SÖDERGRAN, Edith
Modern Woman

The trailblazing debut collection of Edith Södergran, a modernist visionary and one of the most influential poets to write in Swedish. Södergran’s daring, avant-garde work outraged many of her Finland-Swedish contemporaries who clung to traditional literary sensibilities. Through dynamic symbolism and fluid logic, the poems comprising her first collection fundamentally questioned early twentieth-century notions of what poetry is and what it can do. “Something like this has never been heard before,” noted critic and fellow Finland-Swedish poet Hagar Olsson about her work. During her short life, Södergran enacted the poet’s ultimate task of imagining previously unexplored possibilities for language, ushering literary modernism into Swedish-language writing and inspiring generations of writers since.

Originally published in Helsinki in 1916. Translated from the Swedish by CD Eskilson. Woodcuts on the cover by Ellen Thesleff. 

Published by World Poetry Books, 2026
Poetry