Classic poetry / poems

Book SynopsisWith an Introduction by Donald McFarlan.Robert Burns, the most celebrated of all Scottish poets, is remembered with great devotion - his birthday on 25th January provokes fervour and festivity among Scots and many others the world over. Born in 1759 into miserable rustic poverty, by the age of eighteen Burns had acquired a good knowledge of both classical and English literature. In June 1786 his first collection of verse, Poems Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect, which included 'To a Mouse' and 'The Cotter's Saturday Night', was greeted with huge acclaim by all classes of society. His later poems and ballads include 'Auld Lang Syne', the beautiful song 'My Love is like a Red Red Rose', 'Highland Mary', 'Scots Wha Hae' and his masterpiece, 'Tam o'Shanter'.

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Book SynopsisThe Sonnets explore many of Shakespeare's most common themes: jealousy, betrayal, melancholy. They ache with unfulfilled longing, and, for many, they are the most complete and moving meditations on love ever written.Part of the Macmillan Collector’s Library; a series of stunning, clothbound, pocket sized classics with gold foiled edges and ribbon markers. These beautiful books make perfect gifts or a treat for any book lover. This edition features an afterword by Peter Harness.The Sonnets of William Shakespeare, a cycle of 154 linked poems first published in 1609, are reproduced in full in this Macmillan Collector’s Library edition. Filled with ideas about love, beauty and mortality, the sonnets are written in the same beautiful and innovative language that we have come to know from Shakespeare's plays. The first 126 sonnets are addressed to a young man known as the 'Fair Youth', while others are directed at a 'Rival Poet', and a 'Dark Lady'.Trade ReviewEvery generation continues to be in his debt. Shakespeare’s plots, which are brilliantly polyvalent, continue to inspire ceaseless adaptations and spin-offs. His unforgettable phrase-making recurs on the lips of millions who do not realise they are quoting Shakespeare * Guardian *

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Book SynopsisAfter nearly thirty years and almost 500 poems, Poems on the Underground has become a familiar and welcome sight on London''s Tube, paying tribute to the magnificent tradition of English poetry, and to those who have contributed to its richness and diversity. In this beautiful paperback edition, poems old and new, familiar and unfamiliar explore such diverse topics as love, London, exile, family, dreams, war, music and nature, and feature hundreds of poets including Owen Sheers, Paul Muldoon, Sylvia Plath, William Blake, D. H. Lawrence, Kathleen Raine, Roger McGough, Wilfred Owen, Wendy Cope and John Clare, among many others.Trade ReviewThe most democratic artistic intervention of my lifetime -- Maev Kennedy * Guardian *London's most original contribution to urban civilisation -- Simon Jenkins * Evening Standard *Beautifully presented ... This makes it an ideal book to dip into. Few people would see this book lying around the house and not be tempted to quickly browse through and find a morsel of verse that meant something to them at that moment. Everyone will find their own favourites in the book * A Common Reader *

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Book SynopsisAt the Tabard Inn in Southwark, a jovial group of pilgrims assembles, including an unscrupulous Pardoner, a noble-minded Knight, a ribald Miller, the lusty Wife of Bath, and Chaucer himself. As they set out on their journey towards the shrine of Thomas a Becket in Canterbury, each character agrees to tell a tale. The twenty-four tales that follow are by turns learned, fantastic, pious, melancholy and lewd, and together offer an unrivalled glimpse into the mind and spirit of medieval England.Trade Review“A delight . . . [Raffel’s translation] provides more opportunities to savor the counterpoint of Chaucer’s earthy humor against passages of piercingly beautiful lyric poetry.”—Kirkus Reviews“Masterly . . . This new translation beckons us to make our own pilgrimage back to the very wellsprings of literature in our language.” —Billy Collins“The Canterbury Tales has remained popular for seven centuries. It is the most approachable masterpiece of the medieval world, and Mr. Raffel’s translation makes the stories even more inviting.”—Wall Street JournalTable of ContentsThe Canterbury TalesAcknowledgmentsEditor's NoteChronolgyIntroductionFurther ReadingChaucer's LanguageA Note on the TectAbbreviations of the Canterbury TalesThe Canterbury TalesFragment I (Group A)The General PrologueThe Knight's TaleThe Miller's Prologue and TaleThe Reeve's Prologue and TaleThe Cook's Prologue and TaleFragment II (Group B)The Man of Law's Prologue, Tale and EpilogueFragment III (Group D)The Wife of Bath's Prologue and TaleThe Friar's Prologue and TaleThe Summoner's Prologue and TaleFragment IV (Group E)The Clerk's Prologue and TaleThe Merchant's Prologue, Tale and EpilogueFragment V (Group F)The Squire's Prologue and TaleThe Squire-Franklin Link, the Franklin's Prologue and TaleFragment VI (Group C)The Physician's TaleThe Physicia-Pardoner Link, The Pardoner's Prologue and TaleFragment VII (Group B)The Shipman's TaleThe Shipman-Prioress Link, The Prioress's Prologue and TaleThe Prioress-Sir Thopas Link and Sir ThopasThe Thopas-Melibee Link and the Tale of MelibeeThe Monk's Prologue and TaleThe Nun's Priest's Prologue, Tale and EpilogueFragment VIII (Group G)The Second Nun's Prologue and TaleThe Canon's Yeoman's Prologue and TaleFragment IX (Group H)The Manciple's Prologue and TaleFragment X (Group I)The Parson's Prologue and TaleChaucer's RetractionsAbbrviated ReferencesNotesGlossary

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Book SynopsisThe Pre-Raphaelite Movement began in 1848, and experienced its heyday in the 1860s and 1870s. Influenced by the then little-known Keats and Blake, as well as Wordsworth, Shelley and Coleridge, Pre-Raphaelite poetry ''etherialized sensation'' (in the words of Antony Harrison), and popularized the notion ofl''art pour l''art - art for art''s sake. Where Victorian realist novels explored the grit and grime of the Industrial Revolution, Pre-Raphaelite poems concentrated on more abstract themes of romantic love, artistic inspiration and sexuality. Later they attracted Aesthetes and Decadents like Oscar Wilde, Aubrey Beardsley and Ernest Dowson, not to mention Gerard Manley Hopkins and W.B. Yeats.

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Book SynopsisLove sonnets are for romantics, starry-eyed lovers and ardent hearts. And Shakespeare's sonnets are the best ever written. But this is why they are also for cynics, for star-crossed lovers and for those who know the anguish of unrequited love.Some appear to be written to a young man, some to a woman. And although the poems are full of mystery - why did Shakespeare write them, and to whom? - each one speaks to us from across the centuries of love, hate and the intensity of being alive.INTRODUCED BY ANDREW McMILLAN'This is a crazy, all-consuming, feverish and sweaty love; love, in all its uncut, full-strength intensity; an adolescent love' Don Paterson, GuardianTrade ReviewThe great master who knew everything...an unspeakable source of delight—Charles DickensEvery age has reinvented the Bard in its own image. Renaissance Man or post-modern angst... Shakespeare haunts our language—IndependentShakespeare was the most consummate genius of all time—Peter AckroydDante and Shakespeare divide the modern world between them, there is no third—T.S. EliotEvery single character in Shakespeare is as much an Individual as those in Life itself—Alexander Pope

