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The Collected Poems
Synopsis
To find my home in one sentence, concise, as if hammered in metal. No to enchant anybody. Not to earn a lasting name in posterity. An unnamed need for order, for rhythm, for form, which three words are opposed to chaos and nothingness.
— Czeslaw Milosz
Author Biography:
Czeslaw Milosz was born in Lithuania in 1911. His books of poetry in English include The Collected Poems, 1931-1987, Unattainable Earth, The Separate Notebooks, Provinces, Bells in Winter, and Selected Poems, all published by The Ecco, Press. He is a member of the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters and was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1980.
Annotation
"The core of the major themes of Milosz's poetry is the unbearable realization that a human being is not able to grasp his experience, and the more that time separates him from this experience, the less become his chances to comprehend it."--Joseph Brodsky.
To find my home in one sentence, concise, as if hammered in metal. No to enchant anybody. Not to earn a lasting name in posterity. An unnamed need for order, for rhythm, for form, which three words are opposed to chaos and nothingness.
— Czeslaw Milosz
Author Biography:
Czeslaw Milosz was born in Lithuania in 1911. His books of poetry in English include The Collected Poems, 1931-1987, Unattainable Earth, The Separate Notebooks, Provinces, Bells in Winter, and Selected Poems, all published by The Ecco, Press. He is a member of the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters and was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1980.
Annotation
"The core of the major themes of Milosz's poetry is the unbearable realization that a human being is not able to grasp his experience, and the more that time separates him from this experience, the less become his chances to comprehend it."--Joseph Brodsky.
511 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1988
22 people are currently reading
484 people want to read
About the author
Czesław Miłosz
312 books881 followersCzesław Miłosz was a Nobel Prize winning poet and author of Polish-Lithuanian heritage. He memorialised his Lithuanian childhood in a 1955 novel,
The Issa Valley
, and in the 1959 memoir
Native Realm
. After graduating from Sigismund Augustus Gymnasium in Vilnius, he studied law at Stefan Batory University and in 1931 he travelled to Paris, where he was influenced by his distant cousin Oscar Milosz, a French poet of Lithuanian descent and a Swedenborgian. His first volume of poetry was published in 1934.
After receiving his law degree that year, he again spent a year in Paris on a fellowship. Upon returning, he worked as a commentator at Radio Wilno, but was dismissed, an action described as stemming from either his leftist views or for views overly sympathetic to Lithuania. Miłosz wrote all his poetry, fiction, and essays in Polish and translated the Old Testament Psalms into Polish.
Awarded the 1980 Nobel Prize in Literature for being an author "who with uncompromising clear-sightedness voices man's exposed condition in a world of severe conflicts."
After receiving his law degree that year, he again spent a year in Paris on a fellowship. Upon returning, he worked as a commentator at Radio Wilno, but was dismissed, an action described as stemming from either his leftist views or for views overly sympathetic to Lithuania. Miłosz wrote all his poetry, fiction, and essays in Polish and translated the Old Testament Psalms into Polish.
Awarded the 1980 Nobel Prize in Literature for being an author "who with uncompromising clear-sightedness voices man's exposed condition in a world of severe conflicts."
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
September 3, 2020
All the feels.
March 25, 2016
ON PRAYER
You ask me how to pray to someone who is not.
All I know is that prayer constructs a velvet bridge
And walking it we are aloft, as on a springboard,
Above landscapes the color of ripe gold
Transformed by a magic stopping of the sun.
That bridge leads to the shore of Reversal
Where everything is just the opposite and the word is
Unveils a meaning we hardly envisioned.
Notice: I say we; there, every one, separately,
Feels compassion for others entangled in the flesh
And knows that if there is no other shore
We will walk that aerial bridge all the same.
You ask me how to pray to someone who is not.
All I know is that prayer constructs a velvet bridge
And walking it we are aloft, as on a springboard,
Above landscapes the color of ripe gold
Transformed by a magic stopping of the sun.
That bridge leads to the shore of Reversal
Where everything is just the opposite and the word is
Unveils a meaning we hardly envisioned.
Notice: I say we; there, every one, separately,
Feels compassion for others entangled in the flesh
And knows that if there is no other shore
We will walk that aerial bridge all the same.
July 16, 2021
One of the best and most consistent poets ive read. Czeslaw milosz won the 1980 Nobel Prize in Literature and sure deserved it. This covers over 50 years of his career and it blows my mind there are still even more of his work to explore. Here are some highlights from each collection:
From Three Winters (1936) ~ "the song" "hymn" and "statue of a couple".
