Customer Reviews

The Ecco Anthology of International Poetry

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What a feast. I've been hooked on anthologies since I discovered my father's '30s era hundred greatest poems of the English language. Powerful additions since then have included anthologies of world poetry in translation, war poetry, women's poetry, the Beats, slam poetry, urban animals and cars, children's poetry, high school readers from different eras... You get the point. To me, the most valuable thing about translations is that they get me out of the western and/or contemporary American mindset. The passions seem more intense and they're not shy about being political in their passion, which avoiding most of the shrillness or pathos that I think characterizes most American political poetry. I'm the first to admit that translation is impossible but also absolutely essential, so there are many caution signs that are givens whenever I might say "I love Rumi" or "I love Akhmatova." I don't read the language, I didn't live in that culture, I don't know what words are 'loaded' and which are merely brilliant poetic imagery, I don't know their contemporaries and what conversation is going on among them through their poetry... That being said, Kamisky and Harris's international anthology is a stimulating addition to my library. It starts with a poem by Tagore, first winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature and goes through poets born in the 1980's and before. I am especially grateful for the latter--it's really discouraging to pick up a "modern" anthology and discover that the youngest poets were born in the first third of the 20th century. Not so here. We live in a vital poetic culture, as respectful of its past as it is eager to stare into the future and report back to us what it sees. These voices are well represented and stand proudly beside those of all the grey elders we grew up with. Thank you Ilya, thank you Susan, and thank you Ecco. This couldn't have been easy and I am deeply grateful for your efforts.

A great anthology. Well structured, with a wide variety of translators and selections from not only around the world, but from a variety of lesser known poets as well.