W.S. MERWIN

Perdurable compañía, es un peculiar epistolario. En él, el poeta se dirige tanto a un viejo árbol como a la espera, a la bicicleta que nunca tuvo el poeta polaco Zbigniew Herbert y a las consolaciones de la filosofia. Con detallada cercania, al modo de las odas elementales de Pablo Neruda (no en vano tradujo al ingles los poemas del inmortal chileno) Merwin convierte el poema en la piedra filosofal que vuelve transparente al objeto de su reflexion, permitiendonos ver al tiempo su exterior y su interior, su cara y su enves, alcanzando asi el punto mas alto de la realidad trascendida. Perdurable compañia es por derecho propio uno de los libros fundamentales de la poesia norteamericana (y universal) de las ultimas decadas.

This edition of Neruda's most enduring and popular work--love poems of daring symbolism and sensuality--contains the original Spanish text with the English translation on facing pages.

A splendid new translation of the classic Arthurian tale of enchantment, adventure, and romance, presented alongside the original Middle English text. It is the height of Christmas and New Year''s revelry when an enormous knight with brilliant green clothes and skin descends upon King Arthur''s court. He presents a sinister challenge: he will endure a blow of the axe to his neck without offering any resistance, but whoever gives the blow must promise to take the same in exactly a year and a day''s time. The young Sir Gawain quickly rises to the challenge, and the poem tells of the adventures he finds--an almost irresistible seduction, shockingly brutal hunts, and terrifyingly powerful villains--as he endeavors to fulfill his promise. Capturing the pace, impact, and richly alliterative language of the original text, W. S. Merwin has imparted a new immediacy to a spellbinding narrative, written centuries ago by a poet whose name is now unknown, lost to time. Of the Green Knight, Merwin notes in his foreword: "We seem to recognize him--his splendor, the awe that surrounds him, his menace and his grace--without being able to place him . . . We will never know who the Green Knight is except in our own response to him." "From the Hardcover edition."

A contemporary prose rendering of the great medieval French epic, The Song of Roland is as canonical and significant as the Anglo-Saxon Beowulf. It extols the chivalric ideals in the France of Charlemagne through the exploits of Charlemagnes nephew, the warrior Roland, who fights bravely to his death in a legendary battle. Against the bloody backdrop of the struggle between Christianity and Islam, The Song of Roland remains a vivid portrayal of medieval life, knightly adventure, and feudal politics. The first great literary works of a culture are its epic chronicles, those that create simple hero-figures about whom the imagination of a nation can crystallize, observed V. S. Pritchett. The Song of Roland is animated by the crusading spirit and fortified by national and religious propaganda. This edition features W. S. Merwins glowing, lyrical translation.

Desde la edad del aire me alcanzáis Claras cayendo hacia mí nuevas si alguna de vosotras tiene un nombre es desconocido esperé por vosotras tanto tiempo por vosotras que al caer lo cruzaríais ignorándolo todo orla de las vestiduras no esperes hasta que ame todo lo que he de saber pues quiza no suceda tocame ahora deja que ame lo que no puedo saber como el que nace ciego puede amar el color hasta que lo colma de color todo lo que ama A la lluvia W. S. MERWIN