Tomas Tranströmer is one of Sweden's most internationally acclaimed writers. His poems have been translated into more than fifty languages and his name regularly figures in speculation about possible Nobel Prize winners in literature. The thesis "I den forsande stäven är vila" aims to present a new interpretation of his work, partly based on extensive manuscript material that has previously only been available to researchers in parts. The study is organized in three main sections. The first chapter deals with the writing process and the connection between life and poetry. The second chapter is a thematic study of how movement is portrayed in Tranströmer's poems; the dynamics of movement are perceived as constitutive of his poetry and of just as much importance as other, more circumscribed characteristics. In a final chapter, I study the poetic form, emphasizing the great flexibility and inventiveness that characterize the poems.