Shifting borders

Shifting Borders, which brings together a substantial body of East European poetry published in the 1980s, emphasizes the work of a decade that culminated in one of the most significant turning points in the history of that region, if not the modern world. Organized by language rather than political boundary, this anthology reveals the vital role of poetry in each society and gives voice to many of the emotions behind the drive for political independence and cultural identity. Included are the poetries of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Ukraine, and Croatia, Serbia, and Slovenia. Each section is edited and introduced by a leading poet, translator, or scholar noted as an authority on that particular poetry. Although their subjects, styles, and techniques often differ, in total these poems make clear the distinctions between the nature of poetry in Eastern Europe and that in the West. While several of the languages represented here are limited to a small number of speakers, each has a commitment to the central role of poetry in the history of its people and as a source of their unity. All of the poems in this collection were written