A Book of Luminous Things

Edited by Czesław Miłosz

Three hundred poems from many ages and lands, chosen for how vividly they render the world.

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352 pages

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Bookroo's summary

Nobel laureate Czesław Miłosz selects about 300 poems from around the world and across the centuries, chosen because they make the realities of the world feel immediate. Grouped under eleven headings such as Epiphany, Nature, Travel and The Moment, the poems range from Li Po, Tu Fu and Wang Wei to Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, Elizabeth Bishop and Wisława Szymborska. Miłosz adds an introduction and brief comments on each poet.

From the publisher

For A Book of Luminous Things Nobel laureate poet Czeslaw Milosz has selected 300 of the world's greatest poems written throughout the ages, poems memorable for how they render the realities of the world palpable and immediate. They are organized under eleven headings - including "Epiphany, " "Nature, " "The Secret of a Thing, " "Travel, " "Places, " and "The Moment." In addition to his introduction, Milosz contributes brief, penetrating commentary on each poet. Among the poets included are Elizabeth Bishop William Blake, Joseph Brodsky, Constantinos Cavafy, Emily Dickinson, Robert Frost, Allen Ginsberg, Linda Gregg, Seamus Heaney, Zbigniew Herbert, Jane Hirshfield, Robinson Jeffers, D. H. Lawrence, Denise Levertov, Philip Levine, Li Po, Antonio Machado, Thomas Merton, W. S. Merwin, Sharon Olds, Mary Oliver, Po Chu-I, Rainer Maria Rilke, Theodore Roethke, Charles Simic, Gary Snyder, Wallace Stevens, May Swenson, Anna Swir, Wislawa Szymborska, Tu Fu, Wang Wei, Walt Whitman, and William Carlos Williams.

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