Background

The first time I encountered this text was in a Literature and Writing class at Emerson College lead by Peter Jay Shippy. 

For the next 19 years, I'd search off and on for an affordable copy. Finally, I found a damaged copy that was not repaired by a skilled bookbinder.

Now, my plan is to document it for those persons still looking for a copy of their own. Below is its table of contents. I'm linking to online copies of the poems. If the poem is in translation, I try to find the original translation, but it's simply not possible all the time. In those cases, I'll link to any translation I can find. At some point, I may start writing out my thoughts about each of the poems, but that's far away right now.

Book Info

The Prose Poem: An International Anthology
edited by Michael Benedikt
Publisher: Dell (April 1977)
ISBN-10: 044037099X
ISBN-13: 978-0440370994
http://www.worldcat.org/title/prose-poem/oclc/220868793

ChangeLog

• 2016.11.11 Reformatted page. Added section "Notes and Random Impressions" along with some content. Added section that currently links to web searches for each poet and translator, but will eventually link to authoritative resources. Corrected issue: poems originally written in English were noted as having no translator; omitted note entirely. Added book cover image.
• 2016.11.09 Removed 1 duplicate row. Corrected poem title.
• 2016.11.06 Updated some links to denote different translators. Changed how translations are notated.
• 2016.05.01 Book Info, Background Info, Table of Contents

Notes and Random Impressions

The anthology is organized by point of origin of the poet, poet, then poem.

Of note is that a vast majority of the poems are translated by the editor Michael Benedikt.

I've often shied away from works in translation. I suppose it's because I think the word translation makes it sound like it is a 1:1 relationship between the texts. One of the most striking aspects of taking a foreign language class is how, given the same source material, students can bring back text which has the same essence but whose style, vocabulary, and nuance is drastically different. In a way, it's like comparing two different people's handwriting of the same word. Sure the meaning is there, but the way you receive that meaning can be drastically different.

I'm going to get statistic heavy for a moment. 

In this anthology there are 567 poems.

Of that total number of poems, 452 poems (79.7%) are in translation.

Below is a breakdown of the poems in translation and the poems in English. All percentages are against the total number of poems in the anthology.

in Translation

Michael Benedikt:  105 (18.5%)
Lane Dunlop:  37 (6.5%)
Thomas and Vera Vance:  26 (4.6%)
Paul Blackburn:  21 (3.7%)
John Bátki:  21 (3.7%)
Nancy Condee:  15 (2.6%)
Jean R. Longland:  14 (2.5%)
George Gibian:  14 (2.5%)
George D. Schade:  13 (2.3%)
Lennart Bruce:  12 (2.1%)
Czeslaw Milosz:  10 (1.8%)
Linda Scheer:  9 (1.6%)
Jonas Zdanys:  9 (1.6%)
Duncan Smith:  9 (1.6%)
Ameen Alwan:  9 (1.6%)
Mildred Boyer:  8 (1.4%)
Hilary Corke:  8 (1.4%)
Ann Maria Celona:  8 (1.4%)
Robert Bly:  7 (1.2%)
Richard Ellman:  7 (1.2%)
Josephine Clare and Anselm Hollo:  7 (1.2%)
Richard Bowdy:  6 (1.1%)
Jerome Rothenberg:  6 (1.1%)
Hiroaki Sato:  6 (1.1%)
David Unger:  6 (1.1%)
Franz Wright:  5 (0.9%)
David Walker:  5 (0.9%)
Anselm Hollo and Josephine Clare:  5 (0.9%)
Max Hayward:  4 (0.7%)
John Ashberry:  4 (0.7%)
H. R. Hays:  4 (0.7%)
Willa and Edwin Muir:  3 (0.5%)
Stuart Friedbert:  3 (0.5%)
Michael Glenny:  3 (0.5%)
Lane Dunlop and Michael Benedikt:  3 (0.5%)
Krystyna Piorkowski:  3 (0.5%)
Clement Greenberg:  3 (0.5%)
Brian Swann:  3 (0.5%)
Nancy Condee and Michael Benedikt:  2 (0.4%)
Eliot Weinberger:  2 (0.4%)
Yvonn Kapp:  1 (0.2%)
Steven Mann:  1 (0.2%)
Samuel Charters:  1 (0.2%)
Robin Fulton:  1 (0.2%)
Paul Zweig:  1 (0.2%)
Kent Wittenburg:  1 (0.2%)
John Zdanys:  1 (0.2%)

IN ENGLISH

Russell Edson:  20 (3.5%)
Michael Benedikt:  14 (2.5%)
W. S. Merwin:  14 (2.5%)
Bertolt Brecht:  13 (2.3%)
Robert Bly:  10 (1.8%)
Cecil Helman:  8 (1.4%)
David Ignatow:  8 (1.4%)
James Wright:  8 (1.4%)
Jack Anderson:  6 (1.1%)
Kenneth Patchen:  5 (0.9%)
Henri Michaux:  3 (0.5%)
James Tate:  2 (0.4%)
Karl Shapiro:  2 (0.4%)
Anne Sexton:  1 (0.2%)
Peter Redgrove:  1 (0.2%)

Between the 110 (19.4%) poems he either translates or co-translates and 14 (2.5%) of this own poems, Benedikt has a direct hand in roughly 21.87% of the poems. Having a particular writing voice himself, I think it is a disservice to the reader for him to have translated so many of the poems. Too much of the book has too similar of a texture.

Table of Contents...

...with links to copies of the text

Poets and Translators

Names currently link to a DuckDuckGo search. All percentages are against total poems (567).