From Rescue (1945) ~ "campo dei fiori" "the world" "a song on the end of the world" "Song of a citizen" "the poor poet" "farewell" and "dedication".
From Daylight (1953) ~ "child of europe" "mid twentieth century portrait" " birth" "a legend" and "you who wronged".
From King Popiel (1962) ~ "lessons" "no more" "what once was great" "the master" "in milan" "far west" and "throughout our lands".
From Bobo's Metamorphosis (1965) ~ "it was winter" "bobo's metamorphosis" " they will place there telescreens" "on the other side" "those corridors" and "i sleep alot".
From City Without A Name (1969) ~ "city without a name" "with trumpets and zithers" "whiteness" "thesis and counter thesis" "incarnation" and "my mother tongue".
From Uncollected Poems (1954-1969) ~ "esse" "a mistake" and "how ugly".
From The Rising of the Sun (1974) ~ "an hour" "oeconomia divina" "calling to order" "so little" "gift" "the accuser" and "bells in winter".
From Hymn Of The Pearl (1981) ~ "a magic mountain" "study of loneliness" "temptation" "secretaries" "amazement" "distance" "a portal" and "account".
From Unattainable Earth (1986) ~ "the garden of earthly delights" "after paradise" "yellow bicycle" "into the tree" "one more day" "preparation" "consciousness " "initiation" and "poet at seventy".
From New Poems (1985-1987) ~ "a portrait with a cat" "Mary Magdalene and i" "in a jar" "this only" "how it should be in heaven" "and yet the books" "powers" and "six lectures in verse".
From Three Winters (1936) ~ "the song" "hymn" and "statue of a couple".
From Rescue (1945) ~ "campo dei fiori" "the world" "a song on the end of the world" "Song of a citizen" "the poor poet" "farewell" and "dedication".
From Daylight (1953) ~ "child of europe" "mid twentieth century portrait" " birth" "a legend" and "you who wronged".
From King Popiel (1962) ~ "lessons" "no more" "what once was great" "the master" "in milan" "far west" and "throughout our lands".
From Bobo's Metamorphosis (1965) ~ "it was winter" "bobo's metamorphosis" " they will place there telescreens" "on the other side" "those corridors" and "i sleep alot".
From City Without A Name (1969) ~ "city without a name" "with trumpets and zithers" "whiteness" "thesis and counter thesis" "incarnation" and "my mother tongue".
From Uncollected Poems (1954-1969) ~ "esse" "a mistake" and "how ugly".
From The Rising of the Sun (1974) ~ "an hour" "oeconomia divina" "calling to order" "so little" "gift" "the accuser" and "bells in winter".
From Hymn Of The Pearl (1981) ~ "a magic mountain" "study of loneliness" "temptation" "secretaries" "amazement" "distance" "a portal" and "account".
From Unattainable Earth (1986) ~ "the garden of earthly delights" "after paradise" "yellow bicycle" "into the tree" "one more day" "preparation" "consciousness " "initiation" and "poet at seventy".
From New Poems (1985-1987) ~ "a portrait with a cat" "Mary Magdalene and i" "in a jar" "this only" "how it should be in heaven" "and yet the books" "powers" and "six lectures in verse".
January 15, 2009
Milosz is one of my favorite poets. It's hard for American poets to find the 'we' -- the place where we can speak about more than just our own lives. Milosz gets there, and he speaks with such power and grace.
May 13, 2016
The Bird Kingdom
Flying high the heavy wood grouse
Slash the forest sky with their wings
And a pigeon returns to its airy wilderness
And a raven gleams with airplane steel.
What is the earth for them? A lake of darkness.
It has been swallowed by the night forever.
They, above the dark as above black waves,
Have their homes and islands, saved by the light.
If they groom their long feathers with their beaks
And drop one of them, it floats a long time
Before it reaches the bottom of the lake
And brushes someone's face, bringing news
From a world that is bright, beautiful, warm, and free.
Flying high the heavy wood grouse
Slash the forest sky with their wings
And a pigeon returns to its airy wilderness
And a raven gleams with airplane steel.
What is the earth for them? A lake of darkness.
It has been swallowed by the night forever.
They, above the dark as above black waves,
Have their homes and islands, saved by the light.
