Aniara

Blurb

Aniara is a poem of science fiction written by the Swedish Nobel laureate Harry Martinson in 1956. It was published on 13 October 1956. The title comes from ancient Greek ἀνιαρός, "sad, despairing", plus special resonances that the sound "a" had for Martinson.
Aniara is an effort to "[mediate] between science and poetry, between the wish to understand and the difficulty to comprehend." Martinson translates scientific imagery into the poem: for example, the "curved space" from Einstein's general theory of relativity is likely an inspiration for Martinson's description of the cosmos as "a bowl of glass." Martinson also said he was influenced by Paul Dirac.