Wendell Berry is a writer of great clarity and sureness. His love of language and his care for its music are matched only by his fidelity to the subjects he has written of during his first twenty-five years of work : land and nature, the family and community, tradition as the groundwork for life and culture. His graceful elegies sit easily alongside lyrics of humor and biting satire. Husbandman and husband, philosopher and Mad Farmer, he writes of values that endure. His vision is one of hope and memory, of determination and faithfulness. For this volume Wendell Berry has collected nearly two hundred poems from his previous eight collections. --from back cover.