[The Witness of Poetry] is not a remote essay on poetics, requiring an intimate knowledge of contemporary verse, but is accessible to any thoughtful reader. Many great issues of twentieth century faith echo in the fresh, clear voice of a poet who is free of our usual theological jargon and therefore able to help us look anew at the nature of hope, the necessity of eschatology, and the importance of being related to some larger domain of image and myth than the subjective world of the individual. (p. 491)

Milosz believes that the future of poetry is dependent on more than literary fashion and the genius of independent artists. The Zeitgeist must ultimately affirm some perspective of hope….

[Milosz traces] the increasing isolation of the artist, the impact of science, a kind of "mandatory" hopelessness that arose with realism, and the devastations of modern war. Thus his literary reflections...