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.