Selected poems [of] Paavo Haavikko (Penguin modern European poets)

Hague, born in 1908, is one of Norway's outstanding poets. He has spent his life in Ulvik, a small town in the Hardanger area of Western Norway, and has made a living off the apple crop from his orchard, an acre in size. This large and diverse selection is drawn from all phases of his work. His poems, though deeply rooted in his western Norwegian landscape, are universal in their everyday subject matter, wry humour and an economy of language reminiscent of W C Williams or Robert Francis. The 1950s saw a major breakthrough in Finnish poetry when such modernists as Paavo Haavikko turned away from national idealism. The poetry of Haavikko, who has emerged as the most original of these poets, is remarkable for its lyricism and exceptionally direct imagery. Tomas Transtrmer, a contemporary Swedish poet, draws on a long tradition of Swedish nature poetry, and combines a wide viewpoint with a sharp focus on particular details. This selection ranges from his early, somewhat mystical poems to his later, more explicit work. Translated And With An Introduction By Anselm Hollo ; [and Of] Tomas Tranströmer / Translated And With An Introduction By Robin Fulton. --