From Library Journal
Nobel laureate Milosz states in his introduction that the purpose of this personal and eclectic collection is to present poetry that is "short, clear, readable, and...realistic, that is, loyal toward reality and attempting to describe it as concisely as possible." And for the most part, he has succeeded. The poems have a clarity and immediacy that would appeal to even the most poetry-averse reader. Most of the selections are from classical Chinese and 20th-century American and European (primarily Eastern European, Scandinavian, and French) poets. The poems are grouped by intriguing headings ("The Moment," "The Secret of a Thing," "A Woman's Skin"), and Milosz has written brief prefaces to many of them, creating an unusual sense of dialog between editor and reader. "My intention," says Milosz, "is not so much to defend poetry...but rather, to remind readers that for some very good reasons it may be of importance today." This refreshing and wise anthology is recommended for all collections.?Christine Stenstrom, Brooklyn P.L., N.Y.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
From Booklist
This is the second international poetry anthology to be published in as many months. The first, The Vintage Book of Contemporary World Poetry , is organized geographically. Milosz, who, naturally, appears in the Vintage collection, has approached his work as anthologizer from a far more personal and thematic perspective. His introduction is passionate and enlivening as he guides readers toward his vision of poems as forms of enchantment, then his clustering of poems under such alluring headings as "Epiphany," "The Secret of a Thing," "The Moment," "People among People," "Woman's Skin," and "Nonattachment" deepens and extends the readers' understanding of his poetics and the poems he has so lovingly chosen. Milosz remains a vital presence throughout the volume. There are plenty of American poets here, quite a few Chinese poets, and a diverse scattering of Europeans, but place of origin isn't as significant, ultimately, as place of arrival: a poem that speaks to everyone in every land. Donna Seaman --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Review
Prayer For My Son by James Applewhite
The Mason by Aloysius Bertrand
A Ballad Of Going Down To The Store by Miron Bialoszewski
Brazil, January 1, 1502 by Elizabeth Bishop
And Every Space That A Man Views Around His Dwelling-place by William Blake
In The Lake District by Joseph Brodsky
The Cobweb by Raymond Carver
The Window by Raymond Carver
Wine by Raymond Carver
Supplications by Constantine P. Cavafy
Waiting For The Barbarians by Constantine P. Cavafy
A Ringing Bell by Ch'ang Yu
Getting Up In Winter by Ch'ien Wen Of Liang
Along The Grand Canal by Ch'in Kuan
Coming At Night To A Fisherman's Hut by Chang Chi
Recalling The Past At T'ung Pass by Chang Yang-hao
Morning by Chu Shu-chen
Man Is Born In Tao by Chuang Tzu
The Need To Win by Chuang Tzu
Like They Say by Robert Creeley
The Snake by Emily Dickinson
Of His Life by Wayne Dodd
Of Rain And Air by Wayne Dodd
Greece by Gunnar Ekelof
A Journey by Edward Field
Black Meat by Jean Follain
Buying by Jean Follain
Face The Animal by Jean Follain
A Mirror by Jean Follain
School And Nature by Jean Follain
A Taxidermist by Jean Follain
Waxwings by Robert Francis
The Most Of It by Robert Frost
A Strange New Cottage In Berkeley by Allen Ginsberg
Perhaps ... For The Loneliness Of An Author by Gong Peiyu
Adult by Linda Gregg
A Dark Thing Inside The Day by Linda Gregg
