Literary studies: poetry and poets Books
Everyman Coleridge: Poems & Prose
Book SynopsisA few magical poems by Coleridge remain among the most celebrated works in the language: KUBLA KHAN, CHRISTABEL and - above all -THE ANCIENT MARINER. All are included in this volume, together with many other superb but lesser-known poems and a selected prose extracts from the BIOGRAPHIA LITERIA and the NOTEBOOKS which show that Coleridge was not only a major poet but also a great critic and prose writer.
£9.49
Smith|Doorstop Books Women Who Dye Their Hair
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£6.95
Wooden Books Poetic Metre and Form
Book SynopsisCan you tell an iamb from a trochee? An anapest from an amphibrach? Why do children always take such delight in dactylic tetrameter? Is a ballad the same as a ballade, and what is poetic rhythm? In this neat little book, Scottish poet Octavia Wynne examines the elements of poetry, from its various feet, metres and lines, through its patterns, stanzas and rhymes, right up to the poetic forms themselves, with ancient and modern examples from William Shakespeare to Dr.Seuss. WOODEN BOOKS are small but packed with information. "Fascinating" FINANCIAL TIMES. "Beautiful" LONDON REVIEW OF BOOKS. "Rich and Artful" THE LANCET. "Genuinely mind-expanding" FORTEAN TIMES. "Excellent" NEW SCIENTIST. "Stunning" NEW YORK TIMES. Small books, big ideas.
£8.18
Enitharmon Press Branch-lines: Edward Thomas and Contemporary
Book Synopsis'The one hundred and forty poems he wrote in the last two years of his life are a miracle. I can think of no body of work in English that is more mysterious.' - Michael Longley. When Edward Thomas died in the First World War, very few of his poems had been published, but he is now recognised as one of the finest and most influential poets of the last century. Although often referred to as 'a poet's poet', his writing has an almost universal appeal. He wrote accessibly, on traditional themes - the natural world, human relationships, transience and mortality. And yet his poetry is alive with the critical intelligence that came from years of writing non-fiction and reviewing verse. "Branch-Lines" captures the range of Thomas' achievement, not least by combining poetry with prose. In this unique collection, fifty-five contemporary poets reflect on Thomas' craftsmanship and enduring power. Some have chosen poems of their own in which they detect his influence, others have written new poems in his honour. Each poet has also contributed a piece of prose, and the volume contains an introduction, four critical essays, illustrations, a foreword by Andrew Motion and an afterword by Michael Longley. "Branch-Lines" offers a fascinating perspective on the workings of literary influence, with personal insights from some of the leading poet-critics of our time. 'The collection has a double value. It is a celebration of Thomas, and dignified tribute to his achievement; at the same time it bears witness to his powers of regeneration' - Andrew Motion. 'I read Thomas' collected poems at a sitting, poem by poem, all the way through and felt as I had not felt since reading Lawrence and Graves ten years before: I love this man, I can learn from him.' - David Constantine. 'I have always loved Edward Thomas' poetry' - Geoffrey Hill. 'He comes naturally, I think, to writers in English, like grass growing.' - U. A. Fanthorpe. 'When I started to try and write poetry and prose, a very uncertain beginning, it would have been even more uncertain if I hadn't read Thomas' poetry in my teens.' - Tom Paulin.
£13.50
Haus Publishing T.S. Eliot: A Short Biography
Book SynopsisBiographical writing about Eliot is in a more confused and contested state than is the case with any other major twentieth-century writer. No major biography has been released since the publication of his early poems, "Inventions of the March Hare," in 1996, which radically altered the reading public's perception of Eliot. There have been attempts to turn the American woman Emily Hale into the beloved woman of Eliot's middle years; and Eliot has also been blamed for the instability of his first wife and declared a closet homosexual. This biography frees Eliot from such distortions, as well as from his cold and unemotional image. It offers a sympathetic study of his first marriage which does not attempt to blame, but to understand; it shows how Eliot's poetry can be read for its revelations about his inner world. Eliot once wrote that every poem was an epitaph, meaning that it was the inscription on the tombstone of the experience which it commemorated. His poetry shows, however, that the deepest experiences of his life would not lie down and die, and that he felt condemned to write about them.Trade ReviewReviewed in 2010 May CHOICE. 'An accomplished biographer who knows how to go straight to the issues, Worthen (emer., Univ. of Nottingham, UK) contributed immensely to D. H. Lawrence studies with his D. H. Lawrence (CH, Sep'06, 44-0195) and other titles. He has also written a biography of the Romantic poets (The Gang, CH, Sep'01, 39-0195) and Robert Schumann: Life and Death of a Musician (CH, Feb'08, 45-3118). Here he reinforces some of the usual stories--Eliot's family, health difficulties, friendships--and also revises some of the biographical understanding of Eliot by addressing controversies and issues surrounding Eliot's life, e.g., Eliot as an unsympathetic husband and as anti-Semitic. Though he brings little new to the discussion, Worthen uses good biographical sources and relies on the poetry, plays, and prose to provide clues to a life that Eliot deliberately obscured. The book's brevity is its advantage: it brings relevant, useful information to the first-time student of Eliot and invigorates the idea that a life can be read many ways in retrospect. Those looking for more will want to seek out the second volume of The Letters of T. S. Eliot, ed. by Valerie Eliot (2009), which provides insights on such subjects as homosexuality, misogyny, and eroticism. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower-division undergraduates and general readers.' -- L. L. Johnson, Lewis & Clark College CHOICE Magazine 20100501
£13.49
Association for Scottish Literary Studies Poems by a Lady
Book SynopsisThe poetry of Helen Craik (17511825), Gothic novelist and friend of Robert Burns, was long thought lost. The rediscovery of her manuscript Poems by a Lady (1790), transcribed and annotated here for the first time, invites a fresh evaluation of her life and work. From short satires and verse-letters to longer dramatic monologues of psychological introspection, these thirty-nine poems offer an invaluable insight into her social circle in the Dumfries area and her wide literary interests, demonstrating the distinctive imagination later seen in Craik's novels. The introduction discusses Craik's biography and the major themes in her work, casting new light on why, two years after finishing these poems, she suddenly left home and family. With full notes on each poem's background, and additional source material, this volume adds significantly to Craik scholarship and to the critical reassessment of poetry by Scottish women in the Romantic era.
