Collected Poems 1943-2004 - by Richard Wilbur (Paperback)

About the Book

This comprehensive collection presents new and never published poems by Richard Wilbur, author of 17 poetry collections, four children's books, and numerous works in prose and translations.

Book Synopsis

One of the most honored poets of 20th-century American verse, Richard Wilbur won both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award for his poetry.

With a distinguished career spanning more than sixty years, Richard Wilbur stands as one of America's preeminent men of letters. Collected Poems 1943-2004 is the comprehensive collection of Wilbur's astonishing, timeless work. It will serve as the most referenced trove of this beloved poet's best verses for many years to come.

In Trackless Woods
In trackless woods, it puzzled me to find
Four great rock maples seemingly aligned,
As if they had been set out in a row
Before some house a century ago,
To edge the property and lend some shade.
I looked to see if ancient wheels had made
Old ruts to which the trees ran parallel,
But there were none, so far as I could tell-
There'd been no roadway. Nor could I find the square
Depression of a cellar anywhere,
And so I tramped on further, to survey
Amazing patterns in a hornbeam spray
Or spirals in a pine cone, under trees
Not subject to our stiff geometries.

From the Back Cover

A "New York Times" Notable Book
"The indispensable Wilbur.""--The New York Times Book Review
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"The work in these 500 or so pages has been one of the saving graces of poetry in our time. Such a volume will see a reader through quiet evenings and noisy Metro commutes, indeed through one's whole life."--"The Washington Post Book World"
""Collected Poems"may well contain the most distinguished body of work by any American poet writing in the second half of the 20th century." " The Atlanta Journal-Constitution"
"[Wilbur] should be read in the company of Robert Frost and Wallace Stevens." -- Harold Bloom

Richard Wilbur, poet and translator, is one of the preeminent men of letters of our time. He has served as poet laureate of the United States and his many other honors include a National Book Award, two Pulitzer Prizes, and the Bollingen Translation Prize. Wilbur lives in Cummington, Massachusetts, and Key West, Florida.
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Review Quotes

PRAISE FOR COLLECTED POEMS 1943-2004

"Collected Poems 1943-2004 is the indispensable Wilbur. The emergence of a poet like Wilbur as a hero to a new generation of critics is cause for hope: that readers, not gatekeepers, might rediscover poems written in the spirit of generosity and care, and disciplined by the idea of an uncaptive audience."--The New York Times Book Review

"The work in these five hundred or so pages has been one of the saving graces of poetry in our time, as beautiful and moving as it is artful and accomplished. This collected edition will see a reader through quiet evenings and noisy Metro commutes, indeed through one's whole life."--The Washington Post Book World
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