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Collected Poems (1942)

by Karin Boye

Other authors: See the other authors section.

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2244128,048 (4.08)1
"Karin Boye is Sweden's greatest woman poet. Born in 1900, she was a poet of ideas, and wrote a powerful prophetic novel, Kallocain. Her involvement in the radical literary and artistic movement Clarte during the 1920s led to her interest in psychoanalysis, which influenced her literary work as well as her personal development during the latter years of her life. Intellectually and emotionally, she was far ahead of her time, and her controversial writings included the novel crisis, in which she depicted the religious turmoil of her adolescence and her discovery of her own bisexuality." "David McDuff's edition shows Karin Boye moving from youthful idealism to a desperate quest. In the early poems, she is a tense modern spirit aroused to strenuous affirmations of absolute ethical loyalties - but prone also to drift passively back into regions of the subconscious and the unconscious, where mysterious natural forces take possession of the human spirit. Her identification with nature's dark but knowing and fertile instincts becomes more complete in her later work, in which serene nature symbolism is mixed with ominously strained elements."--Jacket.… (more)
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» See also 1 mention

English (2)  Swedish (2)  All languages (4)
Showing 2 of 2
(Egentligen 0/5) ( )
  Wilma0205 | Sep 11, 2024 |
I was introduced by a Swedish friend to the work of Karin Boye, who has been described as "Sweden's greatest woman poet," and I will always be grateful to him for the discovery. I have frequently thought that the best of her work seems caught in that limbo between faith and despair, but my perceptions are perhaps influenced by my (limited) knowledge of her struggles with her sexual identity, and her eventual suicide. Two of my favorites:

You Are My Purest Consolation

You are my purest consolation,
you are my firmest protection,
you are the best thing I have,
for nothing hurts like you.

No, nothing hurts like you.
You smart like ice and fire,
you cut like steel my soul -
you are the best thing I have.


Yes, of course it hurts

Yes, of course it hurts when buds are breaking.
Why else would the springtime falter?
Why would all our ardent longing
bind itself in frozen, bitter pallor?
After all, the bud was covered all the winter.
What new thing is it that bursts and wears?
Yes, of course it hurts when buds are breaking,
hurts for that which grows
and that which bars.

Yes, it is hard when drops are falling.
Trembling with fear, and heavy hanging,
cleaving to the twig, and swelling, sliding -
weight draws them down, though they go on clinging.
Hard to be uncertain, afraid and divided,
hard to feel the depths attract and call,
yet sit fast and merely tremble -
hard to want to stay
and want to fall.

Then, when things are worst and nothing helps
the tree's buds break as in rejoicing,
then, when no fear holds back any longer,
down in glitter go the twig's drops plunging,
forget that they were frightened by the new,
forget their fear before the flight unfurled -
feel for a second their greatest safety,
rest in that trust
that creates the world.


There is something in these lines which makes me want to crawl away to some secluded corner, and be very quiet with myself... Powerful, in ways I am not always able to understand. ( )
1 vote AbigailAdams26 | Jul 3, 2013 |
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» Add other authors (2 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Boye, Karinprimary authorall editionsconfirmed
McDuff, DavidTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
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Innehåller Moln, Gömda land, Härdarna, För trädets skull samt De sju dödssynderna.
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"Karin Boye is Sweden's greatest woman poet. Born in 1900, she was a poet of ideas, and wrote a powerful prophetic novel, Kallocain. Her involvement in the radical literary and artistic movement Clarte during the 1920s led to her interest in psychoanalysis, which influenced her literary work as well as her personal development during the latter years of her life. Intellectually and emotionally, she was far ahead of her time, and her controversial writings included the novel crisis, in which she depicted the religious turmoil of her adolescence and her discovery of her own bisexuality." "David McDuff's edition shows Karin Boye moving from youthful idealism to a desperate quest. In the early poems, she is a tense modern spirit aroused to strenuous affirmations of absolute ethical loyalties - but prone also to drift passively back into regions of the subconscious and the unconscious, where mysterious natural forces take possession of the human spirit. Her identification with nature's dark but knowing and fertile instincts becomes more complete in her later work, in which serene nature symbolism is mixed with ominously strained elements."--Jacket.

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Poetry
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