The Truth of Poetry: Tensions in Modernist Poetry Since Baudelaire
'This is virtually an encyclopaedia of modern poetry; as such it has, I think, no rival, simply because there is no other critic with the linguistic and technical knowledge to have attempted it. And it is not merely a work which provides useful and otherwise inaccessible information on so many poets of importance (in half a dozen languages); it also offers a theory of modern poetry' - Frank Kermode'There cannot be many readers of poetry with Mr Hamburger's range: he is at home in French, German, English, Italian and Spanish. His knowledge extends to Portuguese and, via translations at least, to Polish and Russian verse... Used simply as a guide to the most important European and American poetry of the period from the 1880s to the present, this book has great value' - George Steiner, Sunday Times'Mr Hamburger... is not only a poet and critic but scholar as well, and these three often warring pursuits seem in him to live in harmony' - Times Literary Supplement'We have, in 'The Truth of Poetry', a profound contribution to modern aesthetics and, as an incidental bonus, a critical introduction to twentieth-century world poetry' - Times Educational Supplement