Pentti Saarikoski

Pentti Saarikoski in 1958.

Pentti Saarikoski (Impilahti, now in the Republic of Karelia September 2, 1937 – Joensuu August 24, 1983) was one of the most important poets in the literary scene of Finland during the 1960s and 1970s. His body of work comprises poetry and translations, among them such classics as Homer's Odyssey and James Joyce's Ulysses.

Quotes

• Life was given to man

for him to consider

in which position he wants to be dead:

Grey skies float by

star-meadows hang

and the earth comes into your mouth like bread.

• Pentti Saarikoski. "Greek Sequence." in: Aleksis Rubulis (1970), Baltic literature: a survey of Finnish, Estonian, Latvian, and Lithuanian literatures, p. 53