Poetry. Translated from the Swedish by Lars Nordström and Erland Anderson. Winner of the 1974 Nobel Prize for Literature, Harry Martinson (1904-1978) was noted for his keen observations of nature. Martinson also wrote poetry, fiction, travel books, and volumes of nature essays, three of which were written in the 1930s, long before such interest in environmental issues became commonplace. VIEWS FROM A TUFT OF GRASS, written later in his life, in 1963, continues his observations on nature, but the essays of this volume reflect a maturer and cleaner style and are less philosophically dense than the earlier works--a book translator Lars Nordstrom describes is a kind of coda, that focuses not just on nature but explores the importance of childhood folktales, our way of viewing the world from a history of maps, and thoughtful meditation on the way a poet ought to write his or her poems.