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by: Richard Wilbur
List Price: $18.00Amazon.com's Price: $12.24 You Save: $5.76 (32%)Prices subject to change. Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 811.54
EAN: 9780156030793
ISBN: 0156030799
Label: Harvest Books
Manufacturer: Harvest Books
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 608
Publication Date: April 03, 2006
Publisher: Harvest Books
Sales Rank: 332707
Studio: Harvest Books
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Editorial Review:
Product Description:
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.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating: - A superb cross-sampling of the best of Wilbur's work
Collected Poems 1943-2004 is an anthology of poetry by Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award winner Richard Wilbur, who has previously served as poet laureate of the United States. The compendium features works in a variety of formats, meters, and rhyme schemes, with themes ranging from the mundane to the extraordinary. A superb cross-sampling of the best of Wilbur's work, Collected Poems 1943-2004 is a treasury recommended for both libraries and private poetry shelves, and is certain not to disappoint ... Read More
Rating: - A Library Star
This collection of the poems of Richard Wilbur is in several ways a gem. Not only does it contain the bulk of the works of Wilbur, who is one of the very few major poets of our era, it is also that rarity in today's publishing industry; that is, a beautiful book, well printed on good quality paper in a most readable typeface, and elegantly bound. Wilbur's work is notable for his affinity with the poetry of Europe and elsewhere. His translations from the French, in particular, are all of a high standard. ... Read More
Rating: - Necessary
I first read Richard Wilbur's poems more than 20 years ago, but I have to admit that for most of that time he has been for me like the fire brigade or catastrophic health insurance -- I was glad he was there, but for whatever reason he didn't seem terribly relevant in my life.
This book helped remind me how wrong I have been.
Upon reflection, I realize that at least part of the reason for my undervaluing Mr. Wilbur's work stems from my own shortcoming: I was probably ... Read More
Rating: - One of ours
Wilbur is one of the indispensables; impossible to imagine American poetry, or indeed the American trajectory, without these poems, so deftly shaped, giving such wry light. I am grateful for this book.
Rating: - this book should be in every home
Wilbur's collected poems would be in every American home if poetry was taught better. He is the most technically proficient poet in American literary history. In matters of rhythm, meter, rhyme, shape and form, he is a sculptor, a magician.
Check out these tercets from "First Snow in Alsace," remembering that Wilbur saw pretty much three years of straight combat in World War Two:
The snow came down last night like moths
Burned on the moon; it fell till dawn,
Covered the ... Read More
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