£17.95
Temple Lodge Publishing Parzival: An Introduction
Book SynopsisAs a naive and innocent young man, Parzival encounters a group of noble knights in the forest. Overcome by the leading knight's shining armour, he assumes that the man must be a God. This key turning point in Parzival's life inspires him to seek to become a knight himself, and immediately he embarks upon a quest to find King Arthur's court and ultimately the Holy Grail. Through his journeys Parzival is to learn many unexpected lessons, discovering qualities of empathy, humility, compassion and ultimately true and selfless love. Filled with spiritual wisdom and artistic beauty, Parzival is one of the greatest works of world literature. In this concise, accessible introduction to the central Gail story, Eileen Hutchins describes the key characters, including Parzival's father Gamuret and mother Herzeleide, and relates the tale in outline. Her classic study also features commentary on the book's historical background, essays on its significance today, and a comparison with other Grail Romances. Eschenbach is the first medieval poet to represent a character who has to win his way through trial and error, from ignorance to wisdom, and from fascination with the world of the senses to recognition of higher realms of experience. In this sense he is representative of modern man.' - from the Introduction
£10.44
CONNELL PUBLISHING LTD The Connell Guide To How to Read a Poem
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£8.92
Association for Scottish Literary Studies The International Companion to Scottish Poetry
Book SynopsisThe International Companions series offers essential insights into Scottish literary studies, covering key authors, periods and topics from the medieval to the contemporary. A range of leading international scholars provide the reader with a comprehensive and accessible introduction to the extraordinary richness and diversity of Scotland''s poetry, from early medieval texts to contemporary writers, examining all forms of verse in English, Gaelic, Latin and Scots.
£22.46
Two Rivers Press Pennies on my eyes
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£8.99
Parthian Books Vernon Watkins on Dylan Thomas and Other Poets
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£10.79
Vintage Publishing The Drunken Sailor: The Life of the Poet Arthur
Book SynopsisThe Drunken Sailor traces the life of Arthur Rimbaud: poet, surrealist, libertine and gun runner. In dazzling artwork, Nick Hayes follows Rimbaud from his youth in Ardennes to the poetry salons of Paris, from the absinthe-glazed passion of his relationship with Verlaine to his flight into the jungles of Indonesia and the deserts of Yemen and Egypt. Told entirely in Rimbaud’s own words, from a new translation of Le bateau ivre, The Drunken Sailor confirms Nick Hayes’ place as one of the most talented graphic novelists at work today.Trade ReviewMagnificent illustrations… [Hayes] has done a wondrous job… his visual narrative has an intense, restless pace… here is a ribald beauty you find only rarely between two covers. -- Rachel Cooke * The Observer *At once phantasmagorical and bewitching… the best of his career so far. * Bookmunch *Hayes’s green-filtered, stylised illustrations have a breathtaking punch to them. -- Teddy Jamieson * Herald Scotland *The Drunken Sailor is an Impressionist hymn to Rimbaud. But Hayes' song is greatly embellished with knowledge... You run the gamut when you read this book. * Bookmunch *A bewitching work from one of Britain’s finest graphic novelists. -- James Smart * Guardian,**Books of the Year** *
£17.00
Greenwich Exchange Ltd Ernest Dowson: A Selection of His Work
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£18.99
CONNELL PUBLISHING LTD How to Read a Poem: A practical guide which will
Book SynopsisMalcolm Hebron writes with one aim in mind: to help you read, understand and appreciate poetry. The English language has an extraordinarily rich stock of poems to its credit, from the epic Beowulf, written perhaps as early as the eighth century, to the poetry of Simon Armitage, Carol Ann Duffy and the many other fine writers working today. This slim volume is packed with good advice on how to get the most of great poems, whether old or new. Look for the surprising words, for example – that’s one good tip. They will help you understand what the poet is trying to say. And look for the conflict in a poem – there’s always some kind of central tension or opposition in great poetry. “Out of the quarrel with ourselves we make poetry,” observed W.B. Yeats. This book explains, too, those puzzling technical terms used to describe the tricks poets use, like enjambment, and shows how they use them to brilliant effect. Here are explained too the mysteries of rhythm, sound, meter and poetic imagery, amidst a wide variety of wonderful examples of great poetry, from Thomas Hardy to W.H. Auden. After reading this short book, you will approach any poem you read with fresh eyes.
£9.49
Enitharmon Press Edward Thomas: A Life in Pictures
Book SynopsisEdward Thomas ranks as one of the foremost poets of the twentieth century, both in his own poetry and in his influence on subsequent poets. 'He is the father of us all,' asserted Ted Hughes.This book combines the story of his life until his death at the Battle of Arras in 1917 with numerous illustrations, including photographs, printed material and original letters, many of which have never been published before. The book will add to what is already known of Thomas and his family before and after his death by putting his biography into a visual and historical context.
£24.00
Colenso Books The Durrell Log: A chronology of the life and
Book SynopsisA series of chronological entries documenting Lawrence Durrell's life (1912-1990) and writing career, preceded by "Antecedents" (1851-1910), and followed by "Aftermath" (1991-2019), listing the main events connected with his reputation since his death. There is a 16-page "Index of Persons".
£14.72
Parthian Books Letters from Wales
Book SynopsisSince 1996, Sam Adams's Letter from Wales' column has been appearing in PN Review, one of the most highly-regarded UK poetry magazines, offering insight and appreciation of Welsh writing, culture and history. This landmark volume collects these letters a quarter century of work.
£17.00
PCCS Books Poetry and Therapy
Book SynopsisWords and language offer us a way of expressing ourselves and our feelings in ways that feel psychologically helpful. Aspin takes us from the practice of writing therapeutically and passes through a range of psychological and psychoanalytic ideas, so that the reader gains a fuller understanding of the place of poetry within therapeutic practice.