If they groom their long feathers with their beaks
And drop one of them, it floats a long time
Before it reaches the bottom of the lake
And brushes someone's face, bringing news
From a world that is bright, beautiful, warm, and free.
September 15, 2021
Ach, poezja.
August 19, 2024
found my SECOND poet soulmate. god, “a confession,” may be one of the best poems ive laid eyes on. an incredible batch of poems by milosz.
“encounter” (1945)
“faith”
“love”
“fear”
“a song on the end of the world”
“dedication”
“ocean” (1953)
“mittelbergheim”
“lessons” (1962)
“no more”
“in milan”
“throughout our lands”
“i sleep a lot” (1965)
“veni creator” (1969)
“whiteness”
“counsels”
“island”
“a mistake” (1954-1969)
“how ugly”
“a story” (1974)
“readings”
“notes” (1981)
“a poetic state”
“on pilgrimage”
“after paradise”
“annalena”
“all hallows’ eve” (1985-1987)
“a confession”
“with her”
“encounter” (1945)
“faith”
“love”
“fear”
“a song on the end of the world”
“dedication”
“ocean” (1953)
“mittelbergheim”
“lessons” (1962)
“no more”
“in milan”
“throughout our lands”
“i sleep a lot” (1965)
“veni creator” (1969)
“whiteness”
“counsels”
“island”
“a mistake” (1954-1969)
“how ugly”
“a story” (1974)
“readings”
“notes” (1981)
“a poetic state”
“on pilgrimage”
“after paradise”
“annalena”
“all hallows’ eve” (1985-1987)
“a confession”
“with her”
November 29, 2025
Powerful poems full of fascinating grapplings with Time, Mortality, and Life. Grim at times, but hopeful in a strange way. And full of faith wrestling even amid stark reality. Really interesting philosophical ideas and poems.
October 7, 2025
Milosz responds superbly to the C20: understated verse, Europe after the World Wars, life’s transience and joys, fending off nothingness with language and form, etc.
July 24, 2018
Bought it for someone else, but couldn't give it away. Does much that I usually don’t appreciate – both Holocaust musing and the relative innocence of nature. But his indirectness and attentiveness lift it way, way beyond the ordinary run of those themes. Never mawkish. Epochal.
Here, Here, Here, Here, Here, Here.
Here, Here, Here, Here, Here, Here.
July 17, 2009
I am reduced to tears, and I am floored, and I am reborn. If my poetry is half this moving, if it contains an iota of this emotional journey, then all will not be wasted.
"There is no one between you and me.
Neither a plant drawing sap from the depths of the earth
nor an animal, nor a man,
nor wind walking between the clouds." - Hymn, Czeslaw Milosz
"There is no one between you and me.
Neither a plant drawing sap from the depths of the earth
nor an animal, nor a man,
nor wind walking between the clouds." - Hymn, Czeslaw Milosz
July 6, 2017
A friend gave me this collection, and I read approximately a poem a day for four years. It was a deep process because Milosz is so thought-provoking. Sometimes I felt as he expressed in "A Mirrored Gallery," "The bright side of the planet moves toward darkness/And the cities are falling asleep, each in its hour,/And for me, now as then, it is too much./There is too much world" (360). He seemed to express his wisdom so succinctly. One of my favorite examples of this was, "When people cease to believe that there is good and evil,/ Only beauty will call to them and save them/So that they may know how to say: this is true and that is false" (408). I copied about a dozen poems from this collection into my favorite poems notebook, including, "Encounter," "In Milan," "It Was Winter," and a gorgeous trilogy with the titles, "Faith," "Hope," and "Love." I'm grateful to my friend that this is in my collection to reference over and over now.
February 13, 2025
For months, I have read poems from this large book at night before falling asleep. Some of them I have read and revisited often. Some of them I have not given adequate attention. But I am excited that I have more time to spend reading Milosz, who has left a lifetime of luminous poems. I probably cannot pick a favorite, so here is one I read tonight:
“A Frivolous Conversation”
—My past is a stupid butterfly's overseas voyage.
My future is a garden where a cook cuts the throat of a rooster.
What do I have, with all my pain and rebellion?
—Take a moment, just one, and when its fine shell,
Two joined palms, slowly opens
What do you see?
—A pearl, a second.
—Inside a second, a pearl, in that star saved from time, What do you see when the wind of mutability ceases?
