Published for the centenary of his birth, a gathering of lucid, intensely lyrical poetry from one of the twentieth century's pre-eminent literary voices
be courageous when reason fails you be courageous
in the final reckoning it is the only thing that counts
Zbigniew Herbert was one of the best-known and most-translated poets of post-war Poland, opposed alike to Communism, Fascism, nationalism and the Church, yet moved, throughout his work, by 'a powerful sense of right and wrong without a corresponding belief in a system' (New York Times).
His is a poetry of compression, lucidity and profound humanity. The universe he conjures is deeply informed not only by his own time, but by history - by that of the Medieval Mediterranean and Central Europe, as much as of the Classical world - and by a taste for historical and philosophical paradox. In the early and middle works, the figure of the trickster never seems far from view. Throughout, Herbert asks questions about the nature and needs of sentient beings. His desire, always, is to 'touch the essence': to get to the heart of life.
Selected with an introduction and afterword by J. M. Coetzee and Alissa Valles, this outstanding gathering from the full range of Herbert's poetic output invites readers to experience the beauty and profundity of a remarkable body of work.
Selected and introduced by J. M. Coetzee and Alissa Valles, an essential gathering of poetry from one of the twentieth century's pre-eminent literary voices be courageous when reason fails you be courageous in the final reckoning it is the only thing that countsBorn in Poland, Zbigniew Herbert was one of the great poets of the twentieth century, moved throughout his work by a powerful sense of humanity in the darkest of times. This new selection brings together poems from across the whole of his writing life, from his first volume Chord of Light in 1956, to works published posthumously in 2024. Direct, lucid, sometimes impish in his ironic humour, and deeply informed not only by the history of his own time, but by the Classical world, here is a poet of huge imaginative range and profundity, who desires always to 'touch the essence': to get to the heart of life. "He offers what we all need in an age of darkening anxiety and mistrust: a voice of lucid, truly humane observation and integrity. Ethical, often ironical, full of self-doubt; quick, original and vivid." Ruth Padel
