Many of the poems could be mentioned but one in particular seems worthy of note. "Outside the Wind Whispers" is the poem I have chosen to write about because I think it reveals an interesting aspect of Vesaas's poetry. Forgive my taking the liberty of quoting from page 35 of the paperback version of Through Naked Branches:

Inklings of the storm,

of the heavy trembling,

are surely what drive

us together.

Inklings of loneliness,

of a creeping frost,

an imminent fall,

a futile cry.--

[The formatting of the poetry might be lost. I have double spaced the lines hoping that they maintain the proper format. When I didn't double space them, they flowed together as one long line.]

This final stanza of "Outside the Wind Whispers" seems to me to describe the sensation of much of Vesaas's poetry. He often describes awesome and magnificent aspects of nature and contrasts these with a sensation of emptiness or spaciousness. He attributes human characteristics to nature and creates a feeling of humanity overwhelmed, or humanity buffeted by forces it cannot control.

the previous reviewers have not mentioned "From the Stoop." this poem is about dusk's arrival. it is one of many in the collection that refreshingly infuses a typical daily experience or event with a new and emphatic significance. in a sense, the reader must pause and remember to reconsider the dramatic effect of that which she sees every day in nature. "Rain in Hiroshima" on the other hand, describes an unnatural event which had, and continues to have, a huge impact on the world, which is very different than that of dusk's approach. however, the two poems are written with a similar wondering and melancholic intensity.

I would like to quote the poetry to show you the grace and power of the language, but I am not sure if that is permitted.

I enjoyed Miss Haversham's review, but I must point out that you don't have to be a contortionist to enjoy this book!! She hit the nail on the head regarding the highlights of the book's content, but she did make a few errors that I cannot resist correcting. The paperback version of the book is almost 200 pages, not 150 pages. The poetry is translated from Norwegian into English and not the other way around.

I too enjoyed the poem entitled "The Small Rodents," but I was more impressed by such poems as "The Loon Heads North" and "The Horse." The poetry is mysterious, moving and quite varied in theme.

Bravo to Miss Haversham for reviewing this book first and pointing out its many interesting aspects!

A beautiful book. The imagery is lovely, and I got hooked when one of the characters actually wanders into the ice palace. The descriptions of the light, and the interplay of the changing colors and shapes of the ice were mesmerizing--I stayed up late and couldn't go to bed. And in the morning it seemed it should be all ice outside instead of the height of summer. Tremendously atmospheric, simply splendid. The first book in about six months to make it straight to my read-again shelf. And short--a quick read if you're busy.

One of the most beautiful books ever written. You are not literate before you have read this book.

From the first sentence Tarjei Vesaas draws the reader into a world of icy chill and unspoken foreboding ,drawn with language as spare, beautiful and relentless as the wintry nordic landscape. Two girls on the brink of puberty experience a moment of furtive sexual and spiritual awakening that neither is emotionally prepared for; when one of them subsequently vanishes from her home the other is lost in a welter of guilt and confusion. An unusual and evocative exploration of emotional isolation, both real and self imposed

A masterpiece of Norwegian literature. It's an exploration of the boundaries between madness and "normality", and the story of a young man's sacrifice on the altar of common sense and social unwritten rules. How much reality can we stand before loosing our mind? And how much nature, with its power that dances on our fears and on our weaknesses. It would be a great book to read in the language it was written: a bodily and full consistent Telemark dialect. Something goes lost in the traslation, though it couldn't have been otherwise and the trans-cultural re-codificatoion must have been a hard work. I suggest this book to everybody, especially to those who sometimes ask themselves questions about life.

This is a norwegian classic. The book is a painful reminder of the impossibility of being a human. It's warm and intense and has an exciting perspective. Vesaas was not far from a nobel prize with this book.

This is the book that can change your view of life. Two children, an accident... True life... One of the best books from Scandinavia ever...