Philippe Jaccottet's poetry is meditative, immediate and sensuous. It is
rooted in the Drôme region of south-east France, which gives it a rich
sense of place. This book brings together his reflections on landscape
in the prose pieces of Beauregard (1980) and in the poems of Under
Clouded Skies (1983), two thematically linked collections which are
remarkable for their lyrical restraint and quiet power. Jaccottet's
poetry is largely grounded in landscape and the visual world, pursuing
an anxious and persistent questioning of natural signs, meticulously
conveyed in a syntax of great inventiveness. His work is animated by a
fascination with the visible world from which he translates visual
objects into verbal images and ultimately into figures of language. His
poems are highly attentive, pushing the eye beyond what it sees,
enacting a rich hesitation between meaning conferred and meaning
withheld. Poetry Book Society Recommended Translation. French-English
bilingual edition.