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Book SynopsisA GUARDIAN, NEW STATESMAN, SPECTATOR, AND IRISH TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR A new, feminist translation of Beowulf by the author of the acclaimed novel The Mere Wife. Nearly twenty years after Seamus Heaney’s translation of Beowulf — and fifty years after the translation that continues to torment students around the world — there is a radical new verse interpretation of the epic poem by Maria Dahvana Headley, which brings to light elements never before translated into English. A man seeks to prove himself as a hero. A monster seeks silence in his territory. A warrior seeks to avenge her murdered son. A dragon ends it all. These familiar components of the epic poem are seen with a novelist’s eye towards gender, genre, and history. Beowulf has always been a tale of entitlement and encroachment — of powerful men seeking to become more powerful and one woman seeking justice for her child — but this version brings new context to an old story. While crafting her contemporary adaptation, Headley unearthed significant shifts lost over centuries of translation.Trade Review‘Allied to a cunning ear for alliteration, this makes for a text of rollicking, restless verve. The masculine boasting, besting and butchering are duly in place, but Headley adds a sharp focus on the actions and motivations of the female characters ... Maria Dahvana Headley’s radical translation of Beowulf sets out to make you look again at the Norse epic … If you’ve ever struggled with the poem, this is the retelling for you, its ferocious clarity turning Beowulf into a Hollywood superhero.’ -- Rishi Dastidar * The Guardian *‘[The Mere Wife] includes some tantalising snippets of Beowulf as translated by Headley. Now we have the full version, and it is electrifying … It is brash and belligerent, lunatic and invigorating, with passages of sublime poetry punctuated by obscenities and social-media shorthand … With a Beowulf defiantly of and for this historical moment, Headley reclaims the poem for her audience as well as for herself.’ -- Ruth Franklin * The New Yorker *‘Bold … Electrifying.’ -- Ron Charles * The Washington Post *‘There is a glory and thrill to her verse, which brings the blood, fire and youthful energy of the original to the surface … a gift.’ -- Hetta Howes * TLS *‘Maria Dahvana Headley’s decision to make Beowulf a bro puts his macho bluster in a whole new light.’ -- Andrea Kannapell * The New York Times *‘Maria Dahvana Headley has made an enthralling, scalding, contemporary epic; she combines newly-wrought ancient kennings with US street slang and lights up the women in the poem with unusual sympathy.’ -- Marina Warner * New Statesman 'Books of the Year' *‘Her verse has a swaggering, street-smart bite.’ -- Alex Diggins * The Sunday Telegraph *‘An iconic work of early English literature comes in for up-to-the-minute treatment … Headley’s language and pacing keep perfect track with the events she describes … [giving] the 3,182-line text immediacy without surrendering a bit of its grand poetry. Some purists may object to the small liberties Headley has taken with the text, but her version is altogether brilliant.’ STARRED REVIEW * Kirkus Reviews *‘Beowulf is an ancient tale of men battling monsters, but Headley has made it wholly modern, with language as piercing and relevant as Kendrick Lamar’s Pulitzer Prize-winning album DAMN. With scintillating inversions and her use of au courant idiom — the poem begins with the word ‘Bro!’ and Queen Wealhtheow is ‘hashtag: blessed’ — Headley asks one to consider not only present conflicts in light of those of the past, but also the line between human and inhuman, power and powerlessness, and the very nature of moral transformation, the ‘suspicion that at any moment a person might shift from hero into howling wretch.’ The women of Beowulf have often been sidelined. Not so here.’ -- Danielle Trussoni * The New York Times Book Review *‘Move over, Tolkien and Heaney. This translation of Beowulf into muscular urban slang is electric … The American novelist’s sharp new version slices clean and bright to the brutal heart of this ancient adventure like a sword snatched from the dull grey stone of academia.’ -- Helen Brown * The Telegraph *‘Stupendous … exhilarating and dangerous.’ -- Philip Hensher * The Spectator *‘Maria Dahvana Headley’s radical translation of Beowulf turns the old epic into a rollicking tale for today, grabbing your lapels from its very first word.’ -- Rishi Dastidar * The Guardian *‘I have a lot of things to say about Maria Dahvana Headley's new book, Beowulf … The first thing I need to tell you is that you have to read it now. No, I don't care if you've read Beowulf (the original) before … I don't care what you think of when you think of Beowulf in any of its hundreds of other translations because this — this — version, Headley's version, is an entirely different thing. It is its own thing.’ -- Jason Sheehan * NPR *‘[L]ively and vigorous … I am delighted. I’ve never read a Beowulf that felt so immediate and so alive … It’s profane and funny and modern and archaic all at once, and its loose and unstructured verses are full of twisting, surprising kennings.’ -- Constance Grady * Vox *‘[A]s a poetic meditation on the poem, it’s full of startlingly powerful and often raucously lovely language.’ -- Steve Donoghue * Open Letters Review *‘The author of the crazy-cool Beowulf-inspired novel The Mere Wife tackles the Old English epic poem with a fierce new feminist translation that radically recontextualises the tale.’ -- Barbara VanDenburgh * USA Today *‘Thrilling … she interrogates the text to great effect.’ -- Erica Wagner * The Spectator *‘Of the four translations I’ve read, Headley’s is the most readable and engaging. She combines a modern poetry style with some of the hallmarks of Old English poetry, and the words practically sing off the page … Headley’s translation shows why it’s vital to have women and people from diverse backgrounds translate texts.’ -- Margaret Kingsbury * Buzzfeed *‘Without sacrificing the rhythm, rhyme, and visceral language of the original, Headley’s spin is refreshing. Her use of contemporary slang and tempo make the ancient text appealing to a younger audience … For Headley to find a feminist angle in the midst of all this macho behaviour is a feat — but she does it … This is a translation that deserves a wide audience. It’s clear Headley had a lot of fun with this text, and it is to be hoped it lands on the school curriculum.’ -- Afric McGlinchey * Irish Examiner *‘Headley brings a directness, intensity, and rhythm to her translation that I haven’t seen before. This is what it must have felt like to sit in a mead hall and listen to a scop tell the tale. Other translations may be more scholarly, literal, or true to the poetic form of the original, but it’s been a thousand years since Beowulf was this accessible or exciting.’ -- Steve Thomas * The Fantasy Hive *‘Headley’s Beowulf is kindred in spirit to The Mere Wife — highly conscious of gender and modernised to the hilt — but totally different in form. Instead of changing names or places, Headley sticks closely to the original Old English text while updating the vocabulary with flourishes of internet humour … The feminism in Headley’s translation is embedded in the texture and language of the poem itself rather than in its individual events or characters … Her Beowulf is a tragicomic epic about the things men do to impress one another. It’s as fierce an examination of masculine weakness as The Mere Wife was of feminine strength.’ -- Jo Livingstone * Poetry Foundation *‘The new Beowulf is incredibly exciting from beginning to end!’ -- Jason Furman * Harvard University *‘The new translation of Beowulf by Maria Dahavana Headley is the best thing I've read all fucking year.’ -- Mike Drucker, TV Writer and Comedian‘Finally, a Beowulf translation that leaves us feeling ‘hashtag: blessed’.’ -- Alena Smith * SLATE/Future Tense virtual event *‘Beowulf: a new translation pulls Beowulf into the fraught discourse on masculinity in the 21st century … Headley’s choice of backward-hatterd beer-soaked vernacular has its origins in the grandstanding language of the hero as we've always known him — a beefcake who wants to pull off such incredible feats that dudes will hype his reputation for centuries to come.’ -- Miles Klee * MEL Magazine *‘Maria Dahavana Headley’s breathtakingly audacious and idiomatically rich Beowulf: a new translation is a breath of iconoclastically fresh air blowing through the old tale's stuffy mead-hall atmosphere.’ -- Mike Scroggins * Hyperallergic *‘Joy. That is the primary emotion I felt as I was reading Maria Dahvana Headley’s new translation of Beowulf … I cannot recommend this translation more highly. It is accessible to the reader who has never encountered Beowulf before, yet it intrigues and challenges those who study the poem professionally.’ -- David Wilton * WordOrigins.org *‘The sheer poetry lifts the reader into a realm that is both familiar and even enlivening.’ FOUR STARS * Carpe Librum *‘Now science fantasy writer, Maria Dahvana Headley has cut through with a punk sensibility. Hers is a culturally radical reading with a feminist edge and it opens a pathway to a deeper historical reading.’ -- Barry Healy * Green Left *‘Compelling and persuasive … Maria Dahvana Headley’s new translation is bold, exciting and breathes new life into an old classic. With a more nuanced approach to some characters and some inspired language choices, Headley helps Beowulf reclaim its rightful place as a raucous and boozy crowd pleaser.’ FOUR STARS -- Simon Clark * The AU Review *‘This latest reimagining of the epic is through the feminist lens of Maria Dahvana Headley. Bringing this ancient text up to date is no mean feat; Headley does it with flair, fury, and fresh relatability.’ * Happy Magazine *‘This is a version that is highly recommended, not so much to ensure you’re up with your classic education, but rather, for the sheer pleasure of the story and its execution … There’s nothing quite like reading the book.’ -- Magdalena Ball * Compulsive Reader *‘In the wake of Seamus Heaney’s energetic and masterly translation 20 years ago, it took a brave writer to attempt a radically different one. But Headley’s engaging introduction to her almost rap-like version shows up many of the places where a translation can slant the original this way or that, and uses her own life and times as a starting point.’ -- Kerryn Goldsworthy * Sydney Morning Herald *‘[A] bold and fabulous feminist translation … This Beowulf is a joy to read: Headley has loosened herself from the shackles of stuffy scholarship and archaic language (although do not be fooled – she is adept at understanding her source material) to provide a rollicking good yarn.’ -- Clarissa Sebag-Montefiore * The Saturday Paper *‘[An] incredible feminist interpretation.’ * Keeping Up With the Penguins *‘It definitely isn’t your grandma’s Beowulf … Hooked from the first word … Headley's combination of alliteration, assonance, and consonance makes for verse that we can’t help but tap our feet and bob our heads to.’ -- Kwan Ann Tan * Asymptote *‘The critical aspect of this translation is that Headley uses language to bring the story vividly to life. Reinterpreting the text enables it to sing off the page, deploying verse and modern interpretations when necessary to recreate Beowulf as a flowing, visceral tale … a joy to read and highly recommended.’ -- Robert Goodman * Newtown Review of Books *‘Headley’s Beowulf demands to be read in one sitting … Barrelling along at breakneck speed, pulsating and breathless with excitement, it’s an outstanding poetic feat … It’s an astonishing world, and Headley offers us a uniquely powerful way into it.’ -- Carolyne Larrington * Literary Review *[T]here is precise scholarship at work here and a deep understanding of the language and style of the original poem – but Headley’s translation also injects new life into the epic … Headley is dragon-like in bringing her courage, grit and considerable poetic talent to the task of translation, yet also conveys plenty of its literary tradition … The Beowulf that emerges not only speaks to us but demands to be heard in our 21st-century moment. And what a captivating shout it is.’ -- Laura Varnam * History Today *‘Maria Dahvana Headley has satisfied the most deeply-felt and desired dream of any translator, to transfer into her language the words, feelings and cultural icons of a classic, lost tongue. Her Beowulf is wild and wiry, rich and ribald. It sings and dances, curtseys and copulates, although with a more graphic update of the latter, and it quite simply takes one's breath away … This Beowulf is born and eats from language at home in the world of the internet, robots, genes but maintains the alliterations and rhymes of traditional poetry, keeping the tradition alive and renewing it at the same time.’ -- Indran Amirthanayagam, judge in the Academy of American Poets' Harold Morton Landon Translation Award‘An electrifying translation.’ * The Telegraph *‘It’s awesome how strictly she follows the structure and rules while escalating the giddy gallop into a crescendo of overwhelming terror of the destructive marauder.’ -- Sue Prideaux * New Statesman *Praise for Maria Dahvana Headley: ‘Maria Dahvana Headley is a firecracker: she’s whip-smart with a heart, and she writes like a dream.’ -- Neil GaimanPraise for The Mere Wife: ‘There’s not a false note in this retelling, which does the Beowulf poet and his spear-Danes proud.’ STARRED REVIEW * Kirkus *Praise for The Mere Wife: ‘Vivid and thrilling.’ * The Daily Telegraph *

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Book SynopsisQuintessentially Scottish, the poetry of Robert Burns has become famous across the world. With classics such as "Tam O''Shanter", "Auld Lang Syne", and "To a Louse", his work ranged seamlessly from powerful nationalist pieces to playful songs. His use of the vernacular gives a character to his verse that cannot be found anywhere else.Whether the subject is haggis or Halloween, Burns'' enthralling words bring to life the everyday, and the essential character of the Scottish people. His combination of Scottish folklore and literary tradition created some of the most remarkable poetry ever written.ABOUT THE SERIES: Arcturus Great Poets Library brings together moving and inspiring verse from some of the greatest poets in history, presented with beautiful new cover designs with graphic motifs.

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Book SynopsisThis elegant deluxe slipcased edition of three medieval English poems, translated by Tolkien for the modern-day reader and containing romance, tragedy, love, sex and honour, features a beautifully decorated text and includes as a bonus the complete text of Tolkien's acclaimed lecture on Sir Gawain.Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and Pearl are two poems by an unknown author written in about 1400. Sir Gawain is a romance, a fairy-tale for adults, full of life and colour; but it is also much more than this, being at the same time a powerful moral tale which examines religious and social values.Pearl is apparently an elegy on the death of a child, a poem pervaded with a sense of great personal loss: but, like Gawain it is also a sophisticated and moving debate on much less tangible matters.Sir Orfeo is a slighter romance, belonging to an earlier and different tradition. It was a special favourite of Tolkien's.The three translations represent the complete rhyme and alliterative schemes of tTrade Review‘The introduction to Gawain is a little masterpiece.’Times Higher Educational Supplement ‘This magnificent Arthurian tale of love, sex, honour, social tact, personal integrity and folk-magic is one of the greatest and most approachable narrative poems in the language. Tolkien’s version makes it come triumphantly alive, a moving and consoling elegy.’Birmingham Post

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Book SynopsisA pioneer of the Romantic movement, William Wordsworth wrote about the natural world and human emotion with a clarity of language which revolutionized poetry. Part of the Macmillan Collector’s Library; a series of stunning, clothbound, pocket-sized classics with gold foiled edges and ribbon markers. These beautiful books make perfect gifts or a treat for any book lover. This edition has an introduction by Peter Harness.Selected Poems brings together some of Wordsworth’s most acclaimed and influential works, including an extract from his magnus opus, The Prelude, alongside shorter poems such as ‘I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud’, ‘To a Skylark’ and ‘Tintern Abbey’. Wordsworth’s poems, often written at his home in Grasmere in the beautiful English Lake District, are lyrical evocations of nature and of spirituality. They have a force and clarity of language akin to everyday speech which was truly groundbreaking.Trade ReviewWordsworth is a figure of supreme interest -- James Fenton * New York Times *He has done more for the sanity of his generation than any other writer -- Ralph Waldo EmersonWordsworth may be trusted as a guide in everything -- John RuskinThe intrepidity with which Wordsworth explored his own inner life and the generosity with which he shared it remain more than convincing: even now, they continue to define the highest aspirations of modern poetry -- Adam Kirsch * New Yorker *Table of ContentsIntroduction - i: Introduction Section - 1: ‘My Heart Leaps Up When I Behold’ Section - 2: We Are Seven Section - 3: ‘Strange Fits of Passion Have I Known’ Section - 4: ‘She Dwelt Among the Untrodden Ways’ Section - 5: ‘I Travelled Among Unknown Men’ Section - 6: ‘Yes! Thou Art Fair, Yet Be Not Moved’ Section - 7: Address to My Infant Daughter, Dora Section - 8: Airey- Force Valley Section - 9: Yew- Trees Section - 10: Nutting Section - 11: ‘She Was a Phantom of Delight’ Section - 12: To the Cuckoo Section - 13: ‘A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal’ Section - 14: ‘I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud’ Section - 15: Resolution and Independence Section - 16: The Thorn Section - 17: Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey Section - 18: ‘It Is No Spirit Who From Heaven Hath Flown’ Section - 19: French Revolution Section - 20: To A Skylark Section - 21: To Sleep Section - 22: To Sleep Section - 23: To Sleep Section - 24: The Infant M— M— Section - 25: ‘Surprised by Joy – Impatient as the Wind’ Section - 26: ‘Methought I Saw the Footsteps of a Throne’ Section - 27: ‘It is a Beauteous Evening, Calm and Free’ Section - 28: ‘The World Is Too Much With Us’ Section - 29: Composed Upon Westminster Bridge Section - 30: To—, in Her Seventieth Year Section - 31: The Solitary Reaper Section - 32: At the Grave of Burns Section - 33: Calais Section - 34: To Toussaint L’Ouverture Section - 35: September 1, 1802 Section - 36: Written in London, September, 1802 Section - 37: London, 1802 Section - 38: ODE Section - 39: Incident at Brugès Section - 40: Aix-la-Chapelle Section - 41: Mutability Section - 42: ‘The Sun Has Long Been Set’ Section - 43: Expostulation and Reply Section - 44: The Tables Turned Section - 45: Lines Written in Early Spring Section - 46: To My Sister Section - 47: Simon Lee Section - 48: A Poet’s Epitaph Section - 49: The Two April Mornings Section - 50: The Fountain Section - 51: A Night Thought Section - 52: SONNET Section - 53: To a Child Section - 54: PRELUDE Section - 55: The Two Thieves Section - 56: ‘There Is a Bondage Worse, Far Worse, To Bear’ Section - 57: Elegiac Stanzas Section - 58: Intimations of Immortality Section - 59: The Prelude: Book I Section - 60: The Prelude: Book II Index - ii: Index of First Lines

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Book SynopsisWith its roots in the devotional verse of the early Christian church and the long lyric poems of the Irish bards, Irish poetry has a rich and robust tradition both of engagement and self-reflection. It has grappled long with politics and has provided the most eloquent response to Ireland's turbulent history, mediating and mitigating histories of loyalty and loss; it has soaked itself in the Irish landscape and Celtic myth; it has encompassed religion, so much a part of Ireland's cultural heritage. At the same time Irish poets have given their own original slant to everyday experience and affairs of the heart.Thematically organized and spanning many centuries, this selection also features a section of Gaelic poetry in translation, notably excerpts from the 18th-century epic masterpiece, Brian Merriman's The Midnight Court.

