The
sonnets of Shakespeare, elegies by Thomas Gray, and odes to mice and
lice by Robert Burns are commonly anthologized. Here, however, The World
& I has produced a truly unique collection designed to help you explore
poetry beyond the ordinary, from that of Pulitzer Prize winner Louis
Simpson to eighth-century Japanese verses by Lady Hegun.
In fact, whereas Asian poetry is largely ignored in the United States
with the exception of haiku, we include in this set, for your
enrichment, Graeme Wilson’s interpretations of poems from China, Japan,
Thailand, and Vietnam. Add to these the work of Cuban, Israeli,
Estonian, and other poets and you have a collection unlike those found
anywhere else.
We also present appreciative essays about the contributions of poets
such as Robert Frost, John Crowe Ransom, Robert Graves, and René Char,
as well as take a look at some novel approaches to poetry. For those
curious about other cultures and times, looking into the personal
reflections of poets offers the chance to experience an intimate, shared
moment between the poet, his or her cultural inheritance, and ourselves.
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