SOURCE: Bishop, Michael. “Yves Bonnefoy.” In The Contemporary Poetry of France: Eight Studies, pp. 117-36. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 1985.

In the following essay, Bishop presents an overview of Bonnefoy's poetry, characterizing the poet as one of the most influential in modern French letters.

Les mots comme le ciel Infini Mais tout entier soudain dans la flaque brêve(1) 

From the publication in 1953 of his first major collection of poetry, Du mouvement et de l'immobilité de Douve, Yves Bonnefoy has exercised a fascination and influence in the realm of French letters that, having steadily grown, may now be said to have reached their point of full blossoming. His importance in the history of modern French literature is quite assured and may well be deemed ultimately even greater than those responsible for the 1983 colloque de Cerisy devoted to his work clearly already think. Author of fine translations of Shakespeare, eloquent and profound...