Selected and Last Poems 1931-2004

This selection brings together the most beautiful and powerful of Czeslaw Milosz's poems, spanning his entire writing life. In verses such as 'Café' he considers the upheaval, revolutions and two world wars that he had witnessed, while 'My Faithful Mother Tongue' reflects the loyalty he felt to his native Polish language. He also remembers his schooldays in 'The World', and, in 'Bypassing Rue Descartes' recalls the Paris streets of his student years, displaying both tenderness and tough-minded fury towards those who shaped his experiences. Writing not about abstract emotions, but about the horrors and beauty that he directly observed, Milosz opens our eyes to the joy-bringing potential of the poetry to which he gave his life. With an Introduction by Seamus Heaney Translated by Anthony Milosz 'One of the most significant poets of the twentieth century.' Guardian Winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature