Edith Södergran
Edith Irene Södergran was a Swedish-speaking Finnish poet.
Södergran was born in St Petersburg in 1892. In 1907 Edith's father died from tuberculosis, and in the following year Edith was also diagnosed with the disease. She was sent to a sanatorium, but did not feel at ease there. The feelings of captivity caused by the disease and the sanatorium are a recurring theme in her poetry.
In October 1911, Edith and her mother traveled to Arosa in Switzerland where Edith was examined by different doctors. After a few months, she was transferred to the Davos-Dorf sanatorium. In May 1912, her condition had improved enough for her to return home. Eventually, the disease returned and Edith Södergran died in 1923 in her home in Raivola. She was 31 years old.
“Nu ville vi säga dig ditt livs hemlighet:nyckeln till alla hemligheter ligger i gräset i hallonbacken.Vi ville stöta dig för pannan, du sovande,vi ville väcka dig, döda, ur din sömn.”
“Gå ikke alltför nära dina drömmar:de äro en osanning, de borde gå -de äro ett vansinne, de vilja stanna.”
“Min selvsikkerhed beror på, at jeg har opdaget mine dimensioner. Det er ikke min sag at gøre mig mindre end jeg er”
“The inner fire is the most important thing mankind possesses.”
“LoveMy soul was a light-blue gown, sky-coloured;I left it on a cliff by the seaand naked I came to you, resembling a woman.And like a woman I sat at your tableand drank a toast with wine and breathed in the scent of several roses.You found me beautiful, resembling something you'd seen dreaming,I forgot everything, I forgot my childhood and my homeland,I knew only that your caresses held me captive.And, smiling, you took up a mirror and bade me look.I saw that my shoulders were made of dust and crumbled away,I saw that my beauty was sick and had no desire other than to - disappear.Oh, hold me close in your arms, so tightly that I need nothing.”
“My self-confidence comes from the fact that I have discovered my own dimensions. It does not behoove me to make myself smaller than I am.”