Night Music by Linda Gregg
Woman At Lit Window by Eamon Grennan
Flight by Jorge Guillen
On The Mountain by John Haines
The Train Stops At Healy Fork by John Haines
Above Us by Julia Hartwig
The Image by Robert Hass
Late Spring by Robert Hass
Clearances; In Memoriam M.k.h., 1911-1984: 3 by Seamus Heaney
Elegy Of Fortinbras by Zbigniew Herbert
A Story by Jane Hirshfield
The Armenian Language Is The Home Of The Armenian by Moushegh Ishkan
The Catacombs In San Callisto by Rolf Jacobsen
Cobalt by Rolf Jacobsen
Express Train by Rolf Jacobsen
Rubber by Rolf Jacobsen
Little By Little, Wean Yourself by Jalal Ad-din (jalaluddin) Ar-rumi
Out Beyond Ideas Of Wrongdoing And Rightdoing by Jalal Ad-din (jalaluddin) Ar-rumi
Boats In A Fog by Robinson Jeffers
Carmel Point by Robinson Jeffers
Cremation by Robinson Jeffers
Evening Ebb by Robinson Jeffers
The Lightning by Judah Al-harizi
The Lute by Judah Al-harizi
The Sun by Judah Al-harizi
A Prayer That Will Be Answered by Anna Kamienska
My Wife And Children by Jaan Kaplinski
We Started Home, My Son And I by Jaan Kaplinski
Daybreak by Galway Kinnell
To A French Structuralist by David Kirby
Odysseus To Telemachus by George L. Kline
Late Lights In Minnesota by Ted Kooser
Cosmetics Do No Good by Steve Mark Kowit
In The Morning by Steve Mark Kowit
Notice by Steve Mark Kowit
What Chord Did She Pluck by Steve Mark Kowit
When He Pressed His Lips by Steve Mark Kowit
I Can't Help You by Ryszard Krynicki
And With March A Decade In Bolinas by Joanne Kyger
Destruction by Joanne Kyger
Images: 1 by Valery Larbaud
Images: 2 by Valery Larbaud
Images: 3 by Valery Larbaud
Images: Post-scriptum by Valery Larbaud
The Card-players by Philip Larkin
Butterfly by David Herbert Lawrence
Mystic by David Herbert Lawrence
Ordinance On Arrival by Naomi Lazard
Irises by Li-young Lee
Irises: 2 by Li-young Lee
Contraband by Denise Levertov
Eye Mask by Denise Levertov
Living by Denise Levertov
Witness by Denise Levertov
A Woman Meets An Old Lover by Denise Levertov
A Sleepless Night by Philip Levine
Hopelessness by Li Ch'ing-chao
Ancient Air by Li Po
Ancient Air by Li Po
Zazen On The Mountain by Li Po
Old Fisherman by Liu Tsung-yuan
Rainbow At Night by Antonio Machado Ruiz
Summer Night by Antonio Machado Ruiz
Orchards In July by Zbigniew Mache
An August Afternoon by Bronislav Maj
A Leaf by Bronislav Maj
Seen Fleetingly, From A Train by Bronislav Maj
A Dream At Night by Mei Yao-ch'en
An Elegy For Ernest Hemingway by Thomas James Merton
Dusk In Winter by William Stanley Merwin
For The Anniversary Of My Death by William Stanley Merwin
Utterance by William Stanley Merwin
The Bridge by Oscar Vladislas De Lubicz- Milosz
Bellrope by Robert Morgan
Honey by Robert Morgan
Magnificent Peak by Muso Soseki
Old Man At Leisure by Muso Soseki
The Torah Of The Void, Sels. by Nachman Of Bratzlav
Bladder Song by Leonard Edward Nathan
Toast by Leonard Edward Nathan
I Go Back To May 1937 by Sharon Olds
The Kingfisher by Mary Oliver
Wild Geese by Mary Oliver
Fisherman by Ou Yangxiu
After Collecting The Autumn Taxes by Po Chu-yi
After Getting Drunk, Becoming Sober In The Night by Po Chu-yi
Climbing The Ling-ying Terrace And Looking North by Po Chu-yi
A Dream Of Mountaineering by Po Chu-yi
Golden Bells by Po Chu-yi
Lodging With The Old Man Of The Stream by Po Chu-yi
Madly Singing In The Mountains by Po Chu-yi
The Philosophers: Lao-tzu by Po Chu-yi
Rain by Po Chu-yi
Sleeping On Horseback by Po Chu-yi
Starting Early From The Ch'u-ch'eng Inn by Po Chu-yi
