Critical Survey of Poetry profiles the lives, achievements, and important works of major poets. Originally published in 1983 and revised in 1993, the latest edition adds 146 poets, covering 843 poets in total. The set includes two volumes of Topical Essays, covering regions, themes, movements, and criticism. All original essays were revised, in many cases by the original contributor. Also, essays have been arranged in several subsets, so that libraries can choose the complete set, or only the titles in which they are interested.
This three-volume subset discusses major poets from the many different regions of Europe. The 195 essays include such poets as Samuel Beckett, Jean Cocteau, Homer, Michelangelo, Sappho, Arthur Rimbaud, and Vergil. New poets discussed include Giovanni Boccaccio, Hermann Hesse, Jorge Manrique and Anna Swir