Richard Wilbur was invested as Poet Laureate of the United States in September 1987. This volume includes, in their entirety, the six earlier volumes of the author's poetry and in addition, 27 new poems and a cantata. Excluding only his verse translations of the plays of Moliere and Racine and his lyrics for Leonard Bernstein's score the musical "Candide", this new volume represents his lifetime work, thus far, in poetry and spans four decades from 1947 to 1987.