The Frog by Francis Ponge
Sudden Appearance Of A Monster At A Window by Lawrence Raab
City Of The Moon, Sels by Kenneth Rexroth
The Lights In The Sky Are Stars: The Heart Of Herakles by Kenneth Rexroth
A Long Lifetime by Kenneth Rexroth
Part 1. by Kenneth Rexroth
Going Blind by Rainer Maria Rilke
Carnations by Theodore Roethke
Moss-gathering by Theodore Roethke
A Sketch For A Modern Love Poem by Tadeusz Rozewicz
A Voice by Tadeusz Rozewicz
Aleutian Islands: 1 by Frederic Sauser
Fish Cove by Frederic Sauser
Frisco-city by Frederic Sauser
Harvest by Frederic Sauser
South: 1. Tampa by Frederic Sauser
Empire Of Dreams by Charles Simic
After Midnight by Louis Simpson
Dragonfly by Gary Snyder
Late October Camping In The Sawtooths by Gary Snyder
Foundations by Leopold Staff
Vacation by William Edgar Stafford
Study Of Two Pears by Wallace Stevens
Exile In Japan by Su Man-shu
On A Painting By Wang The Clerk Of Yen Ling by Su Shih
Question by May Swenson
The Greatest Love by Anna Swir
I Starve My Belly For A Sublime Purpose by Anna Swir
I Talk To My Body by Anna Swir
I Wash The Shirt by Anna Swir
I'm Afraid Of Fire by Anna Swir
Poetry Reading by Anna Swir
The Same Inside by Anna Swir
The Sea And The Man by Anna Swir
The Second Madrigal by Anna Swir
She Does Not Remember by Anna Swir
Thank You, My Fate by Anna Swir
Troubles With The Soul At Morning Calisthenics by Anna Swir
Four In The Morning by Wislawa Szymborska
In Praise Of My Sister by Wislawa Szymborska
In Praise Of Self-deprecation by Wislawa Szymborska
Seen From Above by Wislawa Szymborska
View With A Grain Of Sand by Wislawa Szymborska
Teaching The Ape To Write Poems by James Tate
Outskirts by Tomas Transtromer
Syros by Tomas Transtromer
Tracks by Tomas Transtromer
Another Spring by Tu Fu
Clear After Rain by Tu Fu
Coming Home Late At Night by Tu Fu
Dejeuner Sur L'herbe by Tu Fu
Snow Storm by Tu Fu
South Wind by Tu Fu
Sunset by Tu Fu
To Pi Ssu Yao by Tu Fu
Travelling Northward by Tu Fu
Visitors by Tu Fu
Winter Dawn by Tu Fu
The Day We Die by Anonymous
Invocation Of The Creator by Anonymous
Magic Words by Anonymous
The Author Of American Ornithology Sketches A Bird, Now Extinct by David Wagoner
Loons Mating by David Wagoner
The New Wife by Wang Chien (768-833)
The South by Wang Chien (768-833)
Dancing Woman, Cockfighter Husband, And The Impoverished Sage by Wang Wei (699-761)
Drifting On The Lake by Wang Wei (699-761)
A Farewell by Wang Wei (699-761)
Lazy About Writing Poems by Wang Wei (699-761)
Magnolia Basin by Wang Wei (699-761)
Morning, Sailing Into Xinyang by Wang Wei (699-761)
Song About Xi Shi by Wang Wei (699-761)
Song Of Marching With The Army by Wang Wei (699-761)
Watching The Hunt by Wang Wei (699-761)
A White Turtle Under A Waterfall by Wang Wei (699-761)
Facing Bonnard by Aleksander Wat
A Joke by Aleksander Wat
Persian Parables, Sels. by Aleksander Wat
So Beautiful The Lungs by Aleksander Wat
The Plain by Sandor Weores
Rain by Sandor Weores
As Toilsome I Wander'd Virginia's Woods by Walt Whitman
By The Bivouac's Fitful Flame by Walt Whitman
Cavalry Crossing A Ford by Walt Whitman
Common Farmer by Walt Whitman
Dirge For Two Veterans by Walt Whitman
A Farm Picture by Walt Whitman
I Am The Poet by Walt Whitman
A Noiseless Patient Spider by Walt Whitman
Red Squaw by Walt Whitman
The Runner by Walt Whitman
A Sight In Camp In The Daybreak Gray And Dim by Walt Whitman
Proletarian Portrait by William Carlos Williams
The Red Wheelbarrow by William Carlos Williams
To A Poor Old Woman by William Carlos Williams
