Poet's Choice

Edward Hirsch (1950- ) is a poet and a champion of poetry. Poet's Choice, his collection of essays from columns he wrote for The Washington Post between 2002 and 2005 presents sensitive, sophisticated and enthusiastic reviews of poems by 130 poets, many who are famous and many who are not (at least among English-only readers).For me the best essays are those which introduce poets whose foreign language poems I never knew and will never know except in translation, and that raises an endless argument: the value of translating poems.In the eighteenth century Richard Bentley wrote of Alexander Pope's translation of Homer's Illiad "A pretty poem, Mr. Pope, but you must not call it Homer", and two centuries later Robert Frost, who is quoted in three of Hirsch's essays, remarked that "poetry is what gets lost in translation." So why is poetry translation worthwhile? Because it brings the English-only reader as close as possible to the non-English poet's work and because the translation may itself be a beautiful work of art. Poet's Choice offers several examples of both.

I liked getting a sense of the people behind the poems.

I love the breadth of chosen poems in this book. There are many from around the world that I didn't know and can now follow up. Some are hearth breakingly beautiful, profound and simple. This book will keep me going forever

had many poets new to me and the editor posted insightful comments.

enjoyed reading this

Enjoyable

Beautiful copy. Came two days after Prime items ordered at the same time: i.e. four days! Very pleased.

in great condition with no marks, very affordable and it is exactly what I needed for this upcoming semester, THANKS!

This is a genuine introduction to get an understanding on what is meant by Arts Poetica, century after century and across cultures and languages. It is an encyclopedia on the art of poetry and the background is history and how some poets are considered leading figures decades later because a) they are translated, b) there are reprints, c) there are commented or illustrated editions, d) anthologies were their poems are included, e) there are poems that become songs, symphonies because this is the right choice made by the composer.

How Edward Hirsch's enthusiasm shines from the pages. Highly recommended to anyone wishing to gain access into poetry and it's gifts.

Great, great poetry.

Fabulous book and educational. Best poetry collection to date for me.