—The earth, the sky, and the sea, richly cargoed ships, Spring mornings full of dew and faraway princedoms.
At marvels displayed in tranquil glory
I look and do not desire for I am content.
“A Frivolous Conversation”
—My past is a stupid butterfly's overseas voyage.
My future is a garden where a cook cuts the throat of a rooster.
What do I have, with all my pain and rebellion?
—Take a moment, just one, and when its fine shell,
Two joined palms, slowly opens
What do you see?
—A pearl, a second.
—Inside a second, a pearl, in that star saved from time, What do you see when the wind of mutability ceases?
—The earth, the sky, and the sea, richly cargoed ships, Spring mornings full of dew and faraway princedoms.
At marvels displayed in tranquil glory
I look and do not desire for I am content.
July 24, 2025
"if people (instead of everyday necessity and the, so to speak,
hairy pleasures proper to the flesh),
spick-and-span, pretending they do not stink at all,/
nibbled chocolates in a theater,
if they were moved by the loves of Amyntas,
and in the daytime read the Summa, luckily too difficult,/
none would be fit for the barracks. The State would fall."
The poet is one who knows their sins and confesses them in writing, but in doing so also does homage to the beauty of the world, to eternal questions and their seeming answers, to the seeming precipice that is living and knowing that one day you will not-live. Milosz is obviously shaped by his context and his personal history (on which he elaborates at length), but he confesses and testifies regardless. I think some of these will stick with me for a long time yet.
hairy pleasures proper to the flesh),
spick-and-span, pretending they do not stink at all,/
nibbled chocolates in a theater,
if they were moved by the loves of Amyntas,
and in the daytime read the Summa, luckily too difficult,/
none would be fit for the barracks. The State would fall."
The poet is one who knows their sins and confesses them in writing, but in doing so also does homage to the beauty of the world, to eternal questions and their seeming answers, to the seeming precipice that is living and knowing that one day you will not-live. Milosz is obviously shaped by his context and his personal history (on which he elaborates at length), but he confesses and testifies regardless. I think some of these will stick with me for a long time yet.
March 18, 2023
GIFT
A day so happy.
Fog lifted early. I worked in the garden.
Hummingbirds were stopping over honeysuckle flowers.
There was no thing on earth I wanted to possess.
I knew no one worth my envying him.
Whatever evil I had suffered, I forgot.
To think that once I was the same man did not embarrass me.
In my body I felt no pain.
When straightening up, I saw the blue sea and sails.
A day so happy.
Fog lifted early. I worked in the garden.
Hummingbirds were stopping over honeysuckle flowers.
There was no thing on earth I wanted to possess.
I knew no one worth my envying him.
Whatever evil I had suffered, I forgot.
To think that once I was the same man did not embarrass me.
In my body I felt no pain.
When straightening up, I saw the blue sea and sails.
November 13, 2023
When writing about history, memory, or the individual's poignant quest to make sense of the movement of time, Miłosz is unsurpassed.
June 19, 2016
I didn't like this book that much. I'd consider it to be mostly poetic prose. It was fascinating to explore author's feelings, and the time of his youth. The writings were bringing to my mind very vivid images. It was like watching a set of paintings. I really enjoyed only three of his poems: "Ode to a Bird," "A Boy," and "Paradise." Perhaps I should have read this book in Polish
July 12, 2009
I couldn't quite get through the whole book. There are some really universal and beautiful poems, but, like many academic poets, Milosz goes too far into mythology, losing the "common folk" along the way.
Great book if you're erudite.
Great book if you're erudite.
May 24, 2012
A great book of poems has kept me going, engrosed me, grew me, and I was so uplifted by this collection of poetry, that it got me writing again, it got me exited and moving on with my life. A great read.
June 3, 2007
Two poems from this collection I especially return to again and again: "Lecture IV" and "A Poetic State."
September 20, 2007
His poems are wonderful, but I like his shorter poems better. I like this book so much more than any of his individual books - you can pick out all of the good stuff.
October 19, 2007
a smattering, a collection of someones favourites.
May 12, 2009
I've been rereading these poems. My favorite is "Love".
July 29, 2014
A clear, unique and evocative voice, even in translation. A world-historical figure.
August 9, 2011
Absolutely gorgeous and profound.
December 31, 2025
"Birds you killed, fish you tossed into your boat, / In what words will they find rest and in what Heaven?"
March 4, 2012
A life-long companion. I return to this collection time and again.
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews