Poetry Books

Book SynopsisWhat I'm asking is, is she a sympathetic heroine? Are we going to be on her side?Elaine, a once-famous actress who disappeared thirty years ago in mysterious circumstances, is ready to tell her story. She summons Kate, a young film executive, to her remote Cornish home to assist with her glorious comeback. But to keep control of the story, and how they tell it, the women must fight against a rising tide.Penelope Skinner's passionate, searingly funny play opened at the Harold Pinter Theatre, London, in October 2023.''Fascinating . . . Skinner's writing is incisive and startlingly funny.'' Independent

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Book SynopsisNATIONAL BESTSELLER • Intimate poems that explore feminine shame and violence and imagine what liberation from these threats might look like, from the award-winning author of The January Children “Incredibly moving . . . Every single poem is stellar.”—Roxane Gay, author of Difficult Women and HungerIn Girls That Never Die, award-winning poet Safia Elhillo reinvents the epic to explore Muslim girlhood and shame, the dangers of being a woman, and the myriad violences enacted and imagined against women’s bodies. Drawing from her own life and family histories, as well as cultural myths and news stories about honor killings and genital mutilation, she interlaces the everyday traumas of growing up a girl under patriarchy with magical realist imaginings of rebellion, autonomy, and power. Elhillo writes a new world: women escape their stonings by birds that carry the rocks away; slain girls

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Book SynopsisPoems from 1901 to 1933, expressing political cynicism, devotion to Hellenism, homosexual love, colloquial and epigrammatic wit.Table of Contents*Frontmatter, pg. i*Foreword, pg. v*Acknowledgments, pg. vii*Other Books by the Translators, pg. viii*Contents, pg. ix*Che Fece ... Il Gran Rifiuto, pg. 3*Thermopylae, pg. 4*Growing in Spirit, pg. 5*Waiting for the Barbarians, pg. 6*Trojans, pg. 8*King Dimitrios, pg. 9*Antony's Ending, pg. 10*The Footsteps, pg. 11*The City, pg. 12*The Satrapy, pg. 13*The Ides of March, pg. 14*Things Fulfilled, pg. 15*The God Abandons Antony, pg. 16*Ionic, pg. 17*Ithaka, pg. 18*Philhellene, pg. 20*Alexandrian Kings, pg. 21*Very Seldom, pg. 23*As Much as You Can, pg. 24*Returning from Greece, pg. 25*Exiles, pg. 26*Theodotos, pg. 27*He Swears, pg. 28*Morning Sea, pg. 29*Orophernis, pg. 30*The Battle of Magnesia, pg. 32*Manuel Komninos, pg. 34*The Distress of Selefkidis, pg. 35*For Ammonis, Who Died at 29, in 610, pg. 36*One of Their Gods, pg. 37*Half an Hour, pg. 38*Kaisarion, pg. 39*Body, Remember ..., pg. 40*Nero's Respite, pg. 41*Envoys from Alexandria, pg. 42*Aimilianos Monai, Alexandrian, A.D. 628-655, pg. 43*The Afternoon Sun, pg. 44*Of the Jews (A.D. 50), pg. 45*Of Dimitrios Sotir (162-150 B.C.), pg. 46*If Actually Dead, pg. 48*Young Men of Sidon (A.D. 400), pg. 49*Dareios, pg. 50*Anna Komnina, pg. 52*An Exiled Byzantine Nobleman who Composes Verses, pg. 53*Alexander Valas' Favorite, pg. 54*Dimaratos, pg. 55*From the School of the Renowned Philosopher, pg. 57*Julian Seeing Contempt, pg. 58*Epitaph of Antiochos, King of Kommagini, pg. 59*In Alexandria, 31 B . C, pg. 60*John Kantakuzinos Triumphs, pg. 61*Of Colored Glass, pg. 62*The Twenty-Fifth Year of His Life, pg. 63*Kleitos' Illness, pg. 64*In a Township of Asia Minor, pg. 65*A Great Procession of Priests and Laymen, pg. 66*Julian and the Antiochians, pg. 67*Two Young Men, 23 to 24 Years Old, pg. 68*A Young Poet in His Twenty-Fourth Year, pg. 69*In Sparta, pg. 70*In a Large Greek Colony, 200 B.C., pg. 71*A Prince from Western Libya, pg. 73*Myris: Alexandria, A.D. 340, pg. 74*Alexander Jannaios and Alexandra, pg. 77*Come, O King of the Lacedaimonians, pg. 78*He Asked About the Quality, pg. 79*To Have Taken the Trouble, pg. 80*In the Year 200 B . C, pg. 82*On the Outskirts of Antioch, pg. 84*Notes, pg. 86*Biographical Note, pg. 92*Reviews, pg. 99