Dusk In My Backyard by Keith Wilson
Depiction Of Childhood by Franz Wright
Auto Mirror by Adam Zagajewski
Moths by Adam Zagajewski
Love In The Classroom by Al Zolynas
The Zen Of Housework by Al Zolynas
-- Table of Poems from Poem Finder® --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
The Mason by Aloysius Bertrand
A Ballad Of Going Down To The Store by Miron Bialoszewski
Brazil, January 1, 1502 by Elizabeth Bishop
And Every Space That A Man Views Around His Dwelling-place by William Blake
In The Lake District by Joseph Brodsky
The Cobweb by Raymond Carver
The Window by Raymond Carver
Wine by Raymond Carver
Supplications by Constantine P. Cavafy
Waiting For The Barbarians by Constantine P. Cavafy
A Ringing Bell by Ch'ang Yu
Getting Up In Winter by Ch'ien Wen Of Liang
Along The Grand Canal by Ch'in Kuan
Coming At Night To A Fisherman's Hut by Chang Chi
Recalling The Past At T'ung Pass by Chang Yang-hao
Morning by Chu Shu-chen
Man Is Born In Tao by Chuang Tzu
The Need To Win by Chuang Tzu
Like They Say by Robert Creeley
The Snake by Emily Dickinson
Of His Life by Wayne Dodd
Of Rain And Air by Wayne Dodd
Greece by Gunnar Ekelof
A Journey by Edward Field
Black Meat by Jean Follain
Buying by Jean Follain
Face The Animal by Jean Follain
A Mirror by Jean Follain
School And Nature by Jean Follain
A Taxidermist by Jean Follain
Waxwings by Robert Francis
The Most Of It by Robert Frost
A Strange New Cottage In Berkeley by Allen Ginsberg
Perhaps ... For The Loneliness Of An Author by Gong Peiyu
Adult by Linda Gregg
A Dark Thing Inside The Day by Linda Gregg
Night Music by Linda Gregg
Woman At Lit Window by Eamon Grennan
Flight by Jorge Guillen
On The Mountain by John Haines
The Train Stops At Healy Fork by John Haines
Above Us by Julia Hartwig
The Image by Robert Hass
Late Spring by Robert Hass
Clearances; In Memoriam M.k.h., 1911-1984: 3 by Seamus Heaney
Elegy Of Fortinbras by Zbigniew Herbert
A Story by Jane Hirshfield
The Armenian Language Is The Home Of The Armenian by Moushegh Ishkan
The Catacombs In San Callisto by Rolf Jacobsen
Cobalt by Rolf Jacobsen
Express Train by Rolf Jacobsen
Rubber by Rolf Jacobsen
Little By Little, Wean Yourself by Jalal Ad-din (jalaluddin) Ar-rumi
Out Beyond Ideas Of Wrongdoing And Rightdoing by Jalal Ad-din (jalaluddin) Ar-rumi
Boats In A Fog by Robinson Jeffers
Carmel Point by Robinson Jeffers
Cremation by Robinson Jeffers
Evening Ebb by Robinson Jeffers
The Lightning by Judah Al-harizi
The Lute by Judah Al-harizi
The Sun by Judah Al-harizi
A Prayer That Will Be Answered by Anna Kamienska
My Wife And Children by Jaan Kaplinski
We Started Home, My Son And I by Jaan Kaplinski
Daybreak by Galway Kinnell
To A French Structuralist by David Kirby
Odysseus To Telemachus by George L. Kline
Late Lights In Minnesota by Ted Kooser
Cosmetics Do No Good by Steve Mark Kowit
In The Morning by Steve Mark Kowit
Notice by Steve Mark Kowit
What Chord Did She Pluck by Steve Mark Kowit
When He Pressed His Lips by Steve Mark Kowit
I Can't Help You by Ryszard Krynicki
And With March A Decade In Bolinas by Joanne Kyger
Destruction by Joanne Kyger
Images: 1 by Valery Larbaud
Images: 2 by Valery Larbaud
Images: 3 by Valery Larbaud
Images: Post-scriptum by Valery Larbaud
The Card-players by Philip Larkin
Butterfly by David Herbert Lawrence
Mystic by David Herbert Lawrence
Ordinance On Arrival by Naomi Lazard
Irises by Li-young Lee
Irises: 2 by Li-young Lee
Contraband by Denise Levertov
Eye Mask by Denise Levertov
Living by Denise Levertov