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Book SynopsisFrom Leaves of Grass to Song of Myself, all of Whitman's poetry in one volumeIn 1855 Walt Whitman published Leaves of Grass, the work that defined him as one of America’s most influential voices and that he added to throughout his life. A collection of astonishing originality and intensity, it spoke of politics, sexual emancipation, and what it meant to be an American. From the joyful “Song of Myself” and “I Sing the Body Electric” to the elegiac “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d,” Whitman’s art fuses oratory, journalism, and song in a vivid celebration of humanity. Containing all Whitman’s known poetic work, this edition reprints the final, or “deathbed,” edition of Leaves of Grass (1891–92). Earlier versions of many poems are also given, including the 1855 “Song of Myself.”   • Features a completely new—and fuller&md

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Book SynopsisSuitable for recitation at festivals, this title includes 33 songs that were written in honour of the gods and goddesses of the ancient Greek pantheon. It features songs that recount the key episodes in the lives of the gods, and dramatise the moments when they first appear before mortals.Trade Review"The purest expression of ancient Greek religion we possess. Jules Cashford is attuned to the poetry of the Hymns." (Nigel Spivey, Cambridge University)Table of ContentsThe Homeric HymnsIntroductionFurther ReadingTranslator's NoteThe Homeric HymnsI. Hymn To DionysosII. Hymn To DemeterIII. Hymn To ApolloDelian ApolloPythian ApolloIV. Hymn To HermesV. Hymn To AphroditeVI. Hymn To AphroditeVII. Hymn To DionysosVIII. Hymn To AresIX. Hymn To ArtemisX. Hymn To AphroditeXI. Hymn To AthenaXII. Hymn To HeraXIII. Hymn To DemeterXIV. Hymn To The Mother Of The GodsXV. Hymn To Herakles, The Lion-HeartedXVI. Hymn To AsklepiosXVII. Hymn To DioskouroiXVIII. Hymn To HermesXIX. Hymn To PanXX. Hymn To HephaistosXXI. Hymn To ApolloXXII. Hymn To Poseidon XXIII. Hymn To The Son Of Kronos, Most HighXXIV. Hymn To HestiaXXV. Hymn To The Muses And ApolloXXVI. Hymn To DionysosXXVII. Hymn To ArtemisXXVIII. Hymn To AthenaXXIX. Hymn To HestiaXXX. Hymn To Gaia, Mother Of AllXXXI. Hymn To HeliosXXXII. Hymn To SeleneXXXIII. Hymn To The DioskouroiNotes

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Book SynopsisCovers radical public poems of Leopardi on history and politics; philosophical satires; his great, dark, despairing odes such as "To Silvia"; and, later masterworks such as "The Setting of the Moon", written not long before Leopardi's death.

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Book SynopsisAn inspiring new selection of poems exploring faith and the divine, featuring poets from across the world, from antiquity to the present, compiled by renowned poet and author of Martyr!, Kaveh AkbarA Penguin ClassicPoets have always looked to the skies for inspiration, and have written as a way of getting closer to the power and beauty they sense in nature, in each other and in the cosmos. This anthology is a holistic and global survey of a lyric conversation about the divine, one which has been ongoing for millennia.Beginning with the earliest attributable author in all of human literature, the twenty-third century BC Sumerian High Priestess Enheduanna, and taking in a constellation of voices - from King David to Lao Tzu, from the Epic of Gilgamesh to the Malian Epic of Sundiata - this selection presents a number of canonical voices like Blake, Dickinson and Tagore, alongside lesser-anthologized diverse voices going up to the presentTrade ReviewIf poetry is prayer, here are scriptures. Kaveh Akbar's brave, encompassing map of spiritual hunger shows us that longing belongs to all of us, whatever the languages we speak or the geographies we inhabit -- Jeet ThayilAn amazing collection of spiritual verse from many cultures and periods, from ancient Sumer in the third millennium BCE up to the present. There cannot be any other anthology that ranges so widely, and anyone concerned with either poetry or spirituality will want to own a copy -- John Barton * author of A History of the Bible: The Book and Its Faiths *Wonderfully rich, this beautiful anthology of verse uniquely displays how humans over centuries and across continents have wrestled with the concept of the divine and, in turn, humanity's relationship with that divinity. From exaltation to lament, from reflections on beauty to explorations of science, these words draw the reader's eyes towards the wonder of the numinous. A delightful celebration of human creativity, with new insights from a trusted guide: Kaveh Akbar -- Chine McDonald * director of Theos and author of God Is Not a White Man: And Other Revelations *What an amazing compilation: beautifully edited, translated, introduced, this book is far more than a typical poetry anthology. What is it, then? It is our chance to overhear the splendid poet Kaveh Akbar whisper to himself words which he lives by, as he embarks on his own journey of spirit, loss, astonishment, bewilderment, and, perhaps, understanding. The chorus of voices gathered offer a balm, a consolation, a tune, in our desolate world -- Ilya Kaminsky * author of Deaf Republic *How can language approach the spiritual - that which remains unlanguaged - and trace the limen between the self and what it falls silent before? In The Penguin Book of Spiritual Verse, Kaveh Akbar takes up this timeless inquiry with expansive curatorial shaping and heady joy, threading together Li Po and Adelia Prado, Hafez with Jabès, reverent with ludic, divine with corporeal, and everything that gets charged through, and between, them. Vibrating across this thick bundle of verse is the animation of the spirit enmeshed with the body, astounding in its ever-shifting forms, its irrepressible music. These poems "thin the partition between a person and a divine," and they do so sublimely: making porous the border between the self and all that beckons beyond understanding -- Jenny XieThe choices Kaveh Akbar has made for this anthology of spiritual verse are spectacularly excellent. They are from regions of poetry at once accessible and exalted, representing the most intense of human experiences, the experiences of the divine, the yearning for the holy. Multiple cultures are represented: texts of ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, Rome, the Arabic speaking world, the Farsi speaking world, poets of Hindi and Urdu, poets from everywhere in Asia, Africa, Europe, as well as England and the USA. Here is a page of Lucretius, there a page of Dante (splendidly translated by Mary Jo Bang), and over there, Nazim Hikmet. There are several astonishing women, including Enheduanna, Mirabai, Gabriela Mistral. The book holds an embarrassment of riches, yet is light on its feet. You can easily carry it with you in an outside pocket of your knapsack. You too will be smitten by the yearning that animates and drives these poems. Akbar's Introduction, and his notes on individual poems, are extra added value: the words of a poet -- Alicia Ostriker * New York State Poet Laureate 2018-2021, author of the volcano and after:Selected and New Poems, 2002-2019 *Table of ContentsIntroductionEnheduanna, from ‘Hymn to Inanna’ Unknown, ‘Death of Enkidu’, from The Epic of Gilgamesh Unknown, from The Book of the Dead Unknown, Song of Songs, chapters 1 and 2 King David, Psalm 23 Homer, from The Odyssey Sappho, Fragments 22 and 118 Patacara, ‘When they plow their fields’ Lao Tzu, ‘Easy by Nature’, from Tao Te Ching Chandaka, Two Cosmologies Vyasa, from the Bhagavad Gita Lucretius, from The Nature of Things Virgil, from The Aeneid Shenoute, ‘Homily’ Sengcan, ‘The Mind of Absolute Trust’ From the Quran Kakinomoto Hitomaro, ‘In praise of Empress Jitō’ Li Po, ‘Drinking Alone Beneath the Moon’ Rabi’a al-Basri, ‘O my lord’ Ono No Komachi, ‘This inn’ Hanshan, ‘Hanshan’s Poem’ Al-Husayn ibn Ahmad ibn Khalawayh, ‘Names of the Lion’ Unknown, Anglo-Saxon charm Izumi Shikibu, ‘Things I Want Decided’ Li Qingzhao, ‘Late Spring’ Hildegard of Bingen, ‘Song to the Creator’ Mahadeviyakka, ‘I do not call it his sign’ Attar of Nishapur, ‘Parable of the Dead Dervishes in the Desert’ St Francis of Assisi, ‘Canticle of the Sun’ Wumen Huikai, from The Gateless Gate Rūmī, ‘Lift Now the Lid of the Jar of Heaven’ Mechthild of Magdeburg, ‘Of all that God has shown me’ Saadi Shirazi, ‘The Grass Cried Out’ Thomas Aquinas, ‘Lost, All in Wonder’ Moses de León, from The Sepher Zohar Dante Alighieri, from Inferno, Canto III from the Sundiata Hafez, Ghazal 17 Yaqui people, ‘Deer Song’ Nezahualcoyotl, ‘The Painted Book’ Kabir, ‘Brother, I’ve seen some’ Mirabai, ‘O friend, understand’ Yoruba people, from A Recitation of Ifa Teresa of Ávila, ‘Laughter Came from Every Brick’ Gaspara Stampa, ‘Deeply repentant of my sinful ways’ St John of the Cross, ‘O Love’s living flame’ Mayan people, from the Popol Vuh Christopher Marlowe, from Faustus William Shakespeare, Sonnet 146 John Donne, ‘Batter my heart, three-person’d God’ Nahuatl people, ‘The Midwife Addresses the Woman’ George Herbert, ‘Easter Wings’ Walatta Petros/Gälawdewos, from The Life and Struggles of Our Mother Walatta Petros John Milton, from Paradise Lost, Book 4 Bashō, ‘Death Song’ and ‘In Kyoto’ Juana Inés de la Cruz, ‘Suspend, singer swan, the sweet strain’ Yosa Buson, ‘A solitude’ Olaudah Equiano, ‘Miscellaneous Verses’ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, ‘Wanderer’s Nightsong II’ Phillis Wheatley, ‘On Virtue’ William Blake, ‘Auguries of Innocence’ Kobayashi Issa, ‘All the time I pray to Buddha’ John Clare, ‘I Am!’ John Keats, ‘Ode on a Grecian Urn’ Mirza Ghalib, ‘For the Raindrop’ Elizabeth Barrett Browning, ‘Grief’ Frederick Douglass, ‘A Parody’ Emily Dickinson, ‘I prayed, at first, a little Girl’ Uvavnuk, ‘The Great Sea’ Gerard Manley Hopkins, ‘God’s Grandeur’ Rabindranath Tagore, ‘The Temple of Gold’ Constantine Cavafy, ‘Body, Remember’ W. B. Yeats, ‘The Second Coming’ Rainer Maria Rilke, ‘The Second Duino Elegy’ Muhammad Iqbal, ‘These are the days of lightning’ Yosano Akiko, ‘To punish’ Sarojini Naidu, ‘In the Bazaars of Hyderabad’ Delmira Agustini, ‘Inextinguishables’ Gabriela Mistral, ‘The Return’ Anna Akhmatova, from ‘Requiem’ Osip Mandelstam, ‘O Lord, help me to live through this night’ Edith Södergran, ‘A Life’ Marina Tsvetaeva, from Poems to Czechia María Sabina, from ‘The Midnight Velada’ Xu Zhimo, ‘Second Farewell to Cambridge’ Federico García Lorca, ‘Farewell’ Nâzim Hikmet, ‘Things I Didn’t Know I Loved’ Léopold Sédar Senghor, ‘Totem’ Faiz Ahmed Faiz, ‘Before You Came’ Czesław Miłosz, ‘Dedication’ Edmond Jabès, ‘At the Threshold of the Book’ Aimé Césaire, from Notebook of a Return to the Native Land Octavio Paz, ‘Brotherhood: Homage to Claudius Ptolemy’ Oodgeroo Noonuccal, ‘God’s One Mistake’ Paul Celan, ‘There was Earth in Them’ Paul Laraque, ‘Rainbow’ Nazik Al-Malaika, ‘Love Song for Words’ Wisława Szymborska, ‘Astonishment’ Zbigniew Herbert, ‘The Envoy of Mr Cogito’ Yehuda Amichai, ‘A Man in His Life’ Ingeborg Bachmann, ‘Every Day’ Kim Nam-Jo, ‘Foreign Flags’ Kamau Brathwaite, ‘Bread’ Adonis, ‘The New Noah’ Christopher Okigbo, ‘Come Thunder’ Ingrid Jonker, ‘There Is Just One Forever’ Jean Valentine, ‘The River at Wolf’ Kofi Awoonor, ‘At the Gates’ Adélia Prado, ‘Dysrhythmia’ Lucille Clifton, ‘my dream about God’ Vénus Khoury-Ghata, from She Says Mahmoud Darwish, ‘I Didn’t Apologize to the Well’ M. NourbeSe Philip, from Zong! Inrasara, from Allegory of the Land Sources Acknowledgements Index of First Lines Index of Titles

