Philippe Jaccottet is one of a group of poets who turned away from the
Surrealists' sometimes abstruse experiments with form in favor of a
muted lyrical expression born of a quasi-fraternal bonding with the
wonder of earth, light, water, sky. This lyricism is steeped in an
ambiguous sense of our planet's vulnerability in this nuclear age.
Jaccottet's work has now developed steadily over nearly four decades as
Derek Mahon points out in his introductory essay. In themes and form it
will not seem alien to English language readers, yet Jaccottet's voice
is his own. The sensuous modulations of imagery, harmony, and mood are
strangely moving and haunt the imagination.