The Collected Poems, 1956-1998

by Zbigniew Herbert

Overview

This outstanding new translation brings a uniformity of voice to Zbigniew Herbert's entire poetic output, from his first book of poems, String of Light, in 1956, to his final volume, previously unpublished in English, Epilogue Of the Storm. Collected Poems: 1956-1998, as Joseph Brodsky said of Herbert's SSelected Poems, is "bound for a much longer haul than any of us can anticipate." He continues, "For Zbigniew Herbert's poetry adds to the biography of civilization the sensibility of a man not defeated by the century that has been most thorough, most effective in dehumanization of the species. Herbert's irony, his austere reserve and his compassion, the lucidity of his lyricism, the intensity of his sentiment toward classical antiquity, are not just trappings of a modern poet, but the necessary armor—in his case well-tempered and shining indeed—for man not to be crushed by the onslaught of reality. By offering to his readers neither aesthetic nor ethical discount, this poet, in fact, saves them frorn that poverty which every form of human evil finds so congenial. As long as the species exists, this book will be timely."

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780060783952
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	02/05/2008
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	624
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.56(d)

About the Author

Zbigniew Herbert was born in Lwów, Poland, in 1924. Herbert studied law, economics, and philosophy at the universities of Krakow, Torun, and Warsaw. His books include Selected Poems, Mr Cogito, Report from the Besieged City and Other Poems, Barbarian in the Garden, Still Life with a Bridle, The King of the Ants, and Reconstruction of the Poet. A passionate traveler, in the years of Solidarity he also became a central authority of the political opposition to communism in Poland. He died in 1998.

Read an Excerpt

The Collected Poems
1956-1998

Two Drops

No time to grieve for roses, when the forests are burning.
—Juliusz Słowacki

The forests were on fire—
they however
wreathed their necks with their hands
like bouquets of roses

People ran to the shelters—
he said his wife had hair
in whose depths one could hide

Covered by one blanket
they whispered shameless words
the litany of those who love

When it got very bad
they leapt into each other's eyes
and shut them firmly

So firmly they did not feel the flames
when they came up to the eyelashes

To the end they were brave
To the end they were faithful
To the end they were similar
like two drops
stuck at the edge of a face

The Collected Poems
1956-1998. Copyright © by Zbigniew Herbert. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Available now wherever books are sold.

What People are Saying About This

Joseph Brodsky

“Zbigniew Herbert is a poet for this place; above all, for this time.”

Editorial Reviews

“Zbigniew Herbert is a poet for this place; above all, for this time.” — Joseph Brodsky

“Now, nearly 10 years after his death, Herbert’s voice is gathered, uncensored and unimaginably strong, in one dynamic volume.” — San Francisco Chronicle

“English readers have cause for celebration...” — Philadelphia Inquirer

From the Publisher

English readers have cause for celebration...

Philadelphia Inquirer

Now, nearly 10 years after his death, Herbert’s voice is gathered, uncensored and unimaginably strong, in one dynamic volume.

San Francisco Chronicle

Zbigniew Herbert is a poet for this place; above all, for this time.

Joseph Brodsky

Now, nearly 10 years after his death, Herbert’s voice is gathered, uncensored and unimaginably strong, in one dynamic volume.

San Francisco Chronicle

Herbert (1924–1998) lived to witness his hometown of Lwów, Poland, occupied by the Soviets in 1939, the Nazis in 1941, and the Soviets again in 1944. This exposure to systematic and violent oppression awakened in Herbert a protective and motivating skepticism that pervades all his poetry: "If you put trust in your five senses/ the world contracts into a hazelnut." This impeccably, newly translated and edited volume finds Herbert, strongly anticommunist throughout his life, determined to resist the reduction of the human to anything easily measured, manipulated and forgotten, even if history keeps reminding us that "only our dreams have not been humiliated." Tender, wary, melancholy and wry, the poems visit ideas of redemption as one might visit a grave site, i.e., knowing that what you seek can only be experienced in the heart and mind. If one attempts through poetry to "offer to the betrayed world / a rose," Herbert's world-weary, tragicomic alter-ego, Mr. Cogito—one of last century's most memorable poetic personages–warns us that the gesture will probably go unnoticed, especially in an age when even "the temple of freedom/ has been turned into a flea market." Finally, the work of this powerful master of 20th-century literature is all in one place. (Feb.)

Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly