15. Modern European Poetry, edited by Willis Barnstone
Well, folks, I'm breaking out of the box set by single-author posts and suggesting an anthology by my pop, and not just because it was by my pop but because so many different people have told me that it was the book that opened up the world of poetry to them, as it did to me. Long out of print, it first appeared in 1966, and included poets such as Apollinaire, Reverdy, Eluard, Desnos, Follain, Rilke, Trakl, Brecht, Celan, Kazantzakis, Ritsos, Elytis, Campana, Ungaretti, Montale, Pavese, Blok, Mayakofsky, Mandelshtam, Akhmatova, Pasternak, Machado, Salinas, Vallejo, Aliexandre, Guillen, Alberti, Neruda, Hernandez, and so many more. The translations are wonderful, as are the selections, and unlike so many of the international poetry anthologies that have followed the selections are very large (10-15 poems per poet is not unusual) so that you can actually get to know the poet by more than a "greatest hits" of 2 or 3 poems.
Best, Tony
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