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Book SynopsisThe author of more than 70 plays, Aeschylus is the earliest of the great Attic tragedians. Of these plays, only seven remain. The "Oresteia" is his only complete surviving trilogy. Peter Meineck has aimed to translate this version of the "Oresteia" for the modern stage.Trade ReviewPeter Meineck's new rendition of the Oresteia is that rare and wonderful thing: a text accessible to the Greekless audience while still preserving the vocabulary of Aeschylus. Those of us who have seen Peter Meineck's performances have long marveled at his ability to turn Greek into clear English, how he does not do 'versions' of the plays, how he does not rewrite the ancients into modern jargon (even his comedies maintain more Aristophanic text than is usual). Here lines that students have always needed explicated stand clear. . . . Helene Foley has provided a fine introduction for this translation. Introduction and translation together provide an exciting text, one that should be widely read, widely used. --Karelisa Hartigan, University of Florida, in The Classical Outlook. . . a translation for the stage by an experienced man of the theater. Its virtues are very real, and, though Meineck makes them seem easy, very hard to achieve. The idiom is contemporary without yielding to the siren song of gimmicky updating; it manages to be clear without betraying Aeschylus’ complexity or sacrificing his intricate imagery. What makes it effective on stage makes it work on the page, too. With the added guidance of Helene Foley's characteristically intelligent Introduction and Meineck's own crisp annotation and full stage directions, this translation offers the most approachable and in many ways most communicative Oresteia now available. It will be the Oresteia of choice for many teachers and their students, as well as for readers interested in what makes Greek tragedy great theater. --Peter Burian, Duke University

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Book SynopsisThis line-for-line translation of Aritophanes' famous comedy features an introduction that explores Old Comedy and the place of "Clouds" and Aristophanic comedy within it. The text is accompanied by extensive footnotes.Trade ReviewSince the appearance of Sommerstein's very successful literal translation less than twenty years ago, there have been at least five further new published attempts at rendering the play into English. It is certainly a bold enterprise to introduce yet one more translation onto the scene, but Peter Meineck has risen well to the challenge. The translation is straightforward and idiomatic, as well as well-paced and funny. . . Ian Storey’s Introduction is perfect for undergraduates. --Max Nelson, Bryn Mawr Classical ReviewAn excellent translation, ideal for undergraduates. Readable and entertaining to a modern audience, Meineck doesn't make the fatal mistake of translating the humor with modern cultural equivalents--a mistake that has dated within years other translations of Aristophanes. Excellent notes and an outstanding introduction to Greek Comedy, Aristophanes, and Clouds by Ian Storey coupled with the superb translation will make this the edition to use in teaching for many years to come. --James A. Francis, University of KentuckyIan Storey's helpful 41-page introduction clearly introduces Greekless students to Old Comedy, to Aristophanes, to what is known of how it was produced, to the literary structure of Old Comedy, to problems of interpreting Aristophanes, and to the Clouds itself. The translation aims to serve 'both as a tool for the effective execution of onstage comedy and as an accurate reflection of the Greek.' With its excellent, well-chosen notes, helpful bibliography, and its affordable paperback format, the Meineck translation is clear, readable, appropriately accurate. It earns high marks also for cost-effectiveness. --E. M. Macierowski, Benedictine College

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Book SynopsisWhile preserving the basic narrative of the Iliad, this bare-bones abridgement highlights the epic's high poetic moments and essential mythological content, and will prove especially useful in surveys of world literature, and in Western civilization surveys.

