"I am angry with myself for the collection, but it cannot be undone," wrote Knut Hamsun about his only collection of poems, The Wild Choir from 1904. It is a harsh judgment of his own poetic work, but one he has largely come to share in since. Hamsun's attempts to work outside the novel genre have generally been met with a certain coolness. Compared to the novels, the poems and plays often appear as trifles in his writing – minor works that have rarely achieved the same appreciative reception, either from contemporary critics or from later readers.

Nevertheless, it would be an oversimplification to write off Hamsun's poems completely. They have had a certain resonance, after all. Certain formulations have proven remarkably resilient. The most famous is the line "In a hundred years everything will be forgotten", which still circulates widely in the public domain - well over a century after the poem with the same title was first printed in The Wild Choir . Thus, a small piece of Hamsun's poetry lives on, detached from the collection he himself wanted undone.

What is it that makes Hamsun's poetry so often written off? He himself was merciless in his judgment of it. The poems lack not only "Sweetness," he writes of the collection, but "so much else too, the whole Shulamite."

One group therefore believes that one must turn to the novels to find Hamsun at his most lyrical. He himself called Victoria "nothing but a little poetry", and the novels are also full of poetic coincidences. Perhaps the most famous are the lines:

"And love became the origin of the world and the ruler of the world, but all its paths are full of flowers and blood, flowers and blood."

It almost seems as if Hamsun needed the novel form to unleash his poetic temperament. In novels like Pan , the lyrical descriptions are so dense that one can hardly turn to a random page without coming across a little masterpiece of nature lyricism.

But in the hard-hitting criticism of the collection of his own poems, Hamsun also writes that “If someone sat down to search in it, they might find glimpses, but in that case only glimpses.” On the occasion of World Poetry Day, we find it appropriate to share such a glimpse:

AT THE NEW

I'm walking and playing in the forest.
and lights a Baal at Kvæld.
A Day is Dying in the West
and the Moon stands limp.

The whole world has gone to rest,
where silence from Bush and Path,
only bat wings breathe
in Nyingen's Skin past.

My Heart lazes and dreams
and falls silent as if in a trance.
Surrounding me are waves from the Forest
a soft eternal Hiss.

Practiced throughout history – in all cultures and on all continents – poetry speaks to our common humanity and our shared values, transforming even the simplest poem into a powerful catalyst for dialogue and peace.

World Poetry Day is celebrated every year on March 21st and pays tribute to one of humanity's most precious forms of cultural and linguistic expression and identity.

UNESCO first adopted 21 March as World Poetry Day during its 30th General Conference in Paris in 1999, with the aim of supporting linguistic diversity through poetic expression and giving endangered languages a greater voice. World Poetry Day is an opportunity to honour poets, revive oral traditions of poetry reading, promote the reading, writing and teaching of poetry, strengthen the encounter between poetry and other art forms such as theatre, dance, music and visual arts, and increase the visibility of poetry in the media.

Knut Hamsun, failed poet?

Exhibition stand