A welcome addition to the English translations of poems by Nobel Prize winner, Czeslaw Milosz. This is a book of early works. Sensitive translation by Robert Haas and David Frick. Though many of the poems were written by Milosz while he was in the US representing Poland, the feel foreshadows his eventual defection, and seems to me to reflect the kind of existential thought that was most popular in Europe in the post-war years. I particularly enjoyed the subtle differences in tone of the poems that examined American society and those written in Paris. Wonderful work by a major 20th century poet.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

I love poetry and earned my Bachelor’s degree in Literature, but I had never heard of Czeslaw Milosz before this book. I loved this book and would highly recommend it to anyone wanting to read more about post-war Europe mindset and thoughts. There were many profound poems in this book. I definitely plan to share some of these poems with my classes because I do not want my students to go through their studies without reading this thought provoking poet. A couple of the poems were a little dated, but it gives amazing insight into how people thought back then.

I would like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an audio ARC. Receiving this in no way impacted my review. I was captivated by the poetry and know that I will get a copy of the book to be able to focus on and really study the words of this poet.