Witness by Denise Levertov
A Woman Meets An Old Lover by Denise Levertov
A Sleepless Night by Philip Levine
Hopelessness by Li Ch'ing-chao
Ancient Air by Li Po
Ancient Air by Li Po
Zazen On The Mountain by Li Po
Old Fisherman by Liu Tsung-yuan
Rainbow At Night by Antonio Machado Ruiz
Summer Night by Antonio Machado Ruiz
Orchards In July by Zbigniew Mache
An August Afternoon by Bronislav Maj
A Leaf by Bronislav Maj
Seen Fleetingly, From A Train by Bronislav Maj
A Dream At Night by Mei Yao-ch'en
An Elegy For Ernest Hemingway by Thomas James Merton
Dusk In Winter by William Stanley Merwin
For The Anniversary Of My Death by William Stanley Merwin
Utterance by William Stanley Merwin
The Bridge by Oscar Vladislas De Lubicz- Milosz
Bellrope by Robert Morgan
Honey by Robert Morgan
Magnificent Peak by Muso Soseki
Old Man At Leisure by Muso Soseki
The Torah Of The Void, Sels. by Nachman Of Bratzlav
Bladder Song by Leonard Edward Nathan
Toast by Leonard Edward Nathan
I Go Back To May 1937 by Sharon Olds
The Kingfisher by Mary Oliver
Wild Geese by Mary Oliver
Fisherman by Ou Yangxiu
After Collecting The Autumn Taxes by Po Chu-yi
After Getting Drunk, Becoming Sober In The Night by Po Chu-yi
Climbing The Ling-ying Terrace And Looking North by Po Chu-yi
A Dream Of Mountaineering by Po Chu-yi
Golden Bells by Po Chu-yi
Lodging With The Old Man Of The Stream by Po Chu-yi
Madly Singing In The Mountains by Po Chu-yi
The Philosophers: Lao-tzu by Po Chu-yi
Rain by Po Chu-yi
Sleeping On Horseback by Po Chu-yi
Starting Early From The Ch'u-ch'eng Inn by Po Chu-yi
The Frog by Francis Ponge
Sudden Appearance Of A Monster At A Window by Lawrence Raab
City Of The Moon, Sels by Kenneth Rexroth
The Lights In The Sky Are Stars: The Heart Of Herakles by Kenneth Rexroth
A Long Lifetime by Kenneth Rexroth
Part 1. by Kenneth Rexroth
Going Blind by Rainer Maria Rilke
Carnations by Theodore Roethke
Moss-gathering by Theodore Roethke
A Sketch For A Modern Love Poem by Tadeusz Rozewicz
A Voice by Tadeusz Rozewicz
Aleutian Islands: 1 by Frederic Sauser
Fish Cove by Frederic Sauser
Frisco-city by Frederic Sauser
Harvest by Frederic Sauser
South: 1. Tampa by Frederic Sauser
Empire Of Dreams by Charles Simic
After Midnight by Louis Simpson
Dragonfly by Gary Snyder
Late October Camping In The Sawtooths by Gary Snyder
Foundations by Leopold Staff
Vacation by William Edgar Stafford
Study Of Two Pears by Wallace Stevens
Exile In Japan by Su Man-shu
On A Painting By Wang The Clerk Of Yen Ling by Su Shih
Question by May Swenson
The Greatest Love by Anna Swir
I Starve My Belly For A Sublime Purpose by Anna Swir
I Talk To My Body by Anna Swir
I Wash The Shirt by Anna Swir
I'm Afraid Of Fire by Anna Swir
Poetry Reading by Anna Swir
The Same Inside by Anna Swir
The Sea And The Man by Anna Swir
The Second Madrigal by Anna Swir
She Does Not Remember by Anna Swir
Thank You, My Fate by Anna Swir
Troubles With The Soul At Morning Calisthenics by Anna Swir
Four In The Morning by Wislawa Szymborska
In Praise Of My Sister by Wislawa Szymborska
In Praise Of Self-deprecation by Wislawa Szymborska
Seen From Above by Wislawa Szymborska
View With A Grain Of Sand by Wislawa Szymborska
Teaching The Ape To Write Poems by James Tate
Outskirts by Tomas Transtromer
Syros by Tomas Transtromer
Tracks by Tomas Transtromer
Another Spring by Tu Fu
Clear After Rain by Tu Fu
Coming Home Late At Night by Tu Fu
Dejeuner Sur L'herbe by Tu Fu
Snow Storm by Tu Fu
South Wind by Tu Fu
Sunset by Tu Fu
To Pi Ssu Yao by Tu Fu