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Book SynopsisRendered in an idiom drawn from present-day nature guides, gardening handbooks, how-to manuals, and scientific treatises--and in a style influenced by twentieth-century poetry--this bold new translation seeks to renew our appreciation of a work often relegated to the pigeonhole of didactic poetry about farming. In doing so, it reveals the Georgics as a remarkable window on Roman conceptions of the natural world and of the place of human life within it--and also conveys a sense of how daring were Virgil''s poetics in their day. Footnotes offer a wealth of information on mythology, agriculture, wildlife, geography, and astronomy while highlighting the technical, scientific, ethnographic, and other registers of the poem.Trade ReviewChew's translation is, both in aesthetic and scholarly terms, an excellent piece of work. I find her approach refreshing and true to the spirit of the Georgics; her adventurousness strikes me as just the thing to rescue the poem from the appearance of blandness that a more straightforward style of translationese would inevitably, but misleadingly, impose upon it. This Georgics does not read much like any previous version of it. Chew helps the English reader to get a sense of Virgil's avant-garde poetics, which is the main thing that almost all translators of the Georgics work to eliminate, if indeed they are even aware of it. First-rate. --Joseph Farrell, Professor of Classical Studies, University of PennsylvaniaThis is a translation with a difference, intended for readers without Latin. The most striking feature is the use of variations of type and layout. . . . Invocations are set out like memorial inscriptions; tasks or points to look for in animals come in the form of numbered or bulleted lists, assembling a plough reads like an instruction manual. Similes appear in italics, but so do the key words in some descriptive passages. The positioning of the text is used to illustrate the meaning of a quincunx, terracing, or the flight of a swarm of bees. These innovations serve to distinguish between what might be termed the poetry and the practical. Explanations are sometimes incorporated into the translation, which is in free verse, but mostly these are in the generous footnotes. . . . Chew has done considerable research into ancient and modern methods of husbandry and the notes concentrate on agriculture, astronomy, and botany. . . . Some [renderings] are particularly apt: 'the cicadas' complaining plainsong bursts the strawberry trees' for 'cantu querulae rumpent arbusta cicadae;' `'the murmur of the groves grows and grows' for 'et nemorum increbescere murmur.' . . . Chew should certainly achieve her aim of bringing the work to a wider readership. As she claims in her Introduction, 'Plain and simple, it is an American Georgics.' _—Anne Haward, The Joint Association of Classical Teachers ReviewMy graduate seminar members and I enjoyed Dr. Chew's rendering of the Georgics immensely. We were delighted and instructed by her playful blend of argots and typefaces, and by her artful blend of information in the notes. This translation opened the poem for me all over again—and it has long been among my favorites. Chew's translation offers a dazzling survey of musical styles in the poem. The fifteen of us send our thanks for her provocative and delightful achievement. -—Thomas A. Goodmann, University of Miami"A translation that is worthy of considerably more critical attention than it has received, not just because it contributes to what is now the well-documented and important phenomenon of classical literature being translated by women, but because it is a suggestive, challenging, vivid text, capable of creating Vergil anew for a new and wide range of demographics."—Fiona Cox, University of Exeter, in Classical Receptions Journal

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewThis is . . . the best, absolute best Milton anthology. --Cicero Bruce, McMurry UniversityThinking that perhaps it was time after fifteen years of using the Hughes edition of Milton to use a newer edition in my graduate classes, I switched for one semester to the Riverside Milton. It took only one semester to realize that what students gained by way of more recent scholarship could not make up for what they had lost by being deprived of Hughes’ introductions. I won’t be switching again for a long time to come. --Noralyn Masselink, SUNY College at Cortland

