'Untitled'

So we will walk on the ruins of a vast sky,
The far-off landscape will bloom
Like a destiny in the vivid light.

The long-sought most beautiful county
Will lie before us land of salamanders.

Look, you will say, at this stone:
Death shines from it.
Secret lamp it is this that burns under our steps,
Thus we walk lighted.

Yves Bonnefoy, celebrated translator and critic, is widely considered the most important and influential French poet since World War II. Named to the Collège de France in 1981 to fill the chair left vacant by the death of Roland Barthes, Bonnefoy was the first poet honored in this way since Paul Valéry. Winner of many awards, including the Prix Goncourt in 1987 and the Hudson Review’s Bennett Award in 1988, he is the author of six critically acclaimed books of poetry.

Spanning four decades and drawing on all of Bonnefoy’s major collections, this selection provides a comprehensive overview of and an ideal introduction to his work. The elegant translations, many of them new, are presented alongside the original French. Several significant works appear here in English for the first time, among them, in its entirety, Bonnefoy’s 1991 book of verse, The Beginning and the End of the Snow, the 1988 prose poem Where the Arrow Falls, and an important long poem from 1993, Wind and Smoke.

John Naughton’s introduction looks at the evolution of Bonnefoy’s poetry from the 1953 publication of On the Motion and Immobility of Douve, which established his reputation as one of France’s leading poets, through the 1993 publication of The Wandering Life and its centerpiece, Wind and Smoke. Naughton traces thematic issues – the interplay of light and darkness, the struggle for identity, the importance of place, the sacredness of simple things – as they appear in Bonnefoy’s work, and situates each volume of poetry in the context of Bonnefoy’s entire oeuvre. Biographical information provides important context for readers as they discover or rediscover the poems.

Making available in English the most significant works of a contemporary master, and introduced by one of his most thoughtful critics, New and Selected Poems is a rich collection for all lovers of poetry.