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Book SynopsisIn La Vita Nuova, Italy's greatest poet recounts the famous story of his passionate love for Beatrice. The drama of their relationship unravels through stunning poetry and prose in this, one of the most celebrated love stories in history.Part of the Macmillan Collector’s Library; a series of stunning, clothbound, pocket-sized classics with gold foiled edges and ribbon markers. These beautiful books make perfect gifts or a treat for any book lover. From the first time the poet sets eyes on Beatrice, he proclaims that ‘love quite governed my soul’ and his devotion to her knows no end. By recalling each meeting with Beatrice this short book is at once a heartfelt account of youthful love and a religious allegory. La Vita Nuova serves as an important precursor to Dante’s masterpiece, The Divine Comedy.This edition is the English translation by Dante Gabriel Rossetti from the original Italian. It was first published in The Early Italian Poets in 1861 and then reissued in 1874 by Dante and his circle. It was met with great acclaim acknowledging Rossetti’s skill as a meticulous and poetic translator.

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Book SynopsisFinally I realised that I had been practising for this job every time I wrote a quatrain . . . I had spent all this time the greater part of a lifetime preparing my instruments.' The Divine Comedy is the precursor of modern literature, and Clive James's vivid translation his life's work and decades in the making presents Dante's entire epic poem in a single song. While many poets and translators have attempted to capture the full glory of The Divine Comedy in English, many have fallen short. Victorian verse translations established an unfortunate tradition of reproducing the sprightly rhyming measures of Dante but at the same time betraying the strain on the translator's powers of invention. For Dante, the dramatic human stories of Hell were exciting, but the spiritual studies of Purgatory and the sublime panoramas of Heaven were no less so. In this incantatory translation, James defying the convention by writing in quatrains tackles these problems head-on and creates a striking and hugely accessible translation that gives us The Divine Comedy as a whole, unified, and dramatic work.Trade ReviewClive James's new translation is wonderfully unstuffy and injects fresh life back into the poem. -- Mary Beard, Best Holiday Reads 2013 * Observer *'An outstanding achievement . . . He restores the sense of drama, the colours and music of Dante's vision . . . Clive James has now given us a translation worthy of this and any other time; and a great piece of literature in its own right' - Robert Fox, Evening Standard‘an extraordinary verse-rendering – the fruit of many years' work – of Dante's The Divine Comedy. According to TS Eliot, this is the only book in the western tradition that surpasses Shakespeare. It is typical of James's chutzpah that he has not only tackled this Everest of translation, but has scrambled to the summit in triumph . . . The result is a revelation. The reader is swept up in the drama of Inferno . . . The tempo and texture of the poem has an inevitable majesty, but there is also a dancing levity that is suited to James and his "joking seriousness"' Robert McCrum, GuardianA triumph of great poetry and accessibility. Wonderful. -- Melvyn Bragg, Books of the Year * Observer *'Clive James comes to the Comedy with two important attributes: many years study of the poem and an impressively accomplished verse technique' - Sean O'Brien, Independent Book of the Week‘Like most successful translations, there is a sense of the personal throughout… the poetry is certainly here, spurring the reader to learn more.’ The Times Saturday Review‘This is the translation that many of us had abandoned all hope of finding. Clive James’s version is the only one that conveys Dante’s variety, depth, subtlety, vigor, wit, clarity, mystery, and awe in rhymed English stanzas that convey the music of Dante’s triple rhymes. This book lets Dante’s genius shine through as it never did before in English verse, and is a reminder that James’ poetry has always been his finest work.’ Edward Mendelson, Columbia UniversityPunchy, theologically serious and frequently funny verse. -- Mark Lawson, Books of the Year * Observer *‘Clive James’ translation of The Divine Comedy is a remarkable achievement: not a scowling marble Dante of sublime set-pieces but a living, breathing poet shifting restlessly through a dizzying succession of moods, perceptions, and passions. Under James’ uncanny touch, seven long centuries drop away, and the great poem is startlingly fresh and new.’ Stephen Greenblatt, Harvard University, author of The SwerveFor those who have never quite managed the reverence for Dante required of the well-read, there is at last a translation that makes The Divine Comedy everything it's billed: Clive James's version in quatrain. Suddenly the voice - from teasingly conversational to clangorously epic to tenderly lyric - is right beside you even when it's a talking beast . . . Read it out loud in bed (softly). -- Simon Schama, Book of the Year * Financial Times *Fresh, impressive new translation of The Divine Comedy that is both easy-going and lucid -- Best Books of 2013 * Sunday Times *An excellent new version of Dante's masterpiece. Eschewing Dante's terza rima, he has opted instead to write in rhyming quatrains, but without spaces between them, so each canto is a solid block of text. James handles the rhythm with ease and assurance, using enjambment freely, and brings a colloquial tone to the translation.. .wonderfully conveys the strangeness and vastness of Dante's vision. An impressive work of scholarship, and of poetry in its own right * Independent *

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Book SynopsisWith an Introduction by Tim Cook. Shakespeare's sonnets have an intensity of both feeling and meaning unmatched in English sonnet form. They divide into two parts; the first 126 sonnets are addressed to a fair youth for whom the poet has an obsessive love and the second chronicles his love for the notorious 'Dark Lady'. In addition to the sonnets, this volume includes Shakespeare's two lengthy narrative poems on classical themes, The Rape of Lucrece which looks forward to the dark imagery of Macbeth, and Venus and Adonis which mixes ribaldry and tragedy in unique Shakespearean manner. The Phoenix and the Turtle is a beautiful metaphysical and allegorical short elegy, and takes its place with Shakespeare's better-known poetry.

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Book SynopsisWhile holidaying at a villa on the French Riviera, Dick and Nicole Diver, a wealthy American couple, meet the young film star Rosemary Hoyt. Her arrival causes a stir in their social circle and exposes the cracks in their fragile marriage. As their relationship unravels, glimpses of their troubled past emerge, and a series of disturbing events unfolds. Peopled by an unforgettable cast of aristocrats and high-fliers, Tender Is the Night is at once a scathing critique of the materialism and hypocrisy of the Roaring Twenties and a poignant and sensitive account of personal tragedy and disillusionment.Trade ReviewGatsby was a tour de force, but this is a confession of faith. -- Fitzgerald comment on Tender is the Night He was better than he knew, for in fact and in the literary sense he invented a generation. * The New York Times *

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Book SynopsisThe present selection traces the development of Yeats’s verse, encompassing the poet’s interest in Irish folklore and national identity, his engagement with the political situation of his day and the rich symbolism that is the hallmark of his work and a reflection of his lifelong fascination with the occult. It contains some of his best-known pieces, including the elegiac ‘Easter 1916’, the apocalyptic ‘The Second Coming’ and the reflective and spiritual ‘Sailing to Byzantium’. Often radical in content but always traditional in form, these poems are by turns startling and affecting, and never less than inspired. Taken together, they form an ideal introduction to the poetic career of one of Ireland’s greatest literary figures.Trade ReviewYeats is like a mountain range, lying on the horizon. He can’t be emulated; you just walk around under the shade. -- Seamus Heaney

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Book SynopsisA raw, honest and heartfelt poetry collection from Taz Alam for the tough times, the great times, and everything in between.Depressed, but it's fine.Anxious, but it's fine.Heartbroken, but it's fine.When you're ready to embrace how you really feel,I hope this book helps you connect, reflect, and be seen.What matters is that you're here.Maybe we can be fine, together.

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Book SynopsisA collectible new Penguin Classics series: beautiful clothbound editions of the most famous verse collections by ten favourite poets. Designed by the acclaimed Coralie Bickford-Smith and attractively set, these slim, A format volumes are the ultimate gift editions for poetry lovers. Songs of Innocence and Experience is one of the best-loved poetry collections of all time, an innovative and groundbreaking experiment in which Blake intertwined text and image to dazzling effect. The volume, published sometimes as two separate collections, juxtaposes the innocent world of childhood with the corrupt and repressed one of adults, and includes such favourites as ''The Lamb'', ''The Chimney Sweeper'' and ''The Tyger''.

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Book SynopsisThe Sea of Separation, a new free verse translation of Tulsidas’s beloved Rāmcaritmānas, presents renowned episodes from the Ramayana epic, including Ram’s battles with demons, the kidnapping of his wife Sita, and the god Hanuman’s heroic journey to Lanka to find her.Trade ReviewThis perceptive and accessible edition brings Tulsidas’s version [of the Ramayana], the most widely read across Northern India, to English-speaking audiences, giving readers a fresh glimpse into the tale’s impressive energy. * Publishers Weekly *Philip Lutgendorf’s excellent translation of the Rāmcaritmānas is a treat for all readers. We are fortunate to have a rendering of this hugely important text that captures the rhythms and excitement of the original work from the pen of a scholar who has dedicated decades to the study of Tulsidas and his works. -- Daisy Rockwell, International Booker Prize–winning translator of Tomb of SandMyriad versions of the story of Rama have influenced many civilizations across South and Southeast Asia. Lutgendorf’s elegant translation of Tulsidas’s telling is an important step, expanding our appreciation of the great epic in all its forms. -- Tiffany Tsao, winner of the 2023 PEN Translation Prize

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Book SynopsisProbably the most important single figure in nineteenth century American literature, Edgar Allan Poe (1809-49) exerted an enormous influence over later writers, especially French Symbolist poets, including Baudelaire and Mallarme, and through them he affected the entire field of modern literature from THE WASTE LAND to LOLITA. Probably best known for his macabre short stories, including THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER, and THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM, Poe's influence was spread primarily through his poems and essays which are here reprinted. The current volume includes all his extant poems and extensive selections from his essays on poetry.

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Book SynopsisThe appreciation of Zen philosophy and art has become universal, and Zen poetry, with its simple expression of direct, intuitive insight and sudden enlightenment, appeals to lovers of poetry, spirituality, and beauty everywhere. This collection of translations of the classical Zen poets of China, Japan and Korea includes the work of Zen practioners and monks as well as scholars, artists, travellers and recluses, and covers fifteen centuries of Oriental literature with poets ranging from Xie Lingyun (5th century) through Wang Wei and Hanshan (8th century) and Yang Wan-li (12th century) to Shinkei (15th) Basho (17th) and Ryokan (19th).

