Additional information
by Angel Flores (Author)
First published in 1958, this collection introduced an indispensible corpus of western poetry to countless American college students, francophiles, and would-be poets -- among them Patti Smith, whose vocation was formed she says, by reading this book. The poetic and cultural tradition forged by the Symbolist poets -- Baudelaire, Rimbaud, Verlaine, Appollinaire, and others -- reverberated throughout the avant garde and counter-cultures of the twentieth century. Modernism, surrealism, abstract impressionism, and the Beat movement are unthinkable without the example of these poets and their theories of art, making this reissue possibly the hippest "dead white European male" anthology ever published.
Including translations by Richmond Lattimore, W. S. Merwin, Dudley Fitts, and Richard Wilbur, this anthology has stood the test of time in terms of its selection and scholarly apparatus. Now back in print after twenty years in a fresh new edition, the book features an introduction by Patti Smith that testifies to its epochal impact on her own career, as well as those of other influential latter-day poets, including Lou Reed and Jim Carroll. This rediscovered gem is sure to inspire a new generation.
Back Jacket
First published in 1958, this collection introduced an indispensable corpus of western poetry to countless American students, Francophiles, and would-be poets, among them Patti Smith, whose Introduction to this edition testifies to its epochal impact on her own career. The poetic and cultural tradition forged by the symbolist poets featured herein -- Baudelaire, Rimbaud, Verlaine, Apollinaire, and others -- reverberated throughout the avant garde and countercultures of the twentieth century. Surrealism, modernism, abstract impressionism, and the Beat movement all find their roots in the examples of these poets and their theories of art. With translations by Richmond Lattimore, W.S. Merwin, Richard Wilbur, and Louise Varese, this rediscovered gem is sure to inspire a new generation.
Author Biography
Angel Flores also edited the Anchor Anthology of German Poetry and Anthology of Spanish Poetry, Nineteenth Century French Tales and Nineteenth Century German Tales. Patti Smith's discography includes such groundbreaking albums as Horses and Easter, and she is the author of three books of poetry.
