For decades readers and critics have acclaimed Yves Bonnefoy as France’s greatest living poet. His most recent book of verse, The Curved Planks, crowns an oeuvre that has won him the highest international honors. More than any other single work, this sequence embodies the astonishing variety of Bonnefoy’s art. A rich fabric of themes, styles, and genres, it balances aesthetic complexity with heartfelt directness.

This bilingual edition of The Curved Planks sets the French texts alongside English versions by the noted translator Hoyt Rogers, who has collaborated closely with Bonnefoy in crafting poems that re-create the freshness and vision of the originals. This volume also includes a preface by the renowned poet and critic Richard Howard and essays by the translator that situate The Curved Planks in the author’s body of work. All assist in introducing the English-language reader to Bonnefoy’s profound poetic gift.