The Prison Poems

Miguel Hernández Translated and Introduced by Michael Smith Free Verse Editions Edited by Jon Thompson Information and Pricing 978-1-60235-090-8 (paperback, $18.00); 978-1-60235-091-5 (PDF, $9.99) © 2008 by Parlor Press, 208 pages Bookstores: Order by fax, mail, or phone. See our "Sales and Ordering Page" for details. From the Introduction . . . “The poetic achievement of Hernández . . .lies in his winning through all the various purposes to which he devoted his poetic talent and persisting to achieve the profound expression of an individualism that was tortured by the social and political concerns from which his humanity could not turn away." —Michael Smith About This Book The Prison Poems is the first complete translation into English of Miguel Hernández’s Cancionero y romancero de ausencias, a classic of twentieth century Spanish poetry, comparable in many respects to the work of Lorca and Pablo Neruda. The poems in this book were mostly written while Hernández was in prison after the defeat of Republican Spain. Although he was totally involved in the Republican cause, its defeat did not lead to bitterness on his part. The poems are profoundly human, rising beyond political ideology, constantly striving toward a redemptive vision of the human condition. About the Translator and Editor The translator and editor is Michael Smith, a widely published poet and translator who in 2001 was the first Irish recipient of the European Academy Medal for distinguished work in the translation of poetry in Spanish, awarded by the European Academy of Poetry.