Yves Bonnefoy has been recognized ever since the publication of his first book (Du mouvement et de l'immobilité de Douve, 1953) as one of the finest poets of his generation in France. In addition to five books of poetry, he has published works of personal and reflective prose, prose poems, essays in literary and art criticism, and translations of Shakespeare’s plays. In 1981 he became the first poet since Valéry to hold a chair at the Collège de France.