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"Almost lost to the ages, now surviving in but one faded, precious, manuscript, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight calls forth with exceptional brilliance and mordant precision a chthonic force rarely investigated in other works of the later Middle Ages. Unquestionably, this poem would have been challenging even to its first readers in the turbulent fourteenth century, and so the present volume brings to bear all the advantages of the Norton Critical Edition format—superlative translations, comparative source and background texts, and landmark critical studies—to facilitate an access made even more challenging (but no less enticing) by the passage of centuries." -- Stephen H. A. Shepherd, Loyola Marymount University

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Book SynopsisDonne created new forms of lyric, satire, elegiac and religious verse, and his independence of view, compact manner of expression encompassing conflicting moods, impassioned paradox, outbreaks of cynicism and wry humour make his work particularly appealing to the twentieth-century mind. His poetry reflects every stage of his development from the piratical Jack Donne who sailed with Ralegh against the Spaniards and spent riotous nights in the London streets, to the penitent John Donne who became Dean of St Paul's and the most celebrated preacher of his age. C. A. Patrides' edition of Donne's English poems is undoubtedly the most complete and scholarly available.

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Book SynopsisUnavailable for more than 70 years, this early but important work is published for the first time with Tolkien's Corrigan' poems and other supporting material, including a prefatory note by Christopher Tolkien.Set In Britain's land beyond the seas' during the Age of Chivalry, The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun tells of a childless Breton Lord and Lady (the Aotrou' and Itroun' of the title) and the tragedy that befalls them when Aotrou seeks to remedy their situation with the aid of a magic potion obtained from a corrigan, or malevolent fairy. When the potion succeeds and Itroun bears twins, the corrigan returns seeking her fee, and Aotrou is forced to choose between betraying his marriage and losing his life.Coming from the darker side of J.R.R. Tolkien's imagination, The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun, together with the two shorter Corrigan' poems that lead up to it and which are also included, was the outcome of a comparatively short but intense period in Tolkien''s life when he was deeply engaged with Celtic, and particularly Breton, myth and legend.Originally written in 1930 and long out of print, this early but seminal work is an important addition to the non-Middle-earth portion of his canon and should be set alongside Tolkien's other retellings of myth and legend, The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún, The Fall of Arthur and The Story of Kullervo. Like these works, it belongs to a small but important corpus of his ventures into real-world' mythologies, each of which in its own way would be a formative influence on his own legendarium.Trade Review‘The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun is a poem in the tradition of the medieval "lay", also illustrated by the Lay of the Children of Húrin, and in the Lay of Leithian. This 556-verse-long poem tells the tragic story of a lord who sacrifices his life by love: in order to have a child with his wife, then to remain faithful to his spouse, he gives his life to a witch.’ The J.R.R. Tolkien Estate website ‘The language is as time-worn as a Runic engraving yet clear as a bell … The holy and the unholy imbue everything. It is a world captured in stained glass.’ Daily Telegraph

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Book Synopsis'How do I love thee? Let me count the ways'A beautiful new edition of Elizabeth Barrett Browning's most iconic poems.

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Book SynopsisThe perfect introduction to one of the most influential American poets - includes the controversial 'Leaves of Grass'

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Book SynopsisHere is a collection of sexy, brief, fleeting poems about love, lust and longing. They originate from a time in Japanese history where aristocratic women of the Heian court were free to marry and conduct love affairs according to their desires. Education and refinement were so highly valued that the courtly manner of expressing oneself, whether to give condolences for a death, to send back a forgotten fan, or to heighten the anticipation of a lover's visit, was with a poem of just five lines. A convention of secrecy surrounding love affairs fills these verses with palpable emotion.These vivid and erotic poems express love in all its forms, and do so with amazing economy of words, unforgettable imagery and breath-taking modernity.INTRODUCED BY NIKITA GILL'They are full of dreams, of autumns, of lovers known or not yet met, of desire, wonderment, loneliness' Irish Times Translated by Jane Hirshfield with Mariko Aratani, this is an edition that brings the story of the poems to life with a detailed introduction and notes on the translation.Trade ReviewThese poems take us to the back corridors of Heian Period life and reveal the sexual intrigues that so often occurred under the cover of darkness... the seductive, free-spirited erotic environment unfolds through these sensuous poems * Japan Times *A thousand years later we can read poems that remain absolutely accurate and moving descriptions of our most common and central experiences: love and loss, their reflection in the loveliness and evanescence of the natural world, and the effort to understand better the nature of being -- Jane Hirschfield

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Book SynopsisFrom tenth-century Japan's Izumi Shikibu, colonial America's Anne Bradstreet, and Victorian England's Elizabeth Barrett Browning to Israel's Yehuda Amichai, Ireland's Paul Muldoon, and Russia's Anna Akhmatova, poets across the centuries and around the world have immortalized this elemental relationship. Among the more than seventy poets in this anthology, Audre Lorde recalls "How the days went / While you were blooming within me"; Jorie Graham muses on her mother's sewing box; Allen Ginsberg says goodbye in "Kaddish"; and Langston Hughes invokes a mother's empowering example: "Don't you fall now- / For I'se still goin', honey, / I'se still climbin', / And life for me ain't been no crystal stair." From Emily Brontë's "Upon Her Soothing Breast" and Seamus Heaney's "Mother of the Groom" to Sylvia Plath's "Morning Song" and Frank O'Hara's "Ave Maria," the more than one hundred poems collected here enshrine the miracle of motherhood and the richness of feeling and experience it inspires.

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Book SynopsisWhen the world-weary dandy Eugene Onegin moves from St Petersburg to take up residence in the country estate he has inherited, he strikes up an unlikely friendship with his neighbour, the poet Vladimir Lensky. Coldly rejecting the amorous advances of Tatyana and cynically courting her sister Olga – Lensky’s fiancée – Onegin finds himself dragged into a tragedy of his own making. Eugene Onegin – presented here in a sparkling translation by Roger Clarke, along with extensive notes and commentary – was the founding text of modern Russian literature, marking a clean break from the high-flown classical style of its predecessors and introducing the quintessentially Russian hero and heroine, which would remain the archetypes for novelists throughout the nineteenth century.Trade ReviewPushkin’s novel in verse, Eugene Onegin, is the book that has most influenced my life. -- Vikram Seth

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Book SynopsisUniversally known for his groundbreaking prose – especially for the monumental novel Ulysses and its depictions of Dublin at the turn of the twentieth century – James Joyce started off as a writer of lyrical poetry, a genre which he never abandoned in his lifetime and which informs and enriches the rest of his literary production. This volume, which includes Joyce’s first published book, Chamber Music, as well as his later collection Pomes Penyeach and several other uncollected poems, reveals a lesser-known facet of the great modernist’s artistic career and a glimpse into his poetical sensibility.Trade ReviewHis writing is not about something; it is that something itself. -- Samuel Beckett

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Book Synopsis"It was a refreshing, old-fashioned pleasure to read Julie Scott Meisami’s verse translation of, and introduction and notes to, this twelfth-century Persian allegorical romance." —Orhan Pahmuk, in the Times Literary SupplementTrade Review"The Haft Paykar—Nizami's twelfth-century masterpiece, written in the Persian verse couplet form known as masnavi—has waited a long time for a translation like this: one that simultaneously captures its lightness and charm and plumbs its wealth of cultural detail. Julie Meisami's deft, accurate, seemingly effortless version (rendered in English tetrameter, an inspired choice) is a rare accomplishment." —Michael Beard, University of North Dakota"Nizami's Haft Paykar is a deep, enduring work of literature, one that can be appreciated as psychological bildungsroman, fairytale, spiritual quest, and adventure tale. Meisami is a leading scholar of the classical Persian literary tradition, and her translation—the first full modern English rendering, and the only one to be based on a critical edition of the Persian text—pays close attention to the literary qualities of the poem." —Franklin Lewis, University of Chicago"Meisami is one of the foremost specialists in Persian literature alive today. Her translation of the Haft Paykar not only makes available for the general reader one of the classics of Persian literature, but enriches it with an extensive introduction and notes of the highest quality." —Jawid Mojaddedi, Rutgers University

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Book SynopsisContains poems which epitomize the Victorian age.Trade Review"[Tennyson] had the finest ear of any English poet since Milton." -T. S. Eliot

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Book SynopsisUnavailable for more than 70 years, this early but important work is published for the first time with Tolkien's Corrigan' poems and other supporting material, including a prefatory note by Christopher Tolkien.Set In Britain's land beyond the seas' during the Age of Chivalry, The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun tells of a childless Breton Lord and Lady (Aotrou' and Itroun') and the tragedy that befalls them when Aotrou seeks to remedy their situation with the aid of a magic potion obtained from a corrigan, or malevolent fairy. When the potion succeeds and Itroun bears twins, the corrigan returns seeking her fee, and Aotrou is forced to choose between betraying his marriage and losing his life.Coming from the darker side of J.R.R. Tolkien's imagination, The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun, together with the two shorter Corrigan' poems that lead up to it and are also included here, was the outcome of a comparatively short but intense period in Tolkien's life when he was deeply engaged with Celtic, andTrade Review‘The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun is a poem in the tradition of the medieval "lay", also illustrated by the Lay of the Children of Húrin, and in the Lay of Leithian. This 556-verse-long poem tells the tragic story of a lord who sacrifices his life by love: in order to have a child with his wife, then to remain faithful to his spouse, he gives his life to a witch.’ The J.R.R. Tolkien Estate website ‘The language is as time-worn as a Runic engraving yet clear as a bell … The holy and the unholy imbue everything. It is a world captured in stained glass.’ Daily Telegraph

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Book SynopsisDescribing Dante's second stage in his arduous journey to redemption, Purgatory features a host of unforgettable scenes and characters, and arguably some of the best poetry to be found in the Divine Comedy. The gloom, torments and evils of Hell have been left behind, but Dante's ascent of Mount Purgatory towards Paradise remains fraught with obstacles, not least the burden of his own mortality and his human passions. Purgatory is presented here in a new verse translation by acclaimed poet and prize-winning translator J.G. Nichols. Also included are the original Italian text, extensive notes and a critical apparatus focusing on Dante's life and works.Trade ReviewFor sheer liveliness, combined with accuracy and closeness to the text, it will be hard to rival. -- A.N. Wilson Bravo for this new version of Dante... Bravo, Professor Nichols! * The Church Times * All life is written in Dante's burning pages, and Nichols has done him proud. -- Ian Thomson * The Observer *

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Book SynopsisTells the story of an epic voyage in which Aeneas crosses stormy seas, becomes entangled in a tragic love affair with Dido of Cathage, descends to the world of the dead - all the way tormented by the vengeful Juno, Queen of the Gods - and finally reaches Italy, where he will fulfil his destiny: to found the Roman people.Trade ReviewAfter his best-selling Iliad and Odyssey, today's top-dog classical translator hits the triefecta with Virgil's epic about the founder of Rome * Newsweek *Fagles illuminates the poem's Homeric echoes while remaining faithful to Virgil's distinctive voice * The New Yorker *