Travelling Northward by Tu Fu
Visitors by Tu Fu
Winter Dawn by Tu Fu
The Day We Die by Anonymous
Invocation Of The Creator by Anonymous
Magic Words by Anonymous
The Author Of American Ornithology Sketches A Bird, Now Extinct by David Wagoner
Loons Mating by David Wagoner
The New Wife by Wang Chien (768-833)
The South by Wang Chien (768-833)
Dancing Woman, Cockfighter Husband, And The Impoverished Sage by Wang Wei (699-761)
Drifting On The Lake by Wang Wei (699-761)
A Farewell by Wang Wei (699-761)
Lazy About Writing Poems by Wang Wei (699-761)
Magnolia Basin by Wang Wei (699-761)
Morning, Sailing Into Xinyang by Wang Wei (699-761)
Song About Xi Shi by Wang Wei (699-761)
Song Of Marching With The Army by Wang Wei (699-761)
Watching The Hunt by Wang Wei (699-761)
A White Turtle Under A Waterfall by Wang Wei (699-761)
Facing Bonnard by Aleksander Wat
A Joke by Aleksander Wat
Persian Parables, Sels. by Aleksander Wat
So Beautiful The Lungs by Aleksander Wat
The Plain by Sandor Weores
Rain by Sandor Weores
As Toilsome I Wander'd Virginia's Woods by Walt Whitman
By The Bivouac's Fitful Flame by Walt Whitman
Cavalry Crossing A Ford by Walt Whitman
Common Farmer by Walt Whitman
Dirge For Two Veterans by Walt Whitman
A Farm Picture by Walt Whitman
I Am The Poet by Walt Whitman
A Noiseless Patient Spider by Walt Whitman
Red Squaw by Walt Whitman
The Runner by Walt Whitman
A Sight In Camp In The Daybreak Gray And Dim by Walt Whitman
Proletarian Portrait by William Carlos Williams
The Red Wheelbarrow by William Carlos Williams
To A Poor Old Woman by William Carlos Williams
Dusk In My Backyard by Keith Wilson
Depiction Of Childhood by Franz Wright
Auto Mirror by Adam Zagajewski
Moths by Adam Zagajewski
Love In The Classroom by Al Zolynas
The Zen Of Housework by Al Zolynas
-- Table of Poems from Poem Finder® --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
A Book of Luminous Things: An International Anthology of Poetry Book Review
Nobel laureate Czeslaw Milosz selects and introduces 300 of his favorite poems in this “magnificent collection” that ranges “widely across time and continents, from eighth century China to contemporary americanca” (San Francisco Chronicle).
About the Author:Czeslaw Milosz
Czeslaw Milosz was born June 30, 1911 in Seteiniai, Lithuania, as a son of Aleksander Milosz, a civil engineer, and Weronika, née Kunat. He made his high-school and university studies in Wilno, then belonging to Poland. A co-founder of a literary group "Zagary", he made his literary début in 1930, published in the 1930s two volumes of poetry and worked for the Polish Radio. Most of the war time he spent in Warsaw working there for the underground presses. In the diplomatic service of the People's Poland since 1945, he broke with the government in 1951 and settled in France where he wrote several books in prose. In 1953 he received Prix Littéraire Européen. In 1960, invited by the University of California, he moved to Berkeley where he has been, since 1961, Professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures. Presented with an award for poetry translations from the Polish P.E.N. Club in Warsaw in 1974; a Guggenheim Fellow for poetry 1976; received a honorary degree Doctor of Letters from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, in 1977; won the Neustadt International Prize for Literature in 1978; received the "Berkeley Citation" (an equivalent of a honorary Ph.D.) in 1978; nominated by the Academic Senate a "Research Lecturer" of 1979/1980.
