From one of Poland's most acclaimed poets comes a new collection of poems and plays spanning almost five decades and translated for the first time. 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 work never published before that casts a new light on a much loved poet. Spanning 1950-1998, Reconstruction of the Poet contains three plays - The Philosophers Cave The Other Room, and Reconstruction of the Poet - and over fifty poems. This collection takes the reader through the mind of a man attempting to look at the ruins of a post-war world while seeking the living sources of European culture, with poems commemorating contemporaries fallen in wartime, erotic experience and friendship, and exploring political and metaphysical passions. A rich expansion of previously published works by Herbert, Reconstruction of the Poet is also an introduction for readers who might still be unfamiliar with this important poet’s work while being a fresh instigation to reflection and an enlargement of knowledge for longtime readers of Herbert.