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Book Synopsis A pillar of the West African oral tradition for centuries, this epic traces the adventures and achievements of the Mande hero, Sunjata, as he liberates his people from Sumaworo Kante, the sorcerer king of Soso, and establishes the great medieval empire of Mali. David Conrad conveys the strong narrative thrust of the Sunjata epic in his presentation of substantial excerpts from his translation of a performance by Djanka Tassey Conde. Readers approaching the epic for the first time will appreciate the translation''s highly readable, poetic English as well as Conrad''s informative Introduction and notes. Scholars will find the familiar heroes and heroines taking on new dimensions, secondary characters gaining increased prominence, and previously unknown figures emerging from obscurity. Trade ReviewThanks to his careful editing and translating of Condé's narrative, Conrad offers a highly readable version of the epic that is about a third of its original length. The translation communicates not only the poetic qualities and the essential events of the Sunjata legend but also the master bard's performance values. Thus, this rendering will fascinate those who already know the story and culture and those coming to the epic for the first time. Conrad provides an excellent introduction to Mande oral tradition, the role of the griot, and the Manding belief system. Though he makes no claim for this as the complete scholarly edition, he does provide helpful scholarly notes, a glossary, and a good bibliography. . . . Summing up: Highly recommended. --L. W. Yoder, CHOICEThis is an important resource for college teachers who would like their students to read a text which more fully resembles an oral poem and which communicates a richer, more complex, and more compelling version of the Sunjata story. . . . [This] version . . . is much more worthy to be placed among the great epics of world literature. It is eminently readable for students and instructors who are willing to give it the same kind of attention they give to Homer translations. --Robin Mitchell-Boyask, Temple UniversityConrad offers a great deal for students and instructors, with a solid Introduction which provides the context and history of the epic, a note on Mande nomenclature, maps, an epilogue, and a glossary of important names and terms. This is truly one-stop shopping for the Sunjata epic. I think Conrad's book will be a classic. --Konrad Tuchscherer, St. John's UniversityTable of ContentsPart I: The Late Classics / Post-classic in Oaxaca - An Introduction; Part II: Chronology, Continuity and Disjunction - Etic and Emic Perspectives; Part III: Continuity and Abandonment of Houses in the Valley of Oaxaca - Lambityeco and Macuilxochitl; Part IV: Changing Power Relations and Interaction in the Lower Rio Verde Valley; Part V: Sacred History and Legitimisation in the Mixteca Alta; Part VI: New Research Frontiers in Oaxaca and Eastern Guerreo; Index.

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Book SynopsisPresents an abridgment of Stanley Lombardo's translation of Virgil's "Aeneid", suitable for use in such courses as those surveys of Roman history or classical mythology in which time may not permit a reading of the epic in its entirety. This book highlights the place of the "Aeneid" in Roman mythology, history, and literature.Trade Review"In 2005, Lombardo published his full Aeneid, and in doing so offered an elegant modern verse translation of Virgil. This has now been abridged, but nevertheless the essence of the original is maintained. . . . Lombardo gives us a realistic Aeneas, whose frail humanity and thoughtful heroism are manifested subtly, in unpretentious, yet dignified language. . . . This would prove a worthy (and cheap!) addition to a bookshelf lacking the full translation by Lombardo. He manages to give a real sense of Virgil through a style that is elegant and solemn, yet never overbearing." --Philip Harrison, The Journal of Classics Teaching"This attractive volume, an abridgment of Stanley Lombardo's complete translation of Virgil's Aeneid (Hackett, 2005), adds a Latin epic to the author's burgeoning set of translations of mainly Greek poetry. Lombardo has proved himself a poet-translator and performer of exceptional ability and innovation; by publishing in written and audio media, he has contributed to the awareness in the readership of translations the centrality of performance to Homeric epic. The recently published Aeneid represented his first foray into Latin epic, and he has translated Virgil with the same combination of austerity and accessibility that marked his Homers. . . . The translation is excellent, on the whole, and perfectly captures the pace and character of the original." --Joanne McNamara, Bryn Mawr Classical Review"Stanley Lombardo shows in the strength of his verse the talent that marks him as the most Greek and Roman of the modern translators of ancient epic." --Douglas Domingo-Forasté, Professor of Classics, California State University, Long Beach

