Published in the modernist literary magazine Presença in 1933, this poem points to Fernando Pessoa’s obsession with the contrast between feelings and thoughts. It illustrates the main theme of the poetry signed with his own name (which Pessoa himself called… Read More ›
This poem, Bön till solen, appeared in Karin Boye’s fourth and final collection of poetry, För trädets skull (For the Tree’s Sake, 1935). (A fifth collection, De sjudödssynderna [The Seven Deadly Sins], was published posthumously in 1941.) This poem is… Read More ›
Modernism, poetry and the term modernism, with or without capitalization, has inspired a vast literature of definition, commentary, and contentious discussion. Nuanced, scholarly distinctions dividing proto- or early modernism from high modernism and from spin-offs like Anglo-American modernism fill library… Read More ›
Yvan Goll’s Jean Sans Terre is a collection of five books of interrelated poems written over eight years (from 1936 to 1944). Goll maps the anguish of dispossession, the suffering and distress of the alienated human individual suffering the worst… Read More ›
Many readers consider Rainer Maria Rilke’s Duino Elegies (Duineser Elegien), which Rilke completed in 1922, not only his most accomplished poetry, but also, plausibly, the most perfect lyrical sequence of the 20th century. So well crafted are the 10 poems… Read More ›