Francis Jean Gaston Alfred Ponge (March 27, 1899 - August 6, 1988) was a French essayist and poet. In many ways, he combined the two -- essay and poem -- into a single artform.

Published in 1942 and considered the keystone of Francis Ponge's large body of work, Le parti pris des choses appears here in its entirety as The Nature of Things .Ponge's first full volume, it reveals his preoccupation with nature and its metaphoric transformation through the creative ambiguity of language. Language is both subject and means. For all the critical analysis devoted to this work, "never has the book been fully fathomed" Assessment of the translation by Barbara Wright-- Lee Fahnestock must certainly be "Ponge's voice in English". Several rereadings and a comparison with the French originals, confirmed this opinion. Ponge was the first modern poet to be moved to imagine the inner nature of objects-"things". Things animal - vegetable - mineral. Snails -moss - pebbles....Ponge's poetic intentions may seem very serious -and they are- but he expresses seriousness in a joyous, often insouciant style, full of humor, lighthearted word play, puns, alliteration, allusions, imaginative contrasts. And I feel that this unique combination has been reproduced with love and understanding by Lee Fahnestock. She gives us Ponge's tones, rhythms, humor. She has maneuvered his word play with respect and unostentatious discretion; she knows how to read between the lines. Here, to my mind, is indeed Ponge in English.