He is also one of the most sophisticated. Like William Carlos Williams, he honed his writing to a controlled and direct language. His intellectual complexity matches Wallace Stevens, his polymath erudition Ezra Pound. He is first among our nature poets. His love poems and erotic lyrics are unsurpassed. Rexroth's Selected Poems brings together in a single volume a representative sampling of sixty years' work. Here are substantial passages from his longer poems: The Homestead Called Damascus(1920-1925), begun while the poet was in his teens; the cubist Prolegomenon to a Theodicy (1925-1927); the philosophical masterpiece The Phoenix and the Tortoise (1940-1944) and The Dragon and the Unicorn (1944-1950); and the meditative The Heart's Garden, The Garden's Heart (1967). The shorter poems were originally gathered in In What Hour (1940), The Art of Wordly Wisdom (1949),The Signature of All Things (1950), In Defense of the Earth (1956), Natural Numbers(1964), New Poems (1974), and The Morning Star (1979).

The lyric poetry of Tu Fu ranks with the greatest in all world literature. Across the centuries Tu Fu lived in the T'ang Dynasty (731-770) his poems come through to us with an immediacy that is breathtaking in Kenneth Rexroth's English versions. They are as simple as they are profound, as delicate as they are beautiful. Thirty-five poems by Tu Fu make up the first part of this volume. The translator then moves on to the Sung Dynasty (10th-12th centuries) to give us a number of poets of that period, much of whose work was not previously available in English. Mei Yao Ch'en, Su Tung P'o, Lu Yu, Chu Hsi, Hsu Chao, and the poetesses Li Ch'iang Chao and Chu Shu Chen. There is a general introduction, biographical and explanatory notes on the poets and poems, and a bibliography of other translations of Chinese poetry."

The poems are drawn chiefly from the traditional Manyoshu, Kokinshu and Hyakunin Isshu collections, but there are also examplaes of haiku and other later forms. The sound of the Japanese texts i reproduced in Romaji script and the names of the poets in the calligraphy of Ukai Uchiyama. The translator's introduction gives us basic background on the history and nature of Japanese poetry, which is supplemented by notes on the individual poets and an extensive bibliography.

"The Complete Poems of Kenneth Rexroth" assembles all of his published longer and shorter poems, and includes a never-before-published selection of his earliest work. Rexroth's poems of nature and protest are remarkable for their erudition and biting social and political commentary; his love poems justly celebrated for their eroticism and depth of feeling.

The cloth edition was one of the most widely reviewed poetry titles in 2003:

"Scholars and critics who endeavor to discuss mid-20th century American poetry responsibly ignore Rexroth at their peril."-"Los Angeles Times Book Review," cover feature and selected as a Book of the Year

"Rexroth is probably best known as the 'Father of the Beat Generation.' These poems reveal that great beauty lies beyond that clichA(c)."-NPR's "All Things Considered"

"Rexroth's prodigious breadth of learning, his hungry attention to the natural world, his contempt for warmongering and his profound, occasionally overlapping love of women are all on flourishing display."-"The San Francisco Chronicle"

"Rexroth never mistook his poetry for a product, and he could present ideas and images in an urgent, memorable and eloquent way."-"The Nation"

"Rexroth is one of the most readable and rewarding 20th-century American poets."-"Booklist"

Kenneth Rexroth (19051982) was one of the world's great literary minds. In addition to being a poet, translator, essayist and teacher, he helped found the San Francisco Poetry Center and influenced generations of readers with his "Classics Revisited" series.

Additional Authors Include Nicolas Guillen, Pablo Neruda, Arturo Serrano Plaja, Federico Garcia Lorca And Antonio Machado.

Includes Notes Toward An Understanding Of Kenneth Rexroth With Special Attention To The Homestead Called Damascus.

In this collection (originally published by The Seabury Press in 1977 as The Burning Heart, Kenneth Rexroth and Ikuko Atsumi have assembled representative works of seventy-seven poets. Staring with the Classical Period (645-1604 A.D.), characterized by the wanka and tanka styles,followed by haiku poets of the Tokugawa period (to 1867), the subsequent modern tanka and haiku poets,and including the contemporary school of free verse-Women Poets of Japan records twelve hundred years of poetic accomplishment. Included are biographical notes on the individual poets, an essay on Japanese women and literature, and a table of historical periods.

Kabbalah is the "occult" and "secret" tradition in Judaism. One of the most ancient wisdoms, its origins go far back into the distant past.

The Holy Kabbalah is a fascinating introduction to this world of mystery. Arthur Edward Waite was one of the few persons in the modern era to write a sensible and penetrating study of Kabbalah. Contemporary of such occultists as Eliphas Levi, Mme. Blavatsky, and Annie Besant, Waite unraveled the history and traditions of what generations have whispered about as Hebrew witchcraft. The very term Kabbalah was enough to strike fear into the heart of an orthodox believer.

In his introduction Kenneth Rexroth writes: "Kabbalism is the great poem of Judaism, a tree of symbolic jewels showing forth the doctrine of the universe as the vesture of Deity, of the community as the embodiment of Deity, and of love as the acting of God in man. Nobody knew this better than A. E. Waite."

Love and the Turning Year includes a selection from the Yueh Fu-folk songs from the Six Dynasties Period (fourth-fifth centuries A.D.). Most of the songs are simple, erotic lyrics. Some are attributed to legendary courtesans, while others may have been sung at harvest festivals or marriage celebrations. In addition to the folk songs, Rexroth offers a wide sampling of Chinese verse: works by 60 different poets, from the third century to our own time. Rexroth always translated Chinese poetry-as he said-"solely to please myself." And he created, with remarkable success, English versions which stand as poems in their own right.

Frankly H. Miller was defended by me only because he spoke against the War, and I think that was the main reason for his fame. Now I do not believe, what with Palmistry, Chirography, Phrenology, and the Great Cryptogram, he will survive the retooling period. I honestly think he is the most insufferable snob I have ever met but all reformed pandhandlers are like that. in a letter from Kenneth Rexroth to James Laughlin"

Rexroth, More Classics Revisited. the second volume of Rexroth's Classics essays.