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Book SynopsisJohn Keats is regarded as one of the greatest poets of the Romantic movement. But when he died at the age of only twenty-five, his writing had been attacked by critics and his talent remained largely unrecognized. Part of the Macmillan Collector’s Library; a series of stunning, clothbound, pocket sized classics with gold foiled edges and ribbon markers. These beautiful books make perfect gifts or a treat for any book lover. This edition is edited and introduced by Dr Andrew Hodgson.This volume, Selected Poems, reflects his extraordinary creativity and versatility, drawing on the collections published during his lifetime as well as posthumously. He wrote in many different forms – from his famous Odes to ballads such as ‘La Belle Dame Sans Merci’, and the epic Hyperion. Together, they celebrate a poet who wrote with unsurpassed insight and emotion about art and beauty, love and loss, suffering and nature.Trade ReviewThe imaginative impact of Keats’s life – his “orphaned” childhood, his letters, his poetry, his friendships, his illness, his agonizing love affair – has continued unbroken for nearly two hundred years * New York Review of Books *Keats’s jazz-like improvisations, which give us, like no other writing in English, the actual rush of a man thinking, a mind hurtling forward unpredictably and sweeping us along -- Morris Dickstein * New York Times *He left behind him some of Britain’s best-loved poetry -- Alison Flood * Guardian *A truly radical poet -- Lesley McDowell * Independent *Table of ContentsIntroduction - i: Introduction Chapter - 1: ‘I am as brisk’ Chapter - 2: Song (‘Stay, ruby-breasted warbler, stay’) Chapter - 3: ‘Give me Women, Wine, and Snuff’ Chapter - 4: ‘To one who has been in long city pent’ Chapter - 5: ‘O! how I love, on a fair summer’s eve’ Chapter - 6: To my Brother George (‘Full many a dreary hour have I passed’) Chapter - 7: To Charles Cowden Clarke Chapter - 8: ‘How many bards gild the lapses of time!’ Chapter - 9: On First Looking in To Chapman’s Homer Chapter - 10: On Leaving Some Friends at an Early Hour Chapter - 11: ‘Keen, fitful gusts are whispering here and there’ Chapter - 12: ‘Great spirits now on earth are sojourning’ Chapter - 13: ‘I stood tip-toe upon a little hill’ Chapter - 14: from Sleep and Poetry Chapter - 15: Written in Disgust of Vulgar Superstition Chapter - 16: On the Grasshopper and the Cricket Chapter - 17: ‘After dark vapours have oppressed our plains’ Chapter - 18: Written on a Blank Space at the End of Chaucer’s Tale of ‘The Floure and the Leafe’ Chapter - 19: On Seeing the Elgin Marbles Chapter - 20: On the Sea Chapter - 21: from Endymion: A Poetic Romance Chapter - 22: ‘In drear-nighted December’ Chapter - 23: On Sitting Down to Read King Lear Again Chapter - 24: ‘Hence Burgundy, Claret, and Port’ Chapter - 25: Robin Hood Chapter - 26: ‘Lines on the Mermaid Tavern’ Chapter - 27: ‘When I have fears that I may cease to be’ Chapter - 28: The Human Seasons Chapter - 29: To J. H. Reynolds, Esq. Chapter - 30: Isabella; or, The Pot of Basil Chapter - 31: On Visiting the Tomb of Burns Chapter - 32: ‘Old Meg she was a gipsy’ Chapter - 33: Lines Written in the Highlands after a Visit to Burns’s Country Chapter - 34: ‘Where’s the poet? Show him, show him’ Chapter - 35: ‘And what is Love? It is a doll dressed up’ Chapter - 36: Hyperion. A Fragment Chapter - 37: Fancy Chapter - 38: Ode (‘Bards of passion and of mirth’) Chapter - 39: Song (‘I had a dove and the sweet dove died’) Chapter - 40: Song (‘Hush, hush! tread softly! hush, hush my dear!’) Chapter - 41: The Eve of St Agnes Chapter - 42: ‘Why did I laugh tonight? No voice will tell’ Chapter - 43: A Dream, After Reading Dante’s Episode of Paulo and Francesca Chapter - 44: La Belle Dame Sans Merci. A Ballad Chapter - 45: To Sleep Chapter - 46: ‘If by dull rhymes our English must be chained’ Chapter - 47: Ode to Psyche Chapter - 48: Ode on a Grecian Urn Chapter - 49: Ode to a Nightingale Chapter - 50: from Ode on Melancholy Chapter - 51: Lamia Chapter - 52: ‘Pensive they sit, and roll their languid eyes’ Chapter - 53: To Autumn Chapter - 54: The Fall of Hyperion. A Dream Chapter - 55: ‘The day is gone, and all its sweets are gone’ Chapter - 56: ‘What can I do to drive away’ Chapter - 57: ‘I cry your mercy, pity, love – ay, love!’ Chapter - 58: ‘Bright star! would I were steadfast as thou art’ Chapter - 59: To Fanny Chapter - 60: ‘This living hand, now warm and capable’ Index - ii: Index of Poem Titles Index - iii: Index of First Lines