£17.09
Wakefield Press The Answer to Lord Chandos
Book SynopsisIn defense of the poetic, Pascal Quignard pens an impassioned reply to von Hofmannsthal's despondent Lord ChandosIn 1902, Hugo von Hofmannsthal's Lord Chandos Letter articulated a deep crisis of faith in language. Having lost completely the ability to think or speak of anything coherently, the titular character abandons literature in favor of silence. In The Answer to Lord Chandos, a text that was meticulously crafted over 41 years, Pascal Quignard passionately challenges this withdrawal and urges us not to forsake the power of poetry. His exhortation meditates on Emily Brontë, Handel, Rembrandt and more to demonstrate how literature rejuvenates our connection to the universe. In an introduction to this first English edition, French philosopher Jean-Luc Nancy illuminates the core question animating this debate, which has resonated within literature since its inception: can poetry give access to the real? Quignard's resounding answer offers a tes
£11.39
University Press of Kentucky Reckoning with the Past
a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.
£36.00
University Press of Kentucky Reckoning with the Past
a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.
£19.00
Springer Nature Switzerland AG Legibility: An Antifascist Poetics
Book SynopsisThis Pivot book provides a wide-ranging and diverse commentary on issues of legibility (and illegibility) around poetry, antifascist pacifist activism, environmentalism and the language of protest. A timely meditation from poet John Kinsella, the book focuses on participation in protest, demonstration and intervention on behalf of human rights activism, and writing and acting peacefully but persistently against tyranny. The book also examines how we make records and what we do with them, how we might use poetry to act or enact and/or to discuss such necessities and events. A book about community, human and animal rights and the way poetry can be used as a peaceful and decisive means of intervention in moment of public social and environmental crisis. Ultimately, it is a poetics against fascism with a focus on the well-being of the biosphere and all it contains. Table of Contents1. A Pacifist Antifa Poetics.- 2. Handwriting Protest.- 3. Marks.- 4. Privilege, Property, Opprobrium.- 5. Modes of Protest.- 6. Legibility of Journal Extracts January 2020 — followed by extracts from handwritten journal.- 7. Micro and Macro Aggressions and Social Contracts.- 8. Versions of Mallarmé.- 9. Against Competition/Against Winning... and Consequence Theory.- 10. Note in Journal Extracts 2017-2020 — followed by extracts from handwritten journals.- 11. Palestine and Israel.- 12. On Injustice. On peace. On Justice. On Peace....- 13. Pandemic/s.- 14. Choice and Whose Rights We Are Talking About? Cruelty and Animal Rights... Justice, Genetics and Consensus.- 15. Empathy, Not ‘Property’.- 16. ‘Conclusion’.
£41.24
Springer International Publishing AG Essays on Hilda Hilst: Between Brazil and World Literature
Book SynopsisThis book is the first collection of critical essays on Hilda Hilst (1930-2004) published in English. It brings together a variety of perspectives on one of Latin America’s most inventive and innovative authors. Nine essays by scholars and translators reflect about various aspects of her work, placing it in the context of Brazil and world literature. During her lifetime, Hilst won several major national literary awards and attracted legions of devoted readers. Her writing spanned styles and genres, encompassing poetry, theatre, and experimental fiction. She was also considered to be “a writer’s writer,” and her literary achievements eluded both mainstream acclaim and international recognition. In recent years, Hilst’s books have enjoyed increased visibility in Brazil and beyond. A host of translators (including three contributors to this volume) have finally made some of her masterpieces available in English. This pioneering collection of essays should excite longtime readers and introduce her to a new audience.Table of ContentsIntroduction: “Who’s Afraid of Hilda Hilst? An Author Between Brazil and ‘World Literature’”; Adam Morris & Bruno Carvalho.- PART I: HILST ON STAGE- 1. “A Brazilian Teorema: Queering the Family in Hilda Hilst’s O Visitante (The Visitor)”; David William Foster.- 2. “Is the Word Alive? An Inquiry into Poetics and Theater in As aves da noite (Nightbirds) by Hilda Hilst”; Tatiana Franca R. Zanirato.- PART II: OBSCENITY AND THE HUMAN CONDITION- 3. “Figurations of Eros in Hilda Hilst”; Eliane Robert Moraes.- 4. “Hilda Hilst, Metaphysician”; Adam Morris.- PART III: HILST IN NATIONAL AND GLOBAL CONTEXT- 5. “A Nation on the Ground Floor: The Face of Brazil, Drawn with Hilda Hilst’s Political Pen”; Deneval Siqueira de Azevedo Filho.- 6. “When Life is Extremely Bourgeois”: Ideal love and non-conformism in the love poems of Hilda Hilst; Alva Martínez Teixeiro.- PART IV: HILST IN TRANSLATION.- 7. “Translating Brazil’s Marquise de Sade”; John Keene.- 8. “Derelict of Duty”; Nathanaël.- 9. Hilst on Hilst: Excerpts from interviews with the author, 1952-2003.
£39.59
Tuttle Publishing The Art and Life of Fukuda Kodojin: Japan's Great
Book SynopsisThe most comprehensive publication of Kodojin – beautiful and mysterious – a collection of more than 100 paintings with the English translations of his inscribed Chinese poems. The Art and Life of Fukuda Kodojin is the first publication in English to offer an in-depth examination of Kodojin's life, painting, and poetry. This fully illustrated publication draws from institutions and private collections worldwide, and is the result of fifteen years of extensive research into almost eight hundred works of inscribed poetry, literati landscapes, brush paintings and calligraphy. A beautiful and contemplative look into the world of Kodojin, this coveted edition accompanies a special exhibition held at the Minneapolis Institute of Art. Fukuda Kodojin (1865-1944) was a multifaceted artist, recognised for his poetry, painting and calligraphy, and is one of a handful of artists who continued the tradition of Japanese literati painting (nanga) into the twentieth century. Kodojin's painting style is characterized by bizarrely shaped mountain forms rendered in vivid color or monochromatic ink, often with a solitary scholar enjoying the expansive beauty of nature and bits of inscribed poetry. Creating over 700 works in his lifetime, he also made simple paintings of plants and flowers in his dramatic brushwork, and distinctive literati landscapes. Kodojin literally means "Old Taoist" which seems to reflect the path he chose of resilience of an old tradition facing new conditions and new challenges, and is theme felt throughout his art. There is both beauty and mystery in his life and work, and his landscapes can be rich in costly green and blue pigments, detailed layers of ink shading and strokes, or purely abstract. Unique, mysterious and distinctively expressive, The Art and Life of Fukuda Kodojin offers an unprecedented walk through the Old Taoist's mind, sure to both surprise and enlighten the curious reader, scholar, or literati enthusiast.
