tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15302273.post113712121369919604..comments2023-10-08T04:31:20.162-04:00Comments on The Secret Thread: Literature & Spiritual Life: Duke Altum's Poem of the Week #20 -- First in 2006!Duke Altumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17494561267128023739noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15302273.post-1137239730008526212006-01-14T06:55:00.000-05:002006-01-14T06:55:00.000-05:00Tarjei Vesaas is worth checking out for numerous r...Tarjei Vesaas is worth checking out for numerous reasons, as we have tried to point out before on this blog. This poem seems to ring in some of the same tones as much of the prose I have read from him in two novels, "The Ice Palace" and "The Birds". Obviously Vesaas had an observant eye for nature and an appreciation of its beauty and mysteries. Also he seemed particularly observant of birds, which play heavily into the novel of the same title. One of the characters in that book takes a close interest in all that the birds around him do and tries to interpret their actions. This seems like it was almost written in the same voice. I think Vesaas is somewhat difficult to understand, even more so because his Norwegian culture is so different from ours, and never having been to Norway, it's not easy for me to put the words and images into some kind of context. But he seemed to be skilled at pointing towards the elusive beauty in our natural surroundings and in life itself. He never seems to want to explain what these things are all about, even if he could. He just kind of illuminates them. And when you read one of his novels, and apparently his poetry too, you're forced to take notice of things that are so easy to overlook. This is why you read people like this.....Mutt Ploughmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07886850428991826645noreply@blogger.com