Poetry
Vienkārši vārdi
Not translated into English
Veronika Strēlerte · 1937
Synopsis
A first collection, dedicated to her sister Helma Švābe, who died in August 1934. Marked by the Romantic classics, the poems speak of the beauty of life and its brevity, and set the passing moment against eternity; one of them, Visbijā, was born of a journey to Visby, in Sweden, in 1936. A precise and concise form already carries the reflection on beauty, the ephemeral and fate that will run through her six collections.
Context
The collection appeared in 1937, three years after the death of the sister to whom it is dedicated. It opens a body of work of six collections, from Lietus lāse, in 1940, to Pusvārdā, in 1982, by way of Mēness upe, which appeared in the year of her exile. The Lithuanian encyclopaedia distinguishes these early poems, turned towards the happiness of existing, from the post-war poetry, in which the tragic experience of war, existence in a foreign land and metaphysical questions about existence and death predominate. The poet Gunārs Saliņš devoted a study to her work in 1982.
Who it is for
Short poems, in classical form and simple words. It is worth knowing that their author was a translator by profession.
Prizes and reception
Cultural Foundation prize and a reprint the following year, for the first book of a poet praised for her mastery of form.
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The pages consulted to check this page.