The Essential poets ;

118 p. ; 17 cm

" Walter Jackson Bate, in his biography of Keats, has writers, critics, readers, have approached Keats during the last century, on one quality in his writing they have been completely united. They have all been won by an economy and power of phrase excelled only by Shakespeare." This poet whose greatest ambition was to he "among the English poets" is not only preeminent among those of the past, but for well over a century he has continued to be the yardstick by which those who have written poetry in our language can measure their success. He remains a wellspring to which all of us might go to refresh our belief in the value of this art."--Publisher's website.

Though not published until after his death in 1933, the poetry of C.P. Cavafy has come to be recognized as having a unique and fundamental influence upon modern literature. Much of Cavafy's verse explores the history and culture of his Alexandria, often in the context of his own uneasy relationship with its contemporary incarnation. In a sensual, meditative, sometimes playfully didactic style all his own, Cavafy reflects upon the "myth" of Alexandria and the ironies of its entanglement with his own existence and memories. In this most recent volume in the Essential Poets Series, editor Edmund Keeley has gathered together the poems for which Cavafy has come to be regarded as one of the most important and influential poets of the twentieth century. In addition, Keeley has provided readers with an insightful introduction and biography of the poet.