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Book SynopsisEssential poems by the late New York poet.Lunch Poems, first published in 1964 by City Lights Books as number nineteen in the Pocket Poets series, is widely considered to be Frank O''Hara''s freshest and most accomplished collection of poetry.Edited by the poet in collaboration with Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Donald Allen, who had published O''Hara''s poems in his monumental The New American Poetry in 1960, it contains some of the poet''s best known works including The Day Lady Died, Ave Maria, and Poem [Lana Turner has collapsed!]. These are the compelling and formally inventive poems?casually composed, for example, in his office at The Museum of Modern Art, in the street at lunchtime or on the Staten Island Ferry en route to a poetry reading?that made O''Hara a dynamic leader of the New York School of poets.O''Hara speaks directly across the decades to our hopes and fears and especially our delights; his lines are as intimate as a telephone call. Few books of his era show less age.?Dwight Garner, New York TimesAs collections go, none brings . . . quality to the fore more than the thirty-seven Lunch Poems, published in 1964 by City Lights.?Nicole Rudick, The Paris ReviewWhat O''Hara is getting at is a sense of the evanescence, and the power, of great art, that inextricable contradiction ? that what makes it moving and transcendent is precisely our knowledge that it will pass away. This is the ethos at the center of Lunch Poems: not the informal or the conversational for their own sake but rather in the service of something more intentional, more connective, more engaged. ?David L. Ulin, Los Angeles TImesThe collection broadcasts snark, exuberance, lonely earnestness, and minute-by-minute autobiography to a wide, vague audience?much like today''s Twitter and Facebook feeds.?Micah Mattix, The AtlanticSweet poems, funny, exhilarating, spontaneous, subversive, poignant, and sometimes?often?more deeply, even darkly moving. But above all sweet. Probably a greater proportion of O?Hara?s poems can be read for sheer pleasure than the poems of any other 20th-century writer. This slim volume is his liveliest, most distilled and delectable single collection. Quintessential O?Hara, and such a bargain!?Lloyd Schwartz, Grolier Poetry Book Shop

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Book SynopsisA library of characters for study and practice. Each audition about 2 minutes long.

