Much lauded (and criticized) during her lifetime, Muriel Rukeyser's place in modern American poetry is now secure. In addition to the complete texts of her twelve previously published books, this volume also features new poems discovered by the editors; Rukeyser's translations, including the Ūrst English translations of Octavio Paz's work; early work by Rukeyser not previously published in book form; and the controversial book-length poem Wake Island. An introduction by the editors that traces Rukeyser's life and literary reputation complements discerning annotations and textual notes to the poems.

About The Collected Poems Of Muriel Rukeyser:

edited by Janet Kaufman & Anne F. Herzog "The breadth , innovation, variety and daring of Muriel Rukeyser's work has always defied efforts to confine her. She was, in fact, one of the major American imaginations of "the first century of world wars. " Now at last comes this scholarly, yet beautifully accessible edition of her lifework in poetry--a great gift to the 21st century."
—Adrienne Rich

"The Collected Poems proves what many readers of poetry already know: Muriel Rukeyser is an essential and defining voice. Few poets have combined rigorous perspective with ethical witness in the way her work manages to do. Few poets manage to love the world in as challenging and musical a language as she provides. This is a wonderful and necessary book."
—Eavan Boland

"An event to loudly celebrate--a new collected poems of Muriel Rukeyser, who opened much of the forbidden territory where poets can now move with ease. Here, for a new generation, the full range of the capacious poet who gave twentieth-century women's poetry its mottos and its most audacious exemplar, and poetry of witness and moral passion its most ardent and urgent American voice."
—Eleanor Wilner

"Now, as ever, we need these poems that speak to ethical issues and social justice, individual and international concerns. An impressive contribution to Rukeyser scholarship, this edition includes translations and secures for the poet an important place in American letters."
—Robin Becker

"One of the most important poets of our time. . . . Her originality, her genius, her courage illuminate our century."
—Sharon Olds