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Book SynopsisThe era between the accession of Henry VIII and the crisis of the English republic in 1659 formed one of the most fertile epochs in world literature. This anthology offers a broad selection of its poetry, and includes a wide range of works by the great poets of the age—notably Sir Philip Sidney, Edmund Sepnser, John Donne, William Shakespeare and John Milton. Poems by less well-known writers also feature prominently—among them significant female poets such as Lady Mary Wroth and Katherine Philips. Compelling and exhilarating, this landmark collection illuminates a time of astonishing innovation, imagination and diversity.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by intrTable of ContentsSelected and with an Introduction by David Norbrook - Edited by H.R. Woudhuysen Abbreviations Used in the TextPrefaceAcknowledgmentsIntroductionNote on the Text and AnnotationI. The Public World1. JOHN SKELTON: [from A Lawde and Prayse Made for Our Sovereigne Lord the Kyng]2. SIR THOMAS MORE: De Principe Bono Et Malo3. Quis Optimus Reipublicae Status4. SIR DAVID LINDSAY: [from The Dreme] The Complaynt of the Comoun weill of Scotland5. SIR THOMAS WYATT: [Who lyst his welth and eas Retayne]6. In Spayn7. [The piller pearisht is whearto I Lent]8. HENRY HOWARD, EARLY OF SURREY: [Thassyryans king in peas with fowle desyre]9. ANONYMOUS: John Arm-strongs last good night10. ROBERT CROWLEY: Of unsaciable purchasers11. JOHN HEYWOOD: [from A Ballad on the Marriage of Philip and Mary]12. WILLIAM BIRCH: [from A songe betwene the Quenes majestie and Englande]13. QUEEN ELIZABETH I: [The dowbt off future foes exiles my present joye]14. SIR PHILIP SIDNEY: [from The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia]15. ANONYMOUS: Of Sir Frauncis Walsingham Sir Phillipp Sydney, and Sir Christopher Hatton, Lord Chancelor16. GEORGE PUTTENHAM: Her Majestie resembled to the crowned piller17. ANNE DOWRICHE: [from The French Historie]18. SIR WALTER RALEGH: [Praisd be Dianas faire and harmles light]19. [from Fortune hath taken the away my love]20. QUEEN ELIZABETH I: [Ah silly pugge wert thou so sore afraid]21. SIR WALTER RALEGH: The 21th: and last booke of the Ocean to Scinthia22. The Lie23. ALEXANDER MONTGOMERIE: [Remembers thou in Aesope of a taill]24. SIR JOHN HARINGTON: A Tragicall Epigram25. Of Treason26. FULKE GREVILLE, LORD BROOKE: [from Caelica] Sonnet 7827. GEORGE PEELE: [from Anglorum Feriae]28. JOHN DONNE: The Calme29. [from Satire 4]30. ROBERT DEVEREUX, EARL OF ESSEX: [Change thy minde since she doth change]31. MARY SIDNEY, COUNTESS OF PEMBROKE: [To Queen Elizabeth]32. EDMUND SPENSER: [from The Faerie Queene Book 5]33. EOCHAIDH Ó HEÓGHUSA: [On Maguire's Winter Campaign]34. BEN JONSON: On the Union35. SIR ARTHUR GORGES: Written upon the death of the most Noble Prince Henrie36. SIR HENRY WOTTON: Upon the sudden Restraint of the Earle of Somerset, then falling from favor37. WILLIAM BROWNE: [from Brittania's Pastorals Book 2]38. ANONYMOUS: Feltons Epitaph39. ANONYMOUS: [Epitaph on the Duke of Buckingham]40. SIR RICHARD FANSHAWE: [from An Ode Upon occasion of His Majesties Proclamation in the yeare 1630]41. JOHN CLEVELAND: Epitaph on the Earl of Strafford42. SIR JOHN DENHAM: Coopers Hill43. MARTIN PARKER: Upon defacing of White-hall44. ROBERT HERRICK: A King and no King45. ANDREW MARVELL: An Horatian Ode upon Cromwel's Return from Ireland46. SIR WILLIAM MURE: [from The Cry of Blood, and of a Broken Covenant]47. KATHERINE PHILIPS: On the 3. of September, 165148. JOHN MILTON: To the Lord Generall Cromwell May 165249. To Sir Henry Vane the younger50. ANDREW MARVELL: [from The First Anniversary of the Government under O.C.]51. ALEXANDER BROME: On Sir G.B. his defeatII. Images of Love52. ANONYMOUS: [Westron wynde when wylle thow blow]53. SIR THOMAS WYATT: [They fle from me that sometyme did me seke]54. [Who so list to hount I knowe where is an hynde]55. [It may be good like it who list]56. [My lute awake perfourme the last]57. HENRY HOWARD, EARL OF SURREY: [The soote season, that bud and blome furth bringes]58. ALEXANDER SCOTT: [To luve unluvit it is ane pane]59. GEORGE TURBERVILLE: To his Love that sent him a Ring wherein was gravde, Let Reason rule60. ISABELLA WHITNEY: I.W. To her unconstant Lover61. GEORGES GASCOIGNE: [A Sonet written in prayse of the brown beautie]62. ANONYMOUS: A new Courtly Sonet, of the Lady Greensleeves63. SIR PHILIP SIDNEY: [from Certain Sonnets: 4]64. [from The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia]65. [from Astrophil and Stella] 166. [from Astrophil and Stella] 267. [from Astrophil and Stella] 968. [from Astrophil and Stella] 7269. [from Astrophil and Stella] 8170. [from Astrophil and Stella] 8371. [from Astrophil and Stella] Eight song72. [from Astrophil and Stella] Eleventh song73. FULKE GREVILLE, LORD BROOKE: [from Caelica] Sonnet 2274. [from Caelica] Sonnet 2775. [from Caelica] Sonnet 3976. [from Caelica] Sonnet 4477. [from Caelica] Sonnet 8478. MARK ALEXANDER BOYD: Sonet79. ROBERT GREENE: Dorons description of Samela80. EDMUND SPENSER: [from The Faerie Queene Book 2]81. [from The Faerie Queene Book 3]82. [from The Faerie Queene Book 3]83. [from Amoretti] Sonnet 2384. [from Amoretti] Sonnet 6485. [from Amoretti] Sonnet 6786. [from Amoretti] Sonnet 7087. [from Amoretti] Sonnet 7188. Epithalamion89. SIR WALTER RALEGH: [As you came from the holy land]90. SAMUEL DANIEL: [from Delia] Sonnet 1391. [from Delia] Sonnet 3992. [from Delia] Sonnet 5293. SIR JOHN DAVIES: [from Gullinge Sonnets]94. [Faith (wench) I cannot court thy sprightly eyes]95. THOMAS NASHE: The choise of valentines96. JOHN DONNE: To his Mistress going to bed97. BARNABE BARNES: [from Parthenophil and Parthenophe] Sonnet 2799. CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE: The passionate Sheepheard to his love99. Hero and Leander100. WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE: [from Venus and Adonis]101. [from Lucrece]102. RICHARD BARNFIELD: [from Cynthia] Sonnet 8103. [from Cynthia] Sonnet 11104. WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE: [from Sonnets] 19105. [from Sonnets] 20106. [from Sonnets] 29107. [from Sonnets] 35108. [from Sonnets] 36109. [from Sonnets] 55110. [from Sonnets] 56111. [from Sonnets] 66112. [from Sonnets] 74113. [from Sonnets] 94114. [from Sonnets] 121115. [from Sonnets] 124116. [from Sonnets] 129117. [from Sonnets] 135118. [from Sonnets] 138119. [from Sonnets] 144120. ROBERT SIDNEY, EARL OF LEICESTER: Sonnet 21121. Sonnet 25122. Sonnet 31123. Songe 17124. GEORGE CHAPMAN: [from Hero and Leander Sestiad 3]125. JOHN MARSTON: [from The Metamorphosis of Pigmalions Image]126. THOMAS DELONEY: [Long have I lov'd this bonny Lasse]127. ANONYMOUS: [from The wanton Wife of Bath]128. [JOHN DOWLAND]: [Fine knacks for ladies, cheape choise brave and new]129. THOMAS CAMPION: [Followe thy faire sunne unhappy shaddowe]130. [Rose-cheekt Lawra come]131. [There is a Garden in her face]132. JOHN DONNE: His Picture133. The Sunne Rising134. The Canonization135. Loves growth136. A Valediction of weeping137. A Valediction forbidding mourning138. MICHAEL DRAYTON: [from Idea] 10139. [from Idea] 61140. To His Coy Love, A Canzonet141. BEN JONSON: Why I Write Not of Love142. My Picture left in Scotland143. LADY MARY WROTH: [from Pamphilia to Amphilanthus] 23144. [from Pamphilia to Amphilanthus] 34145. [from Pamphilia to Amphilanthus] A crowne of Sonetts dedicated to Love146. [from Pamphilia to Amphilanthus]147. [from The Countesse of Mountgomeries Urania] 7148. ROBERT HERRICK: Delight in Disorder149. The Vision150. The silken Snake151. Her Bed152. Upon Julia's haire fil'd with Dew153. Upon Sibilla154. THOMAS CAREW: The Spring155. Ingratefull beauty threatned156. [from A Rapture]157. MARTIN PARKER: [from Cupid's Wrongs Vindicated]158. [from Well met Neighbour]159. EDMUND WALLER: The story of Phoebus and Daphne appli'd160. Song161. The Budd162. SIR JOHN SUCKLING: [Out upon it, I have lov'd]163. JOHN CLEVELAND: The Antiplatonick164. RICHARD LOVELACE: Song. To Lucasta, Going to the Warres165. Gratiana dauncing and singing166. To Althea, From Prison167. Her Muffe168. [from On Sanazar's being honoured with six hundred Duckets by the Clarissimi of Venice, for composing an Elegiack Hexastick of the City. A Satyre]169. ANDREW MARVELL: To his Coy Mistress170. The Gallery171. The Definition of Love172. JAMES HARRINGTON: Inconstancy173. KATHERINE PHILIPS: An Answer to another perswading a Lady to MarriageIII. Topographies174. ALEXANDER BARCLAY: [from Certayne Egloges 5]175. GEORGE BUCHANAN: Calendae Maiae176. ANONYMOUS: [from Vox populi vox Dei]177. ANONYMOUS: [from Jack of the North]178. ANONYMOUS: The Jolly Pinder of Wakefield179. BARNABE GOOGE: Goyng towardes Spayne180. SIÔON PHYLIP: [from Yr Wylan]181. SIR PHILIP SIDNEY: [from The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia]182. EDMUND SPENSER: [from The Shepheardes Calender] Maye183. ALEXANDER HUME: [from Of the day Estivall]184. JOHN DAVIES: [from Epigrammes] In Cosmum 17185. JOSEPH HALL: [from Virgidemiarum Book 5]186. EVERARD GUILPIN: [from Skialetheia Satire 5]187. ANONYMOUS: A Songe bewailinge the tyme of Christmas, So much decayed in Englande188. JOHN DONNE: A nocturnall upon S. Lucies day, Being the shortest day189. AEMILIA LANYER: The Description of Cooke-ham190. BEN JONSON: To Penshurst191. MICHAEL DRAYTON: [from Pastorals] The Ninth Eglogue192. [from Poly-Olbion Song 6]193. To the Virginian Voyage194. SAMUEL DANIEL: [from Epistle. To Prince Henrie]195. ANONYMOUS: On Francis Drake196. W. TURNER: [from Turners dish of Lentten stuffe, or a Galymaufery]197. JOHN TAYLOR: [from The Sculler] Epigram 22198. WILLIAM BROWNE: [from Britannia's Pastorals Book 2]199. EDWARD HERBERT, LORD HERBERT OF CHERBURY: Sonnet200. RICHARD CORBETT: A Proper New Ballad Intituled the Faeryes Farewell: Or God-A-Mercy Will201. SIR WILLIAM DAVENANT: The Countess of Anglesey lead Captive by the Rebels, at the Disforresting of Pewsam202. GEORGE WITHER: [from Britain's Remembrancer Canto 4]203. JOHN MILTON: Song on May morning 204. L'Allegro205. ROBERT HERRICK: To Dean-bourn, a rude River in Devon, by which sometimes he lived206. Corinna's going a Maying207. To Meddowes208. The Wassaile209. RICHARD CRASHAW: [from Bulla]210. ABRAHAM COWLEY: The Wish211. ANONYMOUS: [The Diggers' Song]212. HENRY VAUGHAN: [from To his retired friend, an Invitation to Brecknock]213. RICHARD LOVELACE: The Snayl214. ANDREW MARVELL: Bermudas215. The Mower to the Glo-Worms216. The Mower against Gardens217. The Garden218. [from Upon Appleton House, to my Lord Fairfax]219. MARGARET CAVENDISH, DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE: Of many Worlds in this World220. A Dialogue betwixt Man, and Nature221. Similizing the Sea to Meadowes, and Pastures, the Marriners to Shepheards, the Mast to a May-pole, Fishes to Beasts222. KATHERINE PHILIPS: Upon the graving of her Name upon a Tree in Barnelmes WalksIV. Friends, Patrons and the Good Life223. SIR THOMAS WYATT: [Myn owne John poyntz sins ye delight to know]224. GEORGE GASCOIGNE: [Upon the theme: Magnum vectigal parcimonia]225. [Gascoignes wodmanship]226. EDWARD DE VERE, EARL OF OXFORD: [Weare I a Kinge I coulde commande content]227. THOMAS LODGE: [from Scillaes Metamorphosis]228. JOHN DONNE: To Sir Henry Wotton229. THOMAS DELONEY: The Weavers Song230. THOMAS DEKKER: [Art thou poore yet hast thou golden Slumbers]231. SAMUEL DANIEL: To Lucy, Countesse of Bedford, with Mr. Donnes Satyres233. Inviting a Friend to Supper234. [THOMAS RAVENSCROFT]: [Hey hoe what shall I say]235. [Sing we now merily]236. A Belmans song237. THOMAS CAMPION: [Now winter nights enlarge]238. ANONYMOUS: The Mode of France239. MICAHEL DRAYTON: These verses weare made By Michaell Drayton Esquier Poett Lawreatt the night before hee dyed240. EDMUND WALLER: At Pens-hurst241. RICHARD LOVELACE: The Grasse-hopper. To my Noble Friend, Mr. Charles Cotton. Ode242. ALEXANDER BROME: [from The Prisoners] Written when O.C. attempted to be King243. JOHN MILTON: [To Edward Lawrence]244. KATHERINE PHILIPS: Friendship's Mystery, To My Dearest Lucasia245. Friendship in Embleme, or the Seal. To my dearest Lucasia246. To my Excellent Lucasia, on our FriendshipV. Church, State and Belief247. JOHN SKELTON: [from Collyn Clout]248. ANNE ASKEW: The Balade whych Anne Askewe made and sange whan she was in Newgate249. LUKE SHEPHERD: [from The Upcheringe of the Messe]250. ANONYMOUS: [A Lament for our Lady's Shrine at Walsingham]251. JOHN HEYWOOD: [from Epygrams] Of turnyng.252. GEORGE PUTTENHAM: [from Partheniades] Partheniad 11 Urania253. ROBERT SOUTHWELL: The burning Babe254. HENRY CONSTABLE: To St. Mary Magdalen255. SIR JOHN HARINGTON: A Groome of the Chambers religion in King Henry the eights time256. JOHN DONNE: Satyre 3257. Goodfriday, 1613. Riding Westward258. Hymne to God my God, in my sicknesse259. [from Holy Sonnets]260. [Since she whome I lovd, hath payd her last debt]261. [Show me deare Christ, thy spouse, so bright and cleare]262. FULKE GREVILLE, LORD BROOKE: [from Caelica] Sonnet 89263. [from Caelica] Sonnet 99264. [from Caelica] Sonnet 109265. GILES FLETCHER: [from Christs Victorie, and Triumph in Heaven, and Earth, over, and after death]266. AEMILIA LANYER: [from Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum]267. WILLIAM DRUMMOND: [For the Baptiste]268. [Content and Resolute]269. PHINEAS FLETCHER: [Vast Ocean of light, whose rayes surround]270. JOHN MILTON: On the morning of Christs Nativity271. FRANCIS QUARLES: [from Pentelogia] Fraud Mundi272. [from Divine Fancies] On the contingencie of Actions273. [from Divine Fancies] On the Needle of a Sun-diall274. [from Divine Fancies] On the Booke of Common Prayer275. [from Divine Fancies] On Christ and our selves276. GEORGE HERBERT: Perseverance277. Redemption278. Easter wings279. Prayer280. Deniall281. Jordan282. The Collar283. The Flower284. The Forerunners285. Love286. [from The Church Militant]287. ANONYMOUS: [Yet if his Majestie our Sovareigne lord]288. SIDNEY GODOLPHIN: [Lord when the wise men came from Farr]289. JOHN TAYLOR: [from Here followeth the unfashionable fashion, or the too too homely Worshipping of God]290. EDMUND WALLER: Upon His Majesties repairing of Pauls291. RICHARD CRASHAW: A Hymne of the Nativity, sung by the Shepheards292. To the Noblest and best of Ladyes, the Countesse of Denbigh293. [from The Flaming Heart]294. ANONYMOUS: Upon Arch-bishop Laud, Prisoner in the Tower. 1641295. ROBERT WILD: [from Alas poore Scholler, whither wilt thou goe]296. JOHN MILTON: On the new forcers of Conscience under the Long Parliament297. MORGAN LLWYD: [from The Summer]298. LAURENCE CLARKSON: [from A Single Eye All Light, no Darkness]299. HENRY VAUGHAN: The Retreate300. The World301. Cock-crowing302. The Water-fall303. SIR WILLIAM DAVENANT: [from Gondibert Book 2]304. ANNA TRAPNEL: [from The Cry of a Stone]305. AN COLLINS: Another Song exciting to spirituall Mirth306. ANDREW MARVELL: The CoronetVI. Elegy and Epitaph307. JOHN SKELTON: [from Phyllyp Sparowe]308. HENRY HOWARD, EARL OF SURREY: [Norfolk sprang thee, Lambeth holds thee dead]309. [W. resteth here, that quick could never rest]310. NICHOLAS GRIMALD: [from A funerall song, upon the deceas of Annes his moother]311. CHIDIOCK TICHBORNE: [My prime of youth is but a froste of cares]312. WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE: [The Phoenix and Turtle]313. JOHN DONNE: [from The Second Anniversarie] Of the Progres of the Soule314. BEN JONSON: On My First Sonne315. To the immortalle memorie, and friendship of that noble paire, Sir Lucius Cary, and Sir H. Morison316. SIR WALTER RALEGH: [Even suche is tyme that takes in trust]317. WILLIAM BROWNE: On the Countesse Dowager of Pembrooke318. HENRY KING: An Exequy To his matchlesse never to be forgotten Freind318. GEORGE HERBERT: [from Memoriae Matris Sacrum]320. THOMAS CAREW: Epitaph on the Lady Mary Villers321. SIR HENRY WOTTON: Upon the death of Sir Albert Morton's Wife322. ROBERT HERRICK: To the reverend shade of his religious Father323. Upon himselfe being buried324. Upon a child325. JOHN MILTON: Lycidas326. [Methought I saw my late espoused Saint]327. 'ELIZA': To my Husband328. HENRY VAUGHAN: [They are all gone into the world of light]329. KATHERINE PHILIPS: Epitaph. On her Son H.P. at St. Syth's Church where her body also lies Interred330. Orinda upon little Hector Philips331. JAMES SHIRLEY: [The glories of our blood and state]VII. Translation332. HENRY HOWARD, EARL OF SURREY: [from Virgil's Aeneid Book 4]333. RICHARD STANYHURST: [from Virgil's Aeneid Book 4]334. ARTHUR GOLDING: [from Ovid's Metamorphoses Book 6]335. EDMUND SPENSER: [from Ruines of Rome: by Bellay] 5336. MARY SIDNEY, COUNTESS OF PEMBROKE: Quid gloriaris? Psalm 52337. [from Psalm 89 Misericordias]338. Voce mea ad Dominum Psalm 142339. CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE: [from Ovides Elegies Book 1] Elegia. 13. Ad Auroram ne properet340. [from Lucan's Pharsalia Book 1]341. SIR JOHN HARINGTON: [from Ariosto's Orlando Furioso Book 34]342. EDWARD FAIRFAX: [from Tasso's Godfrey of Bulloigne Book 4]343. JOSUAH SYLVESTER: [from Saluste du Bartas' Devine Weekes]344. GEORGE CHAPMAN: [from Homer's Iliad Book 12]345. JOHN MILTON: The Fifth Ode of Horace. Lib. 1VIII. Writer, Language and Public346. JOHN SKELTON: [from A Replycacion]347. THOMAS CHURCHYARD: [from A Musicall Consort]348. SIR JOHN HARINGTON: Of honest Theft. To my good friend Master Samuel Daniel350. JOHN DONNE: The triple Foole351. WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE: [from Sonnets]352. JOHN MARSTON: [from The Scourge of Villanie] In Lectores prorsus indignos353. SAMUEL DANIEL: [from Musophilus]354. BEN JONSON: A Fit of Rime against Rime355. An Ode. To himselfe356. GEORGE CHAPMAN: [from Homer's Iliad, To the Reader]357. SIR WALTER RALEGH: To the Translator358. WILLIAM BROWNE: [from Britannia's Pastorals Book 2]359. RACHEL SPEGHT: [from The Dreame]360. MICHAEL DRAYTON: [from Idea]361. To my most dearely-loved friend Henery Reynolds Esquire, of Poets and Poesie362. [from The Muses Elizium] The Description of Elizium363. JOHN MILTON: [from At a Vacation Exercise]364. JOHN TAYLOR: [from A comparison betwixt a Whore and a Booke]365. THOMAS CAREW: An Elegie upon the death of the Deane of Pauls, Dr. John Donne366. A Fancy367. ROBERT HERRICK: To the Detracter368. Posting to Printing369. GEORGE WITHER: [from Vox Pacifica]370. SIR WILLIAM DAVENANT: [from Gondibert Book 2]371. MARGARET CAVENDISH, DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE: The Claspe372. [The Common Fate of Books]373. ABRAHAM COWLEY: The Muse374. HENRY VAUGHAN: The BookNotes to the TextAppendix 1: Index of GenresAppendix 2: Index of Metrical and Stanzaic FormsAppendix 3: Glossary of Classical NamesAppendix 4: Biographical Notes on AuthorsAppendix 5: Index of AuthorsIndex of First LinesIndex of Titles