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Book SynopsisIsrael Zangwill, an Anglo-Jewish author and son of immigrants, wrote The Melting-Pot to demonstrate how immigrants could become good American citizens, hoping to forestall the kinds of restrictions—particularly against Russian Jews—that had been enacted in his home country. In 1908, when the play first appeared on an American stage, rates of immigration were high and many Americans feared that these particular newcomers would unalterably change the nation’s character. Politicians and others called for restricted immigration and stringent tests for citizenship. The Melting-Pot did not prevent the US government from enacting stringent immigration restrictions in 1924. But it became Zangwill’s most popular and most continuously performed play, and it popularized a metaphor for America—the melting pot—that has been discussed and debated ever since.This edition presents the play in its historical context, with readings from the time on immigration and intermarriage, as well as the settlement house movement and the Kishinev pogrom, which both figure prominently in the drama. Excerpts from the many and diverse reviews of the play highlight why it was so controversial. The Melting-Pot evokes questions about diversity and national identity that are still a contentious part of the national conversation.Trade Review“It took a British Jew to write one of the most iconic of American texts, one that goes to the heart and soul of the nation’s self-understanding. Meri-Jane Rochelson’s edition of Israel Zangwill’s The Melting-Pot, contextualized and with a splendid and insightful introduction, should be hailed as an important contribution to a contemporary and heated debate about America, difference, and immigration.” — Hasia R. Diner, New York University“Israel Zangwill’s The Melting-Pot, first produced more than a century ago, is as topical today as it was then. Meri-Jane Rochelson illuminates the play’s engagement with questions of immigration, assimilation, intermarriage, multiculturalism, and race. Adding essays that provide an extraordinary range of reviews, debates, and pressing issues of the day, she has given us the definitive edition of this important play.” — Anita Norich, University of MichiganTable of ContentsCONTENTSAcknowledgementsIntroductionIsrael Zangwill: A Brief ChronologyA Note on the TextThe Melting-PotAppendix A: Contemporary Reviews From “The Theater: Columbia Theater,” Evening Star (6 October 1908) From “The Alien’s Opportunity,” Washington Post (7 October 1908) From Burns Mantle, “News of the Theaters: The Melting Pot,” Chicago Daily Tribune (20 October 1908) From Constance Skinner, “‘Melting Pot,’ at Grand, Play to Remember,” Chicago Evening American (21 October 1908) From Amy Leslie, “Grave Play at Grand,” Chicago Daily News (21 October 1908) From “Grand Opera House,” Chicago Israelite (23 October 1908) From Leon Zolotkoff, “Zangwill’s Great Success,” Daily Jewish Courier (13 November 1908) From [Adolph Klauber?,] “New Zangwill Play Cheap and Tawdry,” New York Times (7 September 1909) From Adolph Klauber, “A Spread-Eagle Play by Israel Zangwill,” New York Times (12 September 1909) From “Zangwill Play Opens New Comedy Theatre,” New York Herald (7 September 1909) From J.J. [?], “The Tragedy of Kishineff: Israel Zangwill’s ‘Melting Pot,’” American Hebrew and Jewish Messenger (10 September 1909) From [A.B. Walkley,] “Some New York Plays,” Times (24 November 1909) From “Court Theatre. ‘The Melting-Pot,’” Star (27 January 1914) From “‘The Melting Pot.’ Mr. Zangwill’s Play at the Court Theatre,” Jewish Chronicle (30 January 1914) From J.T. Grein, “The Week’s Premieres, (1) Court: ‘The Melting Pot,’” Sunday Times (1 February 1914) Appendix B: Intermarriage and Assimilation Debates From Rupert Hughes, “Should Jews Marry Christians?,” New York Herald, Sunday Magazine (8 November 1908) From “Shall the Jew Intermarry? Views of Prominent New Yorkers on this Subject,” Jewish Tribune (4 December 1908) From “Mentor,” “In the Communal Armchair: The ‘Melting Pot’ and the Jew. Some Stray Thoughts,” Jewish Chronicle (30 January 1914) Appendix C: The Kishinev Pogrom From “The Kishineff Outbreak. Russian Publication’s Account of the Assault on Jews in Streets and Synagogues,” New York Times (11 May 1903) From [A Correspondent,] “The Anti-Semitic Riots in South Russia,” Times (2 May 1903) Photographs of the Aftermath of the Kishinev Pogrom from the Archives of the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, New York From Chaim Nachman Bialik, “The City of Slaughter” Appendix D: Ellis Island and Arrival in America Emma Lazarus, “The New Colossus” (1883) Illustrated Postcard, published in England by Raphael Tuck & Sons (n.d.) Israel Zangwill, “The Land of Promise,” “They That Walk in Darkness”: Ghetto Tragedies (1899) Appendix E: The Settlement House From Jane Addams, “Chapter VI: Subjective Necessity for Social Settlements,” Twenty Years at Hull-House (1910) From Jane Addams, “Chapter XI: Immigrants and Their Children,” Twenty Years at Hull-House (1910) The Settlement House Pledge to the Flaga. [From Our Correspondent,] “New York Municipal Celebration,” Times (27 May 1903)b. From “Father Knickerbocker Celebrates Birthday,” New York Times (27 May 1903)c. From H.G. Wells, Chapter IX, “The Immigrant,” The Future in America: A Search After Realities (1906) Documents of Various Programs at the Educational Alliance, from the Archives of the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, New York From Israel J. Zevin, “Melting Pot Square, ‘Most Efficiently Populated Spot in World,’ Welds Individuals of Many Races and Creeds to Make Real Americans,” New York Herald (5 March 1916) Appendix F: Anti-Immigrant Images and Texts Political Cartoons From Edward Alsworth Ross, Chapter XII, “American Blood and Immigrant Blood,” The Old World in the New (1914) From [William Jennings Bryan,] “The Yellow Peril,” Commoner (6 December 1901) Appendix G: Alternatives to the Melting-Pot Model From Mary Antin, The Promised Land (1912) From Horace M. Kallen, “Democracy Versus the Melting- Pot: A Study of American Nationality,” The Nation (18/25 February 1915) From W.E.B. Du Bois, “The Economic Revolution in the South,” The Negro in the South (1907)

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Book SynopsisSomething more than just scenes! Now a collection of wonderfully ''gender specific'' scenes about the joys and heartaches of growing up female. Sixty characterisations in monologues, duets, trios and quartets. Titles include: Winners, Losers; Dear Dad; Just a Date; Hurricane Force; Talk to the Trees; Easy Come, Easy Go; Cyber Romance; The Last Kiss of Summer; Scream... and fifty more. Lengths vary from two to six minutes each.

