 16

C Major 17

Allegro 18

Lamento 19

The Tree and the Sky 20

A Winter Night 21

Dark Shape Swimming 22

The Half-Finished Heaven 23

Nocturne 24

2 Poems From

Resonance and Footprints (1966)

Night Vision (1970)

Airmail: The Letters of Robert Ely and Tomas Tranströmer (2013)

Open and Closed Space 27

Lisbon 28

From an African Diary (1963) 29

Morning Bird Songs 30

Summer Grass 32

About History 33

After a Death 35

Under Pressure 36

Slow Music 37

Out in the Open 38

Solitude 40

Breathing Space July 42

The Open Window 43

Preludes 44

The Bookcase 46

Outskirts 47

Going with the Current 48

Traffic 50

Night Duty 52

A Few Moments 53

The Name 54

Standing Up 55

Conflict 56

Walking Running Crawling 57

3 Poems From

Pathways (1973)

Truth Barriers (1978)

Elegy 61

The Scattered Congregation 62

To Friends behind a Border 63

Snow-Melting Time, '66 64

Sketch in October 65

Further In 66

Late May 67

December Evening, '72 68

Seeing through the Ground 69

Guard Duty 70

Along the Lines (Far North) 72

At Funchal (Island of Madeira) 74

Calling Home 75

Citoyens 76

For Mats and Laila 77

After a Long Dry Spell 79

A Place in the Woods 80

Street Crossing 81

Below Freezing 82

Montenegro 83

Boat, Town 84

Start of a Late Autumn Novel 85

From the Winter of 1947 86

The Clearing 87

Schubertiana 88

The Gallery 91

4 Poems From

The Wild Market Square (1983)

For the Living and the Dead (1989)

Grief Gondola (1996)

The Great Conundrum (2004)

From March '79 99

Fire Script 100

Black Postcards 101

Romanesque Arches 102

The Forgotten Commander 103

Vermeer 105

The Cuckoo 107

The Kingdom of Uncertainty 108

Three Stanzas 109

Two Cities 110

Island Life, 1860 111

April and Silence 112

Landscape with Suns 113

Midwinter 114

Grief Gondola #2 115

Haiku 118

Editorial Reviews

The poems of Tomas Tranströmer are points of entry 'upward into / the depths' of an imagination, a spirit that is regeneratively inventive, capacious, unillusioned, undaunted, admirable . . . This extraordinary collection of work by one of Sweden's greatest contemporary poets presents a rich sampling of verse published during the past five decades.” —The New York Times Book Review

From the Publisher