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Book SynopsisThe classic Persian poem of romance and tragedy captured as a sumptuous and richly colourful graphic novel, inspired by traditional art of the region. It is a story known around the world. Born of an Arabic tale, it has been interpreted hundreds of times in Persian, Turkish, and Indian languages. It has influenced playwrights, composers, filmmakers, scholars, modern popular language, the first opera of Islamic origin, and individuals as varied as Aleister Crowley and Eric Clapton. The tragic tale of love unfulfilled - Majnun and Layla. Qais and Layla were madly in love. So in love, it has been said, that the young man could not contain his passion for his beloved, singing to the winds with such fervour he was given the nickname “Majnun” — The Madman. But their love could not be, as the lovers were separated by fate and man, leading to a tragic end for these star-crossed souls. Experience the classic Persian poem as painted in the lush palette of artist Yann Damezin. Through his brush, we see a decadent and sensorial world, one as raw and vulnerable as the love between the Majnun and his Layla.Trade Review"Through a vibrant visual tapestry, French cartoonist and Angouleme’s Prix Orange debut comics winner Damezin reimagines a centuries-old Persian love poem." * Starred Publishers Weekly Review *Yann Damezin gives beautiful colors to this poetic story but above all gives it a modernity, already approached by the poet Nezâmi (12th century), by giving the female character as much space as the male! -- Benoit Gaboriaud (translated) * L'essentiART *...a brilliantly accomplished exercise in style, a hymn to tender, beautiful, subtle and luminous love. -- Jean-Charles Andrieu de Levis (translated) * ActuaLitté *...an undeniable success, both graphically and literary: all the pages of [Majnun and Layla: Songs from Beyond the Grave] seduce by their graphic inventiveness. -- Nicholas Michael (translated) * Jeune Afrique *With [Majnun and Layla: Songs from Beyond the Grave], whose very rich graphic work competes with a text of rare quality, Damezin offers an opus as surprising as it is exceptional in the field of contemporary comics. -- Lea Polverini (translated) * Middle East Eye edition francaise *

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Book SynopsisThe Alexandra, attributed to Lykophron is a minor poetic masterpiece. At 1474 lines, it is one of the most important and notoriously difficult Greek poems dating from the Hellenistic period.Table of ContentsPreface and Acknowledgments Note on the text and translation Select Bibliography Timeline Synopsis of the Poem Introduction THE ALEXANDRA OF LYKOPHRON Explanatory notes Index

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Book SynopsisTrade Review'Wood's lively translations grasp the irrepressible sense of freedom which is the poet's hallmark ... Pushkin is lucky in Antony Wood. Pleasure is to be found on every page of this book' * The Times Literary Supplement *This Selected Poetry by Antony Wood supersedes all previous translations ... Wood's 'The Bronze Horseman' gives us Pushkin at his most tragic. 'Count Nulin' shows him at his most light-hearted. 'The Tale of Tsar Saltan' bounces along with delightful vitality. Even with the delicately musical short lyrics - still harder to translate - Wood's success rate is remarkable ... The result is a more rounded picture of Pushkin - in many ways the most universal of poets -- Robert Chandler * The Financial Times *This Selected Poetry deserves a wealth of praise . . . a truly valuable edition both for its scrupulous and often magnificent versions of individual poems and as a worthy general introduction to this poet, who is such a treasure for Russia and for the world * Los Angeles Review of Books *Everybody knows how difficult Pushkin's poems are to translate. Antony Wood has succeeded, within the limits of the possible -- John BayleyRe-creating Pushkin requires skills approaching magic. Antony Wood is one of the two or three best translators of Russia's greatest poet in the Anglophone world, because his Pushkin moves: you watch him dance as well as hear him sing -- Caryl EmersonAntony Wood's translations show an unusual grace and a deep knowledge of Pushkin's poetry -- Elaine FeinsteinPushkin's poetry is lyrical, beautifully simple, vivid, and endlessly emotive. It can be enjoyed by all readers, regardless of their background in poetry. And there is now one definitive book of Alexander Pushkin's poetry, the one book you need to read in order to fully appreciate Alexander Pushkin's poems: Alexander Pushkin Selected Poetry, translated with complete command and majesty by Antony Wood * Books and Bao *A volume to keep within easy reach at most times * East-West Review *Anthony Wood is to be congratulated on this suburb collection, which renders Pushkin in all his matchless grace, wit and musicality * The Tablet *

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Book SynopsisHappy Hour is a gorgeous gift book of classic poetry which fizzes with poetry about all kinds of drink, drinkers and drinking place. All this and more is introduced by celebrated wine critic Jancis Robinson. Part of the Macmillan Collector’s Library; a series of stunning, pocket-sized classics with ribbon markers. These beautiful books make perfect gifts or a treat for any book lover. Many of the most famous poets have weaved the delights and temptations of drink into their verse. In Happy Hour: Poems to Raise a Glass To, there are chapters on whisky and beer, celebrations, why we drink and where we go to do it. Robert Burns is here, of course, alongside Yeats, Keats, Emily Dickinson, Hilaire Belloc, Sara Teasdale, Edward Lear, G. K. Chesterton and many more.

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Book SynopsisIf you struggle to get out of bed in the morning, here’s a poetry collection that’s just right for you. Sunrise is an energizing and rousing collection of classic poetry all about purpose, hope and perseverance. Part of the Macmillan Collector’s Library; a series of stunning, pocket-sized classics with ribbon markers. These beautiful books make perfect gifts or a treat for any book lover. This edition is edited and introduced by Susie Gibbs.Wise, reassuring words and magical verses conjure up the promise and possibilities of each new day. With contributions from poets such as William Wordsworth, G. K. Chesterton, Ian McMillan, Christina Rossetti, Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson and Edward Lear, the wonderful poetry in Sunrise will inspire its readers to greet each day with optimism and confidence.

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Book SynopsisSilver Medal Winner for Poetry at the 2022 Nautilus Book Awards.A powerful new anthology depicting how love over the past two-and-a-half millennia has found its expression in the words of the world's greatest poets.No, Love Is Not Dead is a timely affirmation of the great linguistic diversity of poetry and its ability to express passionate love, the most extreme of human emotions. With influential, award-winning poets including Kim Hyesoon, Laura Tohe and Warsan Shire, and languages ranging from Amharic, Akkadian and Ancient Greek to Yankunytjatjara, Yiddish and Yoruba, this unique anthology engages the reader in reflective tales of unlikely love stories and impossible love, love in a time of politics, surrealist love, visual love and free love, offering an intuitive insight into both historical and present-day perceptions of love across cultures. Including over 50 poets, writing on each of the world's continents, this new anthology of poems about love features a diverse range of original poems written in a variety of languages - modern, ancient, endangered and constructed -, accompanied by English translations and commentaries.Poets included in the book: Apollinaire; Nicole Brossard; Augusto de Campos; Catullus; Chaucer; Dante; Robert Desnos; Ali Cobby Eckermann; Goethe; Kim Hyesoon; Louise Labé; Federico Garcia Lorca; Vladimir Mayakovsky; Miklós Radnóti; Kutti Ravathi; Sappho; Warsan Shire; Laura Tohe; Marina Tsvetaeva.Languages included in the book: Akkadian; Amharic; Ancient Greek; Faroese; French; German; Hungarian; Italian; Japanese; Latvian; Maori; Persian; Polari; Portuguese; Russian; Sanskrit; Scots; Scottish Gaelic; Serbian; Spanish; Welsh; Yoruba.Foreword by Laura Tohe, the current Navajo Nation Poet Laureate and Professor Emeritus with Distinction at Arizona State University, who has won awards including the 2020 Academy of American Poetry Fellowship, the 2019 American Indian Festival of Writers Award, and the Arizona Book Association's Glyph Award for Best Poetry.

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Book SynopsisThe fascinating history of poetry anthologies and their influence on British society and culture over the last four centuries. For centuries, poetry anthologies shaped the way that generations of British readers encountered literature. Eighteenth-century young women were introduced to the permissible bits of Shakespeare and Swift in censored collections. Working-class Victorians enrolled to be taught from The Golden Treasury at adult learning colleges. Pop-loving teenagers in the 1960s got their first taste of the counterculture from the bestselling The Mersey Sound. InThe Treasuries, Clare Bucknell reveals anthologies to be a unique window into social history. This is the story of some of the most widely read books ever published, and the cultural conversations – around politics, gender, class and nationhood – they sparked.Trade ReviewAnthologies are the sleepers of the bookshelf, loaded with the hidden ideals and prejudices of their compilers. Clare Bucknell reads expertly between their lines to reveal a remarkable alternative history of literature. -- Rosemary HillThe delight of this book is its expert toggling of scale. Bucknell dissects large issues - politics, class, taste, education - via small vignettes: Palgrave collecting his poems with scissors, war poems falling like bombs, poetry on prescription. Her panoramic history throws up unexpected parallels - the Exclusion Crisis and the Spanish Civil War, Keats and working men’s eduction, ballads and pop. Treasuries is smart and learned but unpatronising: it sparkles with appreciation for the anthologist and their always-partial act of selection. -- Emma Smith * author of Portable Magic *Impressive in its coverage of social history, teeming with anecdotes, The Treasuries arrives just as Britain is once more rearranging its literary heritage and 'retelling favourite stories about itself at a moment of national crisis'. -- Peter ConradClare Bucknell is a compelling storyteller as well as a deep and cheerful scholar. A riveting read, The Treasuries changes how a reader approaches the designing and sometimes devious anthologists and the books they sell us. -- Michael SchmidtThis book is a wonderful celebration and examination of anthologies as the cornerstone of our literary culture. -- Ian McMillan

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