Product Description

These hundred and fifty or so poems spanning the whole of the 20th century have been chosen with two distinct qualities in mind: firstly, the poetic quality of the translation, and secondly, faithfulness to the original. In most cases, the versions have been made by practising poets, many of which have been newly commissioned. The emphasis is on poems rather than poets and is accompanied by an introduction which signals and describes the movements and contours of the literary map.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #789145 in Books
• Published on: 2002-05-06
• Original language: French
• Binding: Paperback
• 176 pages

Customer Reviews

an unusual collection with some very interesting poems
Controversially perhaps, this book is a single-language edition of French twentieth-century poems. Generally when reading poetry in translation I prefer to have the original text before me. But in this case I found the translations so enjoyable that many of them stood as works on their own. Many have been specially commissioned for this collection, and therefore this book is in itself a contribution to our understanding of French literature.

There is also a highly accessible introduction by Stephen Romer, which surveys in a lively and informative way the major trends in twentieth-century French poetry.

Something to please both those who know French poetry and those looking to experience it for the first time.