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Book SynopsisThis is a collection of the standard texts of ancient Greek which are important components of what we know about Greek myth, religion, language and culture. All of the works collectively known as the Homeric Hymns are collected and translated here in their entirety, and the work includes ample notes and an introduction to provide information on the works'' historic importance, a chronological table, genealogical chart, maps of Greece and the Aegean Islands, and illustrations of vase paintings with mythological themes. This edition is part of the Focus Classical Library.

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Book SynopsisThis anthology contains English translations of four plays by one of the best practitioners of Roman comedy, Plautus. The plays Casina, Amphitryon, Captivi and Pseudolus provide an introduction to the world of Roman comedy. As with all Focus translations, the emphasis is on a handsomely produced, inexpensive, readable edition that is close to the original, with an extensive introduction, notes and appendices.

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Book SynopsisIntended for a wide audience, Jan Blits's edition of Shakespeare''sThe Tragedy of Coriolanusdiffers from other such editions by focusing upon ancient sources to highlight the play's setting during the founding of the Roman Republic. In doing so it sheds new light on both the action of the play and the historical and political significance of its setting.

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Book SynopsisSince leaving his homeland after the Iranian revolution in 1979, Kuros Amouzgar witnessed his children and many other second generation Iranians who were eager to learn more about their own heritage, but who were unable to read the language of their parents. He decided to use the quatrains of Omar Khayyam as a vehicle to introduce a small section of Persian literature, philosophy and culture to his children and grandchildren''s generation. Khayyam''s poems are well-known both in the Persian original and in the English speaking world through the translations of Edward FitzGerald. Unfortunately, for the student, FitzGerald''s literary and inspirational poem are not exact translations of the Persian. In this volume, each poem is presented in the original Persian in both the Persian and Latin alphabet. In addition a literal translation and the corresponding poetic translation by FitzGerald are given. The more difficult terms are further explained. Also included is a Persian-English glossary.

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Book SynopsisThe Epic of the Cid records the deeds of Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar, the Cid of history and legend. A powerful warrior in the Christian reconquest of medieval Spain, a formidable strategist, and a charismatic leader, the Cid deeply impressed his contemporaries, both Christian and Muslim. Already, in his lifetime, songs, stories, and chronicles were devoted to his exploits.In offering both a highly readable, colloquial prose translation of El Cantar de Mio Cid and selections from a wide variety of those contemporary accounts, this volume brings the historical figure back to life for modern readers.Harney's substantial Introduction and annotation provide the historical, military, and literary background necessary for an informed reading of the texts; also included are maps, a compendium of proper names, a bibliography, and an index.Trade ReviewHarney's translation and literary panorama will become a standard reference for students and scholars throughout the English-speaking world for decades to come. Harney's profound knowledge of the cultural and creative ferment that surrounded the birth of this masterpiece is unchallenged. . . . The complementary medieval texts that Harney assembles--all the bright fragments that make up this mosaic of a ferocious warrior, clan chieftain, family man, and hero—have never before been brought together in one place with reliable translations from the Arabic, Latin, and Spanish. --George Greenia, College of William & MaryMany a student of medieval history or romance literature have had the pleasure of reading El Cid, but few have been given the opportunity to engage other sources which complement and, at times, contradict the story found in this epic. Michael Harney, an expert in medieval and Renaissance Spanish literature, seeks to rectify such an imbalance with a volume comprising an excellent prose translation of not only the lay of El Cid but also excerpts taken from seven additional texts redacted from as early as the late eleventh century to as late as the early sixteenth century. Harney has succeeded in crafting remarkably engaging and accessible prose translations of the aforementioned romance works--more so than any other translations which this reviewer has encountered to date. Thanks to Harney's gift for translation, this volume will also allow the reader to better understand how the included stories could have riveted their premodern audiences. --ComitatusA great translation. Harney's prose translation would be a great source for undergraduate courses, especially those on the Middle Ages or Spain. The positive features of Harney's translation are clear, precise translations of key terms and words, making it easier to follow the verse translations; a glossary of key terms; and a set of related texts to the El Cid Epic. Harney's introduction in addition to these related texts provides students with a fuller view of the historical Cid, not the one-dimensional character of the Epic. Harney also does a good job of framing the context of the Cid story. Highly recommended for undergraduate courses. --John Hunt, Department of History, Utah Valley University

