One of the most important playwrights and novelists of the twentieth
century, Samuel Beckett was also an accomplished poet and translator.
Collected Poems in English and French is a complete collection of all
the poetry by the Nobel Prize-winning writer, including his poetry
written originally in English and French, as well as his translations of
major French poets such as Paul Eluard, Arthur Rimbaud, and Guillaume
Appollinaire.
The English poems include Whoroscope, his first published verse, as well
as the thirteen poems first published in 1935 as Echo's Bones and Other
Preipitates. In addition, there are the dozen poems in French that
Beckett wrote in 1938 and 1939, his first creative work in that
language; three of these are accompanied by Beckett's own English
translations. Among the translations are those of eight Eluard poems,
The Drunken Boat by Rimbaud, Zone by Apollinaire, and nine maxims by
Chamfort.
From his original work to his translations, Beckett's genius and
masterful use of language are on display throughout this collection.