The Anchor Anthology of French Poetry: From Nerval to Valery in English Translation

Frankly speaking, I was not very familiar with French poetry till I bought a copy of this book recently in Paris. This book, which was last published in 1958, has been out of print till now. In fact, book was in the wish list from my brother who is a professor onf English in India and who read a copy of this anthology long time ago. According to him, it was the best anthology of French poetry he had ever read. After reading some of the poems, I not only discovered the beauty of French poetry, but also could understand why my brother has been after this book for a long time. Patty Smith, who wrote the introduction to the new publication of the anthology, like my brother, read this book long time ago when she got a copy of the book on her table by stroke of luck in 1964. She now writes, "I must admit that I pocketed the book as my own, and it bacame the bible of my life. Edited by the aptly name Angel Flores, this anthology introduced me to some of the greatest poets in French literature .... It is my pleasure now to reintroduce this humble yet significant volume, so long out of print, to you now. And may I use this as an opportunity to salute and thank that unidentified soul who left this book upon my table in 1964."French poetry has influenced not only people like Patty Smith or by brother in India and many throughout the world, but it has also influenced famous poets like T. S. eliot and many others. I am very happy to see that this valuable anthology of French poetry has now been published again. Besides my brother, I am also happy for me who is not deep into literature for living, because it has introduced to me the beauty of French poetry for the first time. When you read poets like Baudellaire in lines as follows, you can immediately see that attraction of French poetry."Be drunk, always. Nothing else matters; this is our sole concern. To ease the pain as Time's dread burden weighs down upon your shoulders and crushes you to eart, you must be drunk without respite.Drunk with what? With wine, with poetry or with virtue, as yopu please. But be drunk." (Baudellaire "Be Drunk")Or in," Life is hospital where every patient longs desperately to change his bed. ..." (Baudellaire "Anyehere Out of this World") etcThe anthology contain not only famous poets like Baudellaire, but all the important modern French poets from Nerval to Valery. Now I know that like French wine the book has addicted me with French poetry. I think everyone who like poetry should have a copy of this valuable anthology of French poetry in his or her personal collection. Rajen Barua, Houston

The Anchor Anthology of French Poetry is an excellent collection of essential French poems fromGerard de Nerval to Paul Valery. Nerval was a post-Romantic poet whose lines are excellently translated into English which gives a sense of his melancholic and lyrical nature dealing with themes esoteric and exotic.The poets that follow him in time are also dealt with well in very good translations into English. In the second part of the book the original French is given and thus you have to switch back and forth abit to see the original in compatrison to the English version of the poems bythe various translators and the French poets' verses. The translations are very good indeed andof course the originals are most beautiful and the selections are well made.

Book arrived in excellent condition, as advertised, and in a timely manner.

My previous copy was getting very old so I ordered this. Except for a different picture on the cover, it's the exact same thing, down to the very font. Love it!

This is an excellent anthology of French poetry startingwith the work of Gerard de Nerval (1808-1855)and goingthrough Paul Valery (1871-1945). The book is in two majorsections: pp. 3-185 contain the English translationsof the French poems (each poet has a section of poems--and the poets are presented in chronological order oftheir birth years); and pp. 289-443 present the samepoems in the same order, but in French).There is a very good Table of Contents which tellsthe titles of the poems and the name and date ofthe published edition from which the poem comes, orthe date of the individual poem itself. In the backof the volume there is an exceptionally good Bibliographywith both General citations, as well as specific essayson the particular poets. Each poet also has listedthe best edition of his works in that Bibliography.The poets presented in this anthology along withvery good selections from their poems (and shortbiographies) are: Gerard de Nerval; Charles Baudelaire;Tristan Corbiere; Paul Verlaine; Arthur Rimbaud;Stephane Mallarme; Jules Laforgue; Guillaume Apollinaire;and Paul Valery.The English translations are by various people, somefamous by name, others not so well known to the generalreader. Apparently...not surprisingly...the moreprovocative and interesting the poet and his poems,the more variety of translators and the more engagedle traducteur et la traductrice travaillent.My own personal favorites from this anthology arethe poems of De Nerval, Mallarme, and Valery. Hereis a bit of Mallarme's "Weary of Bitter Ease..."["Las de l'amer repos..."]:* * * * * * * * *And by my lamp which knows my agony at last,Would imitate the Chinese of limpid, delicate bent,Whose purest ecstasy is but to paint the endUpon his cups of snow new ravished from the moonOf some exotic flower that constantly perfumedHis life, transparent flower he smelled in infancy,Grafting itself upon the soul's blue filigree.-- Stephane Mallarme. [Trans. Hubert Creekmore]________________________________________

I like most of the Mallarme translations in the Anchor volume better than those in the Collected Poems by Weinfield, a volume to be shunned. ("The flesh is sad, alas, and there's nothing but words" (Weinfield) utterly misses the irony, indeed the entire point, of "La chair est triste, helas! et j'ai lu tous les livres"---"The flesh is sad, alas! and I've read all the books.")As with any grab bag of translations, some are better than others, but (1) you can always check the French and (2) there's a great advantage to choosing amongst the work of different translators, picking the luckiest version for each poem.

Should print English translations on opposite page from French.