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Book SynopsisA dazzling recreation of the most memorable Middle English poem, and one that captures the original alliterative verse in all its dimensions: sense, sound, and rhythm. --Ad Putter, Professor of Medieval English Literature, University of BristolTrade ReviewAccurate, poetic, and masterly, Joseph Glaser's translation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight captures and replicates with brio the craftsmanship of the English romancer known as the Gawain-poet. A brilliant Introduction by medievalist and romance expert Christine Chism invites readers' engagement with the text in addition to presenting reliable and up-to-date scholarly information about the work, its anonymous author, and its historical milieu. A finely executed and thought-provoking undergraduate edition of this medieval masterpiece. --Jordi Sánchez-Martí, Department of English Philology, University of Alicante[A] great book of really useful introductory material appropriately pitched for undergraduates. --Gina Brandolino, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor"One of the greatest strengths of the volume is the introduction by Christine Chism. Its language is both accessible and eloquent; the concepts she explains are sophisticated. In it, she contextualizes the poem in terms of both its literary and critical reception and introduces readers to the cultural and political climate of fourteenth-century England. Further sections suggest possible directions for undergraduate research and gesture toward contemporary scholarship on the poem. "Also to be lauded are the translator's preface (in which Glaser reflects candidly about the challenges of translation and the difficult choices such a task requires) and, wonderfully, the translation itself. It is both accurate and evocative. . . . Glaser's translation succeeds in rendering both formal elements of the poem in modern English, while faithfully conveying the sense of the original lines. "The most innovative element of Glaser's approach to his translation is his emphasis on the poem's east Cheshire dialect, arguing that its translation "must contain a relatively high portion of chewy Old English or Norse terms" (xliv). "Glaser's audience is not the popular one dazzled by Heaney or by Simon Armitage's recent translation of the same poem. The language of his Preface, as well as of the notes that accompany the text, is arrestingly colloquial and unapologetically didactic. Glaser's audience is one who lacks familiarity with Arthurian legend and the tropes of medieval romance." —Megan Stein, Department of English, University of California, Riverside, in Comitatus

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Book SynopsisThis reprint (with updated 'Suggestions for Further Reading') of the Houghton Mifflin edition makes David Bevington's classic anthology of medieval drama available again at an affordable price.

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Book SynopsisAn acclaimed translator of Euripidean tragedy in its earlier and more familiar modes, Diane Arnson Svarlien now turns to three plays that showcase the special qualities of Euripides’ late dramatic art. Like her earlier volumes, Ion, Helen, Orestes offers modern, accurate, accessible, and stageworthy versions that preserve the metrical and musical form of the originals. Matthew Wright’s Introduction and notes offer illuminating guidance to first-time readers of Euripides, while pointing up the appeal of this distinctive grouping of plays.Trade Review"Diane Arnson Svarlien's lively and accessible translations give an excellent sense of Euripides' poetic resources, from his artful blend of conversational idiom and high style, to his powerful displays of rhetoric and emotion, to the expressive rhythms and images of his songs. They are sure to delight readers and listeners alike. Moreover, they have been shaped by judicious use of the best and latest scholarship. The plays in this volume will surprise readers used to tragedy on the Aristotelian pattern and stimulate reflection about what tragedy is and what it is for." —John Gibert, Department of Classics, University of Colorado, Boulder

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Book SynopsisThis stirring new version of the great Babylonian epic includes material from the recently discovered "monkey tablet" as well as an