Examining the ideological underpinnings of the anthology Postwar Polish
Poetry, this article considers the impact of Czesław Miłosz’s translatory choices on the
rise in popularity of Polish poetry in English translation in the 1960s and its infl uence
on contemporary American poetry. Postwar Polish Poetry by and large introduced
Polish literature to the Anglophone audience. The analysis of the paratext (translator’s
preface, author biographies, jacket copy) and the translations foregrounds Miłosz’s
translatorial, poetological, historical, and political concerns. The article focuses on
delineating the anthology’s role in shaping the historiography of Polish poetry for the
Anglophone reader and touches on the political commentary embedded in Miłosz’s
poetological choices. The overwhelmingly positive reception of the anthology reveals,
in turn, the needs of American poets during the political upheaval of the 1960s to seek
poetry outside their own tradition. Finally, the article argues that the subtleties of the
anthology’s framing of Polish poetry cannot be overlooked, for it continues to exert
infl uence on the canon of Polish literature as it develops in English translation.

Examining the ideological underpinnings of the anthology Postwar Polish
Poetry, this article considers the impact of Czesław Miłosz’s translatory choices on the
rise in popularity of Polish poetry in English translation in the 1960s and its infl uence
on contemporary American poetry. Postwar Polish Poetry by and large introduced
Polish literature to the Anglophone audience. The analysis of the paratext (translator’s
preface, author biographies, jacket copy) and the translations foregrounds Miłosz’s
translatorial, poetological, historical, and political concerns. The article focuses on
delineating the anthology’s role in shaping the historiography of Polish poetry for the
Anglophone reader and touches on the political commentary embedded in Miłosz’s
poetological choices. The overwhelmingly positive reception of the anthology reveals,
in turn, the needs of American poets during the political upheaval of the 1960s to seek
poetry outside their own tradition. Finally, the article argues that the subtleties of the
anthology’s framing of Polish poetry cannot be overlooked, for it continues to exert
infl uence on the canon of Polish literature as it develops in English translation.