Offers the translation of the neglected nineteenth-century French poet, Leconte de Lisle, revealing him to be one of the first and most talented of the multi-culturalists. Leconte de Lisle spent much of his life in Paris working as the national librarian. These poems are his evocations of the Orient and the island of his birth.

This work offers the first translation of the neglected nineteenth-century French poet, Leconte de Lisle, revealing him to be one of the first and most talented of the multi-culturalists. A creole sage born on the Isle of Reunion in the Indian Ocean, Leconte de Lisle spent much of his life in Paris working as the national librarian. His work was respected by the major poets of his day, but his Buddhist sense of detachment caused him to be underappreciated. These poems are his most heartfelt evocations of the Orient and the island of his birth.