Selected Poems, 1968-1996 by Joseph Brodsky

Selected Poems, 1968-1996 by Joseph Brodsky

Joseph Brodsky spent his life advocating for the place of the poet in society. As Derek Walcott said of him, "Joseph was somebody who lived poetry . . . He saw being a poet as being a sacred calling." The poems in this volume span Brodsky's career, which was marked by his expulsion from the Soviet Union in 1972. Together, they represent the project that, as Brodsky said, the "condition we call exile" presented: "to set the next man--however theoretical he and his needs may be--abit more free."

This edition, edited and introduced by Brodsky's literary executor, Ann Kjellberg, includes poems translated by Derek Walcott, Richard Wilbur, and Anthony Hecht, as well as poems written in English or translated by the author himself.Selected Poems, 1968-1996 surveys Brodsky's tumultuous life and illustrious career and showcases his most notable and poignant work as a poet.

Joseph Brodsky (1940-96), a poet, essayist, and dramatist, was an involuntary exile from the Soviet Union who arrived in the United States in 1972. In 1987, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, and in 1991 and 1992, he was named Poet Laureate of the United States.