£27.99
Anmol Publications Pvt Ltd Splendour of Worship
£58.65
Double 9 Booksllp Drum Taps
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£10.46
Academic Studies Press Words for War: New Poems from Ukraine
Book SynopsisThe armed conflict in the east of Ukraine brought about an emergence of a distinctive trend in contemporary Ukrainian poetry: the poetry of war. Directly and indirectly, the poems collected in this volume engage with the events and experiences of war, reflecting on the themes of alienation, loss, dislocation, and disability; as well as justice, heroism, courage, resilience, generosity, and forgiveness. In addressing these themes, the poems also raise questions about art, politics, citizenship, and moral responsibility. The anthology brings together some of the most compelling poetic voices from different regions of Ukraine. Young and old, female and male, somber and ironic, tragic and playful, filled with extraordinary terror and ordinary human delights, the voices recreate the human sounds of war in its tragic complexity.Trade ReviewFeatured in the TLS (June 22 2018)"Maksymchuk and Rosochinsky note in their introduction that poetry has often been used in the service of political power.""...Through their collection, they "sought to patch together the pieces of this disintegrating world".""The kind of poetry included in these collections is the antithesis of propaganda; these poetic dialogues are a valuable reminder that there is nothing immutable about Russian-Ukrainian enmity." "The words and images create an impression of a shimmering landscape that keeps shifting and changing. It is these moments that move us most – the moments when things no longer make sense, but are about to start making sense again. Meanings change, old words acquire new connotations, language itself wrings out of the usual course and meanders. In principle, there is nothing strange about language evolving to describe the changing reality. What’s uncanny is how quickly this happens. It’s like watching a blossom burst out of a bud, open and close rapidly a dozen of times, wilt away, and disappear, all in a matter of seconds. War puts language change in fast-forward." - Poetry International Online“These are poems in which the spirit of creative imagination, free expression, emotional clarity, and ethical courage reigns supreme.” – Stephanie Sandler, Harvard UniversityTable of Contents Preface Oksana Maksymchuk and Max Rosochinsky Introduction: “Barometers” Ilya Kaminsky ANASTASIA AFANASIEVA she says we don’t have the right kind of basement in our building You whose inner void from Cold She Speaks On TV the news showed from The Plain Sense of Things Untitled Can there be poetry after VASYL HOLOBORODKO No Return I Fly Away in the Shape of a Dandelion Seed The Dragon Hillforts I Pick up my Footprints BORYS HUMENYUK Our platoon commander is a strange fellow These seagulls over the battlefield When HAIL rocket launchers are firing Not a poem in forty days An old mulberry tree near Mariupol When you clean your weapon A Testament YURI IZDRYK Darkness Invisible Make Love ALEKSANDR KABANOV This is a post on Facebook, and this, a block post in the East How I love — out of harm’s way A Former Dictator He came first wearing a t-shirt inscribed “Je suis Christ” In the garden of Gethsemane on the Dnieper river A Russian tourist is on vacation Fear is a form of the good Once upon a time, a Jew says to his prisoner, his Hellenic foe KATERYNA KALYTKO They won’t compose any songs, because the children of their children April 6 This loneliness could have a name, an Esther or a Miriam Home is still possible there, where they hang laundry out to dry He Writes Can great things happen to ordinary people? LYUDMYLA KHERSONSKA Did you know that if you hide under a blanket and pull it over your head How to describe a human other than he’s alone The whole soldier doesn’t suffer A country in the shape of a puddle, on the map Buried in a human neck, a bullet looks like a eye, sewn in that’s it: you yourself choose how you live I planted a camellia in the yard One night, a humanitarian convoy arrived in her dream When a country of — overall — nice people Leave me alone, I’m crying. I’m crying, let me be the enemy never ends every seventh child of ten — he’s a shame you really don’t remember Grandpa — but let’s say you do BORIS KHERSONSKY explosions are the new normal, you grow used to them all for the battlefront which doesn’t really exist people carry explosives around the city way too long the artillery and the tanks stayed silent in their hangars when wars are over we just collapse modern warfare is too large for the streets my brother brought war to our crippled home Bessarabia, Galicia, 1913–1939 Pronouncements MARIANNA KIYANOVSKA I believed before in a tent like in a nest we swallowed an air like earth I wake up, sigh, and head off to war The eye, a bulb that maps its own bed Their tissue is coarse, like veins in a petal Things swell closed. It’s delicious to feel how fully Naked agony begets a poison of poisons HALYNA KRUK A Woman Named Hope like a blood clot, something catches him in the rye someone stands between you and death like a bullet, the Lord saves those who save themselves OKSANA LUTSYSHYNA eastern europe is a pit of death and decaying plums don’t touch live flesh he asks — don’t help me I Dream of Explosions VASYL MAKHNO February Elegy War Generation On War On Apollinaire MARJANA SAVKA We wrote poems Forgive me, darling, I’m not a fighter january pulled him apart OSTAP SLYVYNSKY Lovers on a Bicycle Lieutenant Alina 1918 Kicking the Ball in the Dark Story (2) Latifa A Scene from 2014 Orpheus LYUBA YAKIMCHUK Died of Old Age How I Killed Caterpillar Decomposition He Says Everything Will Be Fine Eyebrows Funeral Services Crow, Wheels Knife SERHIY ZHADAN from Stones“We speak of the cities we lived in . . .” “Now we remember: janitors and the night-sellers of bread . . .” from Why I’m not on Social MediaNeedleHeadphonesSectRhinocerosThey buried him last winter Three Years Now We’ve Been Talking about the War“A guy I know volunteered . . .”“Three years now we’ve been talking about the war . . .” “So that’s what their family is like now . . .” “Sun, terrace, lots of green . . .”“The street. A woman zigzags the street . . .” “Village street – gas line’s broken . . .”“At least now, my friend says . . .” Thirty-Two Days Without Alcohol Take Only What Is Most Important A city where she ended up hiding Afterword: “On Decomposition and Rotten Plums: Language of War in Contemporary Ukrainian Poetry” Polina Barskova Authors Translators Glossary Geographical Locations and Places of Significance Notes to Poems Acknowledgements Acknowledgement of Prior Publications
£16.99
Little, Brown Book Group The Door
