This book provides an invaluable tool for gaining access to this major cultural and literary source; it lays out the broad chronological evolution of the poetry; and above all, through a close analysis of the individual poems and a concluding overview, it clarifies both the meaning of the poems and verbal artistry that shaped their construction. The guiding concern of the entire study is to help readers gain acquaintance with a rich and complex genius through sensitive attention to the particularities of his life and linguistic creativity.