Herbert, who won the T.S. Eliot Prize in 1995, is a titan of not only Polish poetry, but of twentieth-century European poetry. His celebrated alter ego, Mr. Cogito, ranks as the one of the most original characters in modern poetry.

“The major poetic idea in the world is and always has been the idea of God.” That is not Charles Wright. It’s Wallace Stevens quoted in Wright’s collection of prose “improvisations,” Halflife. Reading Wright’s poetry, it’s easy to understand the poet’s sympathy with Stevens.