Encapsulating the prolific work of the poet and playwright Zbigniew Herbert, Reconstruction of the Poet is both a celebration of a profound life of letters and a wide-ranging collection of never-before-published work that casts new light on a much-loved poet. Spanning from 1950 to 1998, this volume of work contains three plays—The Philosophers’ Cave, The Other Room, and Reconstruction of the Poet—and over fifty poems. This collection takes readers through the mind of a man attempting to look at the ruins of a postwar world while seeking living sources of European culture, with poems commemorating contemporaries fallen in wartime, elevating erotic experience and friendship, and exploring political and metaphysical passions.

A rich expansion of previously published works by Herbert, Reconstruction of the Poet is both an introduction for readers who might still be unfamiliar with this important poet’s work and a fresh invitation for reflection for his longtime readers.