This collection has been a long time in coming and it is very much worth the wait. This Scribe will be remembered long after the likes of Henri Cole, Paul Muldoon, Louise Gluck (the list could be reasonably long) disappear beneath the patina of the passe. Here we have some permanent poetry. The School of the Soldier is great literature -- this is the first time I read it. Who knew?

Indeed, Bellit has been a forgotten - or atleast neglected - master of this art. His intricate poems strike us by virtue their enormous depth and move us in ways that few poems can. This collection should be a staple of any serious poetry-lovers collection - a book of poems to read and then read again.

Pablo Neruda did not live an ordinary life. Neither was his death ordinary (technically he died of internal hemmorhaging, however he was murdered after supporting the first democratically elected communist leader... chock full of scandal). The first thing his widow did after hearing of his death was running to her study and taking from his desk all the poems that lay atop it (since he was known to write at least five poems a day, they were plents). These are the poems that appear in this book... you will want to write a letter to Neruda's widow praising her for saving some of the most beautiful work that Neruda did. His lyric quality and graphic diction make this a collection of poetry you want to dedicate yourself to memorizing. The poetry buries itself in your heart and you suddenly see new beauty springing around you. A must-buy.

Federico García Lorca is among the most celebrated Spanish poets of all time. The beauty of his writing has given him a place in the gallery of the best Spanish writers. This book he wrote when he was a student at Columbia University relies on the influence he got from the surrealistic movements that were running on Europe at the time. Thus, it gets far from the poetic language used in his other books, most notably in Romancero Gitano: verses leave the regularity of the romance to explore new and rich arrangements; the metaphors grow more complex and ellaborate, making a delicious challenge to the reader; one can read a poem time and again for days and will still be unsure of its real meaning. Besides this some of the poems reach a new height on Lorca's poetry. To anybody just seeking to discover Lorca and his world, Romancero Gitano seems to be a best approach in my oppinion, but if you know it and like it, I can't help recommending Poet in New York as a new horizon to discover. If your approach to this book is open-minded, you won't be disappointed.

The one thing I will say in favor of the English translation here is that it forced me to read the Spanish. Belitt absolutely mangles the Spanish. Until I read the Spanish, I thought Neruda wasn't that good a poet - now I know better. As with far too many Neruda translations, you're better off buying a Spanish-English dictionary and doing it yourself.

As someone who speaks several languages I understand the difficulty of translation. However, the degree to which the tone and voice of the poetry changes in this translation is alarming. If you speak spanish, I highly recommend this book. It is a very complete (relatively speaking) collection of Neruda's work. I read it and use it all the time. However, if you only speak English I warn that you won't really be experiencing the poetry of Neruda if you read this translation.

I am bilingual, English and Spanish. I agree with the other reviews I read, the translation is too basic, sloppy and jut plain inaccurate. A good example: (Page 102) "Lost Enigmas": Neruda wrote: "Me habeis preguntado que hila el crustaceo entre sus patas de oro..."

It is translated by Ben Belitt: "You would know what the crab weaves in the gold of its claws."

When translated correctly and to keep the poem's flavor, it would read: "You have asked me what the crab is weaving between its golden claws."

I found other examples of errors such as these in the book.

This book is only useful if you read only the original spanish poems; skip the inadequate translation.