Marianne Larsen (born 1951) is a very well-known, Danish poet - but at the same time she is not very well known. The critics love her, her fans love her, but she is not one of those writers who "make a stir" in the media. No, somehow she is not as well known as e.g. the more flashy Pia Tafdrup who is another acclaimed poet in Denmark of 2007. Marianne Larsen is not as highly profiled, even though she is still considered one of the very best Danish poets today, i.e. in 2025.
"Uncover your left shoulder
Press your lips against something missing there
Maybe close your eyes
Slowly sit down on the floor
in the corner of an empty room
Stay in that position all day long
Fall asleep in that position
Stay where you are, even when you're asleep
You may open your eyes, if you wake up"
In the 1970s and the beginning of the 1980s she was a decidedly political poet, but still with her own distinct voice, actually making her the only major Danish, political poet of that time. However, the intent may be clear, but the tone is not what one expects in a political poet. No simplistic and poetically inept hailing to the socialist state or ideologies, but an indignation at ordinary humans' lives and general circumstances in modern society. Even at that time, she had a somewhat naive faith in language as the means of setting free the human spirit, and thus the humans themselves. Language and words always were some of her favorite themes, and she tests their power and impact over an over again.
"We put our arms around each other
A Pair of ordinary tax-paying human arms
Not to rest them
But to harden them
A pair of ordinarily hugging
Human Arms
We put them around each other
They are health-insured and ordinarily dressed
A pair of ordinary love-interpreting
Human arms
How strong they are
Sovereign, independent -
No matter where
No matter What the hour
No matter what the season
Suddenly, and for all time
Human arms
Without speculation
We put them around each other
As if to show that their powerlessness
doesn't exist"
In the 1990s she published four autobiographical novels, "Guess Who Loves You", "Alien Happiness", "Gallery Reality", and "Guests of Each Other" which tell the story of a young girl, by the name of Bodil, who grows up in the country in the 1950s and 1960s, and moves on to the political and artistic circles of the 1970s and 1980s. I don't think these novels come up to the level of her poetry, but they are interesting to read as gateways to her life and personality.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marianne_Larsen
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