Bridges between the Margins of Europe: Portugal in Tomas Tranströmer’s Oeuvre

Among the poems written by Tomas Tranströmer that originated from encounters with other cultures, two are dedicated to Portugal, a country that he visited on more than one occasion. The first of these poems, entitled Lissabon (Lisbon), was published in 1966 in the collection Klanger och spår (Sounds and Tracks). The second, Funchal, is the poem closing Sanningsbarriären (The Truth Barrier), published in 1978. This article offers some observations on both poems as relevant examples of the broad range of themes found in Tranströmer’s poetic universe.