Philip, I have to say that I think the "all languages" is a bit of a mistake in a thread of this sort. None of us is remotely competent to make such judgements; I, for example, can second your choice of Montale (and I do), but most people here just have to take it on trust. I certainly have to take on trust any such assessments of Achmatova, Brecht, Lorca, Rilke, to take up some of the names you mentioned. And then what about the Lithuanian, Albanian, Guanese, Guatemalan, Tibetan, Sudanese poets, who might feel unfairly excluded and start writing angry letters to the Times about it?
It seems to me to make more sense to restrict ourselves to poets who wrote in English, where we are all competent to judge. And I think such a limitation in no way spoils the fun of the game; after all, there are certainly still plenty to choose from.
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