Book SynopsisBy the author of The Handmaid's Tale and DearlyTHE DOOR is Margaret Atwood's first book of poetry since the 1995 MORNING IN THE BURNED HOUSE. Its lucid yet urgent poems range in tone from lyric to ironic to meditative to prophetic, and in subject from the personal to the political viewed in its broadest sense. They investigate the mysterious writing of poetry itself, as well as the passage of time and our shared sense of mortality. As the New York Times has said, 'Atwood's poems are short, glistening with terse, bright images. . . ' A brave and compassionate book, THE DOOR interrogates the certainties that we build our lives on.'One of the best books by one of the best poets writing in English' TLSTrade ReviewOn the strength of The Door, we should regard Atwood as a poet first and foremost - just one who happens to be a highly regarded novelist * SUNDAY HERALD *One of the best books by one of the best poets writing in English, written in a sparse, elegaic tone that combines illuminating intelligence with caustic humour and wisdom * Alberto Manguel, TLS *Margaret Atwood is not only a riveting novelist, she is also a witty and inventive poet * THE TIMES *
£10.44
WW Norton & Co Letters to a Young Poet
Book SynopsisA gorgeous reissue of one of the most beloved classics of the twentieth century, published in celebration of Norton’s 100th anniversaryTrade Review"The Norton centenary edition of Rilke's Letters to a Young Poet is a beautiful hardback of an essential text and a great gift to any aspiring writer." -- Anne Enright - The Observer
£16.14
Yale University Press Letters in Exile Transnational Journeys of a
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£28.50
The Buddhist Society 575 The Haiku Of Basho
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£31.50
Archetype Beauty Love and Wisdom in Persian Poetry
Book SynopsisThe aim of this volume is to give the general reader an introduction to the richest works of the great masters of Persian literature so that they can become better acquainted with this symbolic, mystical and sometimes? to the uninitiated? obscure literary world. Four discourses exploring the heart and soul of this rich and ancient literary tradition, have been collected here in a masterful translation by Leonard Lewisohn. The first, entitled ? Poetics and Aesthetics in the Persian Sufi Literary Tradition? , demonstrates the underlying structure of Persian literature and introduces the key concepts that will open the doors to understanding the main themes of Persian literature; the second, ? Of Scent and Sweetness: ? Attar and his Legacy in Rumi, Shabistari and Hafiz? , leads the reader through the ? seven cities of love? so that they may taste the immortal nectar of this great mystic poet of Persia; in the third, ? The Principles of the Religion of Love in Classical Persian Poetry? , the reader will enter the paradisal garden of Hafiz with its four rivers of paradise; and finally, the fourth centres on Rumi and his magic flute which tells tale after tale to enlighten the listener.
£23.96
Association for Scottish Literary Studies The Poetry and Drama of Jackie Kay: (Scotnotes
Book SynopsisJackie Kay served as Scotland's Makar from 2016 to 2021 and is one of Scotland's foremost writers. Much of her work explores her own life and heritage, her upbringing and the cultural forces which shaped her. Many of her poems illuminate the stuff of everyday existence, and commemorate the love of family and friends with great tenderness and humour. Often, too, her writing explores the lives of others, giving marginalised and persecuted individuals a voice and bearing witness to the consequences of the worst in human nature.Lorna Borrowman Smith's Scotnote Study Guide examines issues of family and cultural identities in Jackie Kay's work. It covers a wide range of her poetry as well as her 2008 poetic drama The Lamplighter, and provides a comprehensive and stimulating guide for senior school pupils and teachers.
£8.18
Harvard University Press Dialogues in the Dark Interpreting Heavenly
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£46.71
Princeton University Press Cantigas
Book SynopsisTrade Review"These cantigas, in Zenith’s hands, remind me that a poetry’s message is its music."---Jesse Nathan, McSweeney's"Zenith helps provide a roadmap to appreciate some of the idiosyncratic aspects of the medieval language while also allowing himself the freedom to interpret the cantigas without a priority for overly literal translation. . . . Zenith’s phrasing conveys the love-sickness, anguish, jealousy, danger and fear that pulse through the original poems."---Jacob Abell, Reading in Translation"Delightful. . . . A bilingual volume that reveals an intriguing world of courtly love and satire in medieval Portugal and Spain." * Portuguese American Journal *"Zenith is to be congratulated for an authoritative, attractive and highly readable presentation of these songs to a twenty-first-century anglophone audience."---David Frier, Times Literary Supplement"This edition will bring this considerably large lyric corpus to the attention of a much wider circle of readers. It is a volume that deserves to be in the library of every medievalist."---Josiah Blackmore, Speculum
£15.29
University of Arizona Press Light as Light
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£23.16
Duke University Press Spill
Book SynopsisIn Spill poet, independent scholar, and activist Alexis Pauline Gumbs presents a commanding collection of poetry inspired by Black feminist literary critic Hortense Spillers depicting scenes of fugitive Black women and girls seeking freedom from gendered violence and racism.Trade Review"Gumbs’s writing has luscious urgency and rhythmic drive, which will make it of interest beyond its titular audience." -- Barbara Hoffert * Library Journal *"Spill is not just a poetic collection where art meets criticism or where art is criticism. Instead, it is an intricately woven, polyvocal, ever-expansive map that details and gives rise to new and old black feminisms instructing us how to live and move with(in) these proliferating epistemologies." -- Sasha Panaram * New Black Man (In Exile) *"Inspired by the work of black feminist intellectual Hortense Spillers, Gumbs’ collection of poems appear as a series of powerful scenarios. Reading the volume is akin to being a member of a theatre audience. The fourth wall is peeled away and one is suddenly witness to heartbreaking, inspiring and insightful scenes depicting fugitive black women and girls – unsung and celebrated 'sheroes' – seeking freedom from gendered violence and racism." -- Thomasi McDonald * News & Observer *"Spill is poetry that invites the reader to imagine these poems weren't written- they was lived, they were felt, and in some deep sense, re-membered. In other words, this book happened in somebody's body, a body committed to Black Feminist ways of knowing and feeling in the world.... By embracing and applying these through the form of the parable, Spill speaks to the radical, spiritual power that belongs to those 'black women who made and broke narrative.'" -- Lara Mimosa Montes * Poetry Project Review *"Gumbs’s poetry takes up the detritus of the everyday that surrounds theory — the affective social and political worlds in which black feminist theorists write — and bends it, splits it, like a prism breaking a beam of light into a rainbow." -- Maria Velazquez * Cascadia Subduction Zone *"Gumbs seamlessly moves between historic reference, inherited memories, and a series of visions or a journal of dreams-the result is bigger than text itself. Her writing blurs the lines between past, present, and future. The book communes with ancestral knowledge while offering conjectures of what could be, reminding us that Black women have always seen what comes next, past the edges of what seemed or seems possible.... Spill is first and foremost a love offering to all Black women, but all readers who bear witness will leave its pages knowing of radical imagined possibilities and the difficult path laid before us toward elsewhere: 'our work here is not done.'" -- Zaina Alsous * Bitch *"This book is a commanding collection of scenes depicting fugitive Black women and girls seeking freedom from gendered violence and racism. Like Audre Lorde, Gumbs writes for the complexity of her vision." -- Jaki Shelton Green * NBC News (NBCBlk) *"Blending my love of Black queer feminist authors with genre bending and analytically complex poetry, Gumbs’s work inflicted pleasantly unfamiliar feelings upon me that I cannot 'claim to have invented.' Spill transformed me from a reluctant bystander of theory and poetry into a willing and enthused participant…. Alexis Pauline Gumbs’s Spill is an offering for all seeking an unpredictable and experimental journey of Black feminist artistic expression and self-discovery." -- Eden Sena Kokui Segbefia * Scalawag *"Gumbs not only speaks to the spiritual, bodily and otherworldly experience of black women, she allows readers to imagine new possibilities for poetry as a portal for understanding and deepening feminist theory." * Triangle Tribune *"This book is alive. The more I read it, the more gingerly I found myself handling its pages, despite the strength and determination of the women depicted within. . . . The scenes read as half song, half sermon (though intimately pitched), and taken as a whole create a richly textured chorus through which an exhilarating and deeply intelligent life force surges." -- Kim Adrian * The Rumpus *"[G]round-breaking. . . . Gumbs’s trilogy embraces the lyric beauty in the acts of naming, remembering, and finding one’s way back to the source. . . . Reading Gumbs’s books feels like reading an archive that will someday, who knows maybe even someday soon, usher in an era of radical transformation." -- Kathryn Nuernberger * West Branch *Table of ContentsA Note xi How She Knew 1 How She Spelled It 17 How She Left 31 How She Survived until Then 45 What She Did Not Say 61 What He Was Thinking 75 Where She Ended Up 91 The Witnesses the Wayward the Waiting 111 How We Know 125 The Way 141 Acknowledgments 151 Notes 153 Bibliography 161
£18.04
University of Massachusetts Press The Rebels Silhouette Selected Poems
Book SynopsisConsidered the leading poet on the South Asian subcontinent, Faiz Ahmed Faiz (1911-1984), winner of the 1962 Lenin Peace Prize, was an outspoken opponent of the Pakistani government. This volume offers a selection of Faiz's poetry.
£18.95
Johns Hopkins University Press The Lyric Theory Reader
Book SynopsisDesigned for students, teachers, scholars, poets, and readers with a general interest in poetics, this book presents an intellectual history of the theory of lyric reading that has circulated both within and beyond the classroom, wherever poetry is taught, read, discussed, and debated today.Trade ReviewThe thesis of The Lyric Theory Reader-that the very existence of the genre is more a critical extrapolation than anything solid and real-may seem to be itself a kind of critical conceit, but only because the argument serves the Reader exceptionally well as a cogent frame for taking stock of a diversity of approaches. Accordingly, the Reader would seem especially useful as a primer for up and coming scholars... Overall, the Reader should be considered essential in the formation of a thoughtful scholar of poetry and its criticism. -- Peter Fields Rocky Mountain ReviewTable of ContentsAcknowledgments General Introduction Part I. How Does Lyric Become a Genre?Section 1. Genre TheorySection 2. Models of LyricPart I. Twentieth-Century Lyric ReadersSection 3. Anglo- American New Criticism Section 4. Structuralist Reading Section 5. Post- Structuralist ReadingSection 6. Frankfurt School and AfterSection 7. Phenomenologies of Lyric ReadingPart III. Lyric DeparturesSection 8. Avant- garde Anti-lyricism Section 9. Lyric and Sexual Difference Section 10. Comparative Lyric Contributors Source Acknowledgments Index of Authors and Works
£40.95
Stanford University Press The Work of Art in the Age of Deindustrialization
Book SynopsisA novel account of the relationship between postindustrial capitalism and postmodern culture, this book looks at American poetry and art of the last fifty years in light of the massive changes in people's working lives. Over the last few decades, we have seen the shift from an economy based on the production of goods to one based on the provision of services, the entry of large numbers of women into the workforce, and the emergence of new digital technologies that have transformed the way people work. The Work of Art in the Age of Deindustrialization argues that art and literature not only reflected the transformation of the workplace but anticipated and may have contributed to it as well, providing some of the terms through which resistance to labor was expressed. As firms continue to tout creativity and to reorganize in response to this resistance, they increasingly rely on models of labor that derive from values and ideas found in the experimental poetry and conceptual art of decades past.Trade Review"The originality of this study of postwar literature and capitalism lies not just in its focus on production as opposed to consumption, or on the effects that transformations of labor have had on what kind of art was made, by whom, and how. It lies also in its rigorous attention to the effects that aesthetic concepts have exerted on the transformation of labor, and to how art responds when wage labor is recast in explicitly aesthetic terms. Bernes's book goes beyond reflectionist arguments and elective affinities. Sobering and optimistic at once, it gives us new tools to think about the relation between art and labor, even as the two seem to be converging irreversibly." -- Sianne Ngai * Stanford University *"Far from wanting to tout any hoary theory of the artist-as-prophet, Bernes is working with a remarkably sophisticated and resilient new critical model which will doubtless have a lot of traction in the years ahead." -- Julian Murphet * Affirmations: Of the Modern *"Bernes poses the question of whether the quintessentially unproductive, workless realm of poetry may be instructive for what our precarious and workless capitalist future holds. The result is an intellectually rich, dynamic and lucidly written book...The theses Bernes puts forward concerning poetry's instrumentalization by capitalism will be of interest to all scholars of modern literature, not merely those interested in the postwar American poets and artists studied in detail here."––Benjamin Pickford, Literature & History"Developments in poetry and art, Bernes argues, also feed reciprocally into...transformations in the workplace, as 'aspects of the artistic critique, such as the critique of work from the standpoint of participation, became essential parts of the restructuring undertaken by capitalists to improve profitability'....[With] acute sensitivity to poetic form and [a] profound grasp of historical capitalism as filtered through their chosen sites of the gendered body and the workplace...Bernes [avoids] reductively optimistic or pessimistic claims about either poetry's total immunity or its total complicity." -- Walt Hunter * American Literary History *Table of ContentsContents and Abstracts0Introduction chapter abstractAn overview of the argument of the book, the Introduction discusses postwar literature and art in light of the transformation of advanced capitalist economies, in particular the shift from the production of goods to the provision of services and the expansion of white-collar and in-person service work. Through an examination of some key examples, Bernes argues that the neo-avant-garde language of "participation," aiming to overcome the hierarchical relationship between writer and reader, artist and audience, anticipated and contributed to a shift in management theory toward new horizontal forms of corporate structure, undertaken in response to the widespread rebellion against the "anachronistic authoritarianism" of the postwar workplace. Bernes summarizes the main chapters of the book as well as its conclusions and finishes with a general discussion of periodization and historicization, elucidating his unique methodology in light of Marxist debates about historical causality. 1Lyric and the Service Sector: Frank O'Hara at Work chapter abstractO'Hara's "I do this, I do that" poems detail the poet's movements through the city during periods of leisure. In this chapter, Bernes argues that such leisure periods are usually, implicitly or explicitly, circumscribed by periods of work. This is especially true in Lunch Poems, where the conceit of the book is that many of the poems were written during his "lunch hour." O'Hara's lunch-hour pastorals are not so much opposed to the workday and its unfree time of getting things done as they are a space for an alternative kind of work. This chapter proposes that we see O'Hara as poet of service work as much as poet of consumption, reorienting ourselves to the presence of labor (his own and others') within the poems. In particular, Bernes argues, O'Hara adapts the resources of the lyric poem to the transactional space of service work. 2John Ashbery's Free Indirect Labor chapter abstractThe early poems of John Ashbery must be read as a meditation on the plight of labor, particularly white-collar labor, in the postwar United States. Beginning with an early poem, "The Instruction Manual" (1956), and its exploration of the ambiguous class position of white-collar workers, this chapter tracks themes of both labor and management in Ashbery's experimental second book, The Tennis Court Oath. In this book the standpoint of the earlier poem gives way to an explosion of shifting voices as Ashbery's distinctive use of free indirect discourse and other techniques of point of view registers the contemporary breakdown in labor relations and the crisis for established modes of management. In Ashbery's mature style of the 1970s, this chaotic play of voices yields to a comparatively measured technology of point of view, which reflects the new modes of management that followed the crises of the 1960s and 1970s. 3The Poetry of Feedback chapter abstractEmerging from the military-industrial research programs of World War II, cybernetics presents an image of social self-regulation based on reciprocal, horizontal, and participatory relations rather than explicit hierarchies. This is appealing both to firms looking for a way to cut administrative bloat and trim costs and to artists and writers interested in developing a "participatory" practice, one that undoes the division of labor between reader and writer, spectator and art maker. Cybernetics promises a mode of collaboration and collectivity that liberates art from the narrow confines of artists. This chapter examines Hannah Weiner's Code Poems alongside Dan Graham's Works for Magazine Pages, both of which sit at the interstices of experimental poetry and conceptual art and both of which put cybernetic discourse to work to model alternative social relations. In each case, the laboratory of social relations takes postwar labor as its subject. 4The Feminization of Speedup chapter abstractEngaging debates around the status of unpaid reproductive labor, this chapter investigates Bernadette Mayer's multifarious project Memory, which is simultaneously a performance, a conceptual work, an installation, and an epic poem. In attempting to document, down to the smallest detail, every aspect of her life for thirty days—using photographs, audio recordings, and written notation—Mayer effectively demonstrates the subsumption of the entirety of life by the protocols and routines of work as well as the transformation of the relationship between unpaid reproductive work and feminized wage labor. Mayer's "total" artwork, which merges different technologies into a single apparatus, prefigures the reorganization of office work around the personal computer, a technology that has probably done more than anything else to ensure that work and home life are unified by enabling white-collar workers to accomplish tasks from home and, in that sense, never leave work. 5Art, Work, and Endlessness in the 2000s chapter abstractThis chapter skips forward several decades, to the 2000s, and looks at the legacy of the transformations discussed in the preceding chapters. Bernes examines the debates that followed the emergence of "Flarf" and "conceptual poetry," both movements that foregrounded their relationship to contemporary office work. He focuses in particular on the relationship between Flarf poetry, with its rebellious use of work time, work machinery, and work jargon, and the increase in interworker aggression, which he attributes to the inability of workers to find outlets for resistance. Bernes links this horizontalized aggression with the phenomenon of the "Internet troll," who responds to the emasculation that male workers feel as a consequence of the restructuring of labor. By the 2000s, firms had so thoroughly neutralized the aesthetic critique of labor mobilized by preceding generations of artists that it persisted only in various forms of minor rebellion and acting out. 6Epilogue: Overflow chapter abstractThe Epilogue considers the possible fate of the artistic critique of labor in the decades to come. As demand for labor weakens because of ongoing structural transformations, the link between art and labor will likewise weaken, Bernes argues. Thus, artists would do well to revive older traditions linking the poet to wagelessness. The Epilogue examines these traditions, beginning with the Renaissance ballad and continuing through the Romantic poetry of vagrancy and the African American fugitive lyric, linking this poetic history to a theoretical investigation of what Karl Marx calls "surplus populations." The long history of the poetics of wagelessness gives some indication of the aesthetic outlines of the coming era. In closing, Bernes looks at two contemporary poets, Fred Moten and Wendy Trevino, who engage this long tradition and mobilize it to meet the specific conditions of twenty-first-century capitalism.
£23.39
Bodleian Library Chaucer Here and Now
Book SynopsisThe Geoffrey Chaucer of this book is not the Father of English Literature that you think you know. In this wide-ranging collection of essays you will find wartime Chaucer, postcolonial Chaucer, feminist Chaucer, misogynist Chaucer, radical Chaucer and conservative Chaucer, among many other interpretations. Featuring beautiful illustrations of early manuscripts and rare editions, Chaucer Here and Now gives a picture of how varied adaptations of and responses to his work have been, from fifteenth- century scribes who finished off incomplete tales, through early printers who constructed Chaucer as the Father of the Nation, to contemporary postcolonial writers such as Zadie Smith. The book moves through years of censorship, the creation of children’s Chaucer, Protestant Chaucer and imperial Chaucer – and the travels of Chaucer all around the world. It also explores Chaucer on film and Chaucer in the present moment. Today’s creative responses follow in a line of irreverent, partial responses that we can trace back to Chaucer’s very first readers and editors, showing that Chaucer is available for every here and now to remake, rework and reinvent.Trade ReviewAficionados will be thrilled by Chaucer Here and Now, which contains gorgeous illustrations of early manuscripts and rare editions. * The Independent *This impressive book ends with a look at Chaucer in the digital age, and how, in the 21st century, “Chaucer is also finding his way into new media”. * The Independent *
£25.50
WW Norton & Co Shelleys Poetry and Prose
Book SynopsisThis Second Edition is based on the authoritative texts chosen by the editors from their scholarly edition of The Complete Poetry of Percy Bysshe Shelley.
£18.99
Cambridge University Press Lucan de Bello Ciuili Book VII
Book SynopsisBook VII of Lucan''s De Bello Ciuili recounts the decisive victory of Julius Caesar over Pompey at the Battle of Pharsalus on 9 August 48 BCE. Uniquely within Lucan''s epic, the entire book is devoted to one event, as the narrator struggles to convey the full horror and significance of Romans fighting against Romans and of the republican defeat. Book VII shows both De Bello Ciuili and its impassioned, partisan narrator at their idiosyncratic best. Lucan''s account of Pharsalus well illustrates his poem''s macabre aesthetic, his commitment to paradox and hyperbole, and his highly rhetorical presentation of events. This is the first English commentary on this important book for more than half a century. It provides extensive help with Lucan''s Latin, and seeks to orientate students and scholars to the most important issues, themes and aspects of this brilliant poem.Table of Contents1. Book VII; 2. Battle; 3. The gods and religion; 4. Stoicism and epicureanism; 5. Pompey and Caesar; 6. Sources, models, intertexts; 7. Viewing, seeing, spectatorship; 8. States of mind: madness, hope, fear, anger, joy; 9. Paradox and hyperbole; 10. Apostrophe; 11. Sententiae; 12. Diction, word order, metre; 13. Transmission and text; 14. Manuscripts cited; M. Annaei Lvcani De Bello Civili Liber Septivs; Commentary.
£26.59
Oxford University Press The Complete Odes
Book Synopsis''we can speak of no greater contest than Olympia''The Greek poet Pindar (c. 518-428 BC) composed victory odes for winners in the ancient Games, including the Olympics. He celebrated the victories of athletes competing in foot races, horse races, boxing, wrestling, all-in fighting and the pentathlon, and his Odes are fascinating not only for their poetic qualities, but for what they tell us about the Games. Pindar praises the victor by comparing him to mythical heroes and the gods, but also reminds the athlete of his human limitations. The Odes contain versions of some of the best known Greek myths, such as Jason and the Argonauts, and Perseus and Medusa, and are a valuable source for Greek religion and ethics. Pindar''s startling use of language - striking metaphors, bold syntax, enigmatic expressions - makes reading his poetry a uniquely rewarding experience.Anthony Verity''s lucid translations are complemented by an introduction and notes that provide insight into competition, myth,
£11.39
Oxford University Press Selected Poetry
Book SynopsisJohn Keats''s abiding poetic legacy is one of extraordinary and triumphant richness. Before the moment of `self-will'' when he declared his intention to be a poet, Keats (1795-1821) had chosen the medical profession. His apothecary''s training influenced his conception of poetry as an art that could mitigate the world''s suffering. Keats''s generous spirit triumphed over personal sadness, finding expression in his concept of life as a `vale of Soul-making'' rather than a vale of tears. He published only three volumes before his death at the age of 25, and, while many of his contemporaries quickly recognized his genius, snobbery and political hostility led the Tory press to vilify him. This selection, chosen from the Oxford Authors critical edition of Keats''s major works, demonstrates the remarkable growth in maturity of his verse, from early poems such as `Imitation of Spenser'' and `Ode to Apollo'' to later work such as ''The Eve of St Agnes'', `Ode to a Nightingale'', and `To Autu
£8.54
Edinburgh University Press Time and Timelessness in Victorian Poetry
Book SynopsisDemonstrates what Victorian poetry tells us about the relationship between poetry and time.
£22.49
Harvard University Press The Arundel Lyrics. The Poems of Hugh Primas
Book SynopsisThis volume presents two complementary medieval anthologies containing lyrics by two outstanding Latin poets of the second half of the twelfth century. The collection is further augmented by verse as varied as Christmas poems and satires on the venality of the Roman Curia and immoral bishops.Trade ReviewThe material in the volume repays study and the scholarly apparatus is impressive...This volume should receive a warm welcome. [The Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library] will be a boon to professional medievalists, their students and the general reader, and every good library ought to own the series. -- Keith Sidwell * Times Literary Supplement *
£26.96
Harvard University Press Silvae
Book SynopsisStatius’s Silvae, thirty-two occasional poems, were written probably between AD 89 and 96. The verse is light in touch, with a distinct pictorial quality. D. R. Shackleton Bailey’s edition, which replaced the earlier Loeb Classical Library edition by J. H. Mozley, is now reissued with corrections by Christopher A. Parrott.
£23.70
