One of the most important French poets of the twentieth century, Paul Valery (1871-1945) influenced generations of poets who came after him. Major poets in England and America, including T. S. Eliot, Wallace Stevens, and W. H. Auden, agreed that he should be better known in the English-speaking world. However, his complex and graceful writing presents daunting obstacles for the translator, who must capture the motions of a subtle intellect while recreating the rhythms and rhymes that entranced the poet's French contemporaries. This volume is the culmination of 50 years devoted to bringing...