ed. Jacek Dehnel

Six Polish Poets

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Six Polish Poets makes available to the English-language reader the poetry of the younger generation of poets who whose first collections (with one exception) have been published in the past decade.

Unlike the poets of the previous generation who, in the period of new-found freedom after the fall of communism, adopted a highly individualistic, anarchic, sometimes brutal style, the poets represented here re-examine and experiment with traditional poetic forms, themes and cultural references in poems that are refined and witty, moving and informed, ranging across every aspect of human existence.

This anthology is both thought-provoking and full of warmth and humanity, and while it cannot claim to be representative of contemporary Polish poetry as a whole, it nevertheless provides an insight into today's literary scene in Poland.

Parallel text: Polish / English

Part of our New Voices From Europe series edited by Alexandra Büchler

Read...

• List of contents
• It Was a Memorable Day when a Punishment from Heaven
• Antipodes
• The Last Summer
• London, November 1936
• 'Naked, she let me in a secret gate'
• FOTO-FILM, A. Cechnowski, ŁÓDŹ, Passage 24, tel. 457-23

Paperback
172 pages
ISBN 978 1904614 50 0
Publication date 1st April 2009
Price £10.99

Quotes and Reviews

"...Six Polish Poets is an enjoyable and thought-provoking read which will surely appeal to a wide audience. The volume will be welcomed not only by students of Polish literature, but also by lovers of poetry seeking a first-rate reading experience. ...more »

— Ewa Stanczyk, The Manchester Review

Jacek Dehnel's slim bilingual anthology collects some of the most classically lucid poetry in Polish published in the past decade. ...more »

— Wojciech Jajdelski, Times Literary Supplement, 22nd May 2009.

Six Polish Poets brings together the work of five poets in their early forties assembled by one in his late twenties, sampling a group of writers who have reacted against the alleged brutalist individualism of a group of New York School devotees in a poetry of traditional forms and subjects — rhymed sonnets, the thirteen-syllable Polish line, and persona poems in which speak figures from a shared European cultural past. ...more »

— John Muckle, The Warwick Review, Vol.111 No.1, March 2009

Jacek Dehnel edits and contributes to Six Polish Poets, the fifth in Arc Publications' series of bilingual sestet anthologies. ...more »

— Marcus Smith, Envoi 154, October '09

These anthologies appear as part of a series bringing contemporary international poetry to English language readers. It is not by accident that the cliché about poetry being 'lost in translation' came out of an English speaking culture, out of a tradition which has always felt a sense of unease where translation is concerned. ...more »

— Dewi Roberts, Roundyhouse, 2009

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