The Purpose of the Gift: Selected Poems [Paperback]

Writing of the author's earlier 'Selected Poems', poet and novelist John F. Deane wrote: "In this collection, poetry itself is challenged, its value to this bleak and grabbing era ... Michael Smith is a poet of importance; his themes are central to our times, his sparse, unsparing techniques echo a mind unafraid to face unpalatable truths."

Irish poet, translator and editor Michael Smith is based in Dublin and this volume represents his first British career retrospective. The book is an overview of his career as a poet to date - encompassing six previous Irish collections, only one of which appeared in Britain, where he is perhaps better known as a translator of Spanish baroque poetry. He founded New Writers' Press in Dublin in 1967, an enterprise which was responsible for the publication of a number of neglected Irish poets, as well as several important younger writers. He was also co-founder and editor of the literary magazine The Lace Curtain.

Michael Smith lives in Dublin, where he was born in 1942. He founded New Writers' Press in 1967, which published a number of neglected Irish poets, as well as several important younger writers. He was also co-founder and editor of the literary magazine 'The Lace Curtain'. His many collections include 'Times & Locations' (Dolmen Press/OUP, 1972), 'Selected Poems' (The Melmoth Press, 1985) and 'Meditations on Metaphors' (New Writers' Press, 1998). A collection of Michael Smith's recent translations, 'Maldon & Other Translations', containing versions from Anglo-Saxon, 18th-Century Irish, and an Andalusian dialect of Spanish, is published simultaneously with this volume. He has also edited the 'Selected Poems' of James Clarence Mangan, and 'Irish Poetry, The Thirties Generation'. Michael Smith has translated extensively from the Spanish, his published works including versions of Pablo Neruda, Antonio Machado, Miguel Hernandez, Francisco de Quevedo, Luis de Gongora and Federico Garcia Lorca. His awards include The European Academy of Poetry Medal for his services to the translation of poetry.