Foreword: 'Ending the mission, inaugurating the pact' Yves Bonnefoy; Preface; Acknowledgments; General introduction Hugues Azerad; Part I. Traditions and Modernisms: 1. Paul Valery, 'Le Cantique des colonnes' (1922) Peter Collier; 2. Victor Segalen, 'Aux dix mille annees' (1912) Charles Forsdick; 3. Guillaume Apollinaire, 'Lettre-Ocean' (1916) Timothy Mathews; 4. Marie Noel, 'Attente' (1920) Alison Finch; 5. Blaise Cendrars, 'Me too buggy' (1919) Clive Scott; 6. Saint-John Perse, 'Ecrits sur la porte' (1911) Mary Gallagher; 7. Leopold Sedar Senghor, 'A New York' (1956) Roger Little; Part II. Avant-Gardes: 8. Pierre Reverdy, 'L'Esprit du dehors' (1915), 'L'Esprit dehors' (1960) Stephen Romer; 9. Paul Eluard, 'La courbe de ton coeur...' (1926) Richard Stamelman; 10. Andre Breton, 'Vigilance' (1932) Elza Adamowicz; 11. Aragon, 'Elsa je t'aime' (1941) Tom Conley; 12. Henri Michaux, 'Iniji' (1973) Margaret Rigaud-Drayton; 13. Aime Cesaire, Cahier d'un retour au pays natal (1939) Jean Khalfa; 14. Francis Ponge, 'Le Volet suivi de sa scholie' (1946) Philippe Met; Part III. Poetics of Presence: 15. Rene Char, 'Gravite' (1938) Roger Cardinal; 16. Yves Bonnefoy, 'Rue traversiere' (1987) Victoria Best; 17. Andre du Bouchet, 'Accidents' (1961) Emma Wagstaff; 18. Jacques Dupin, 'Commencer' (1969) Mary Ann Caws; 19. Philippe Jaccottet, 'L'ignorant' (1958) Jean-Michel Maulpoix; 20. Edouard Glissant, 'Pour Mycea' (1985) Jean-Pascal Pouzet; Part IV. New Voices, New Visions: 21. Michel Deguy, 'Le Metronome' (1993) Beatrice Bonhomme; 22. Bernard Heidsieck, 'Poeme-partition B2B3' (1965) Jean-Pierre Bobillot; 23. Jacques Reda, 'L'Incorrigible' (1995) Susan Harrow; 24. Bernard Noel, 'Etats de l'air' (1983) Andrew Rothwell; 25. Jacques Roubaud, 'Des que je me leve' (1986) Meryl Tyers; 26. Marie-Claire Bancquart, 'Essentiel' (1986) Shirley Jordan; 27. Nguyen Hoang Bao Viet, 'Anne Frank' (1980) Thanh-Van Ton-That; 28. Claude Esteban, 'Ils sont riches...' (1999) Robert W. Greene; 29. Gerard Titus-Carmel, 'Or battant...' (2006) Michael Bishop; 30. Jean-Michel Maulpoix, 'Bleu ne fait pas de bruit' (1992) Laure Helms; 31. Amina Said, 'Trois continents derivent' (1988) Rosemary Lloyd; 32. Pierre Alferi, 'Une defense de la poesie' (1997) Michael Sheringham; Afterword: reading twentieth-century French verse Clive Scott; Biographies of the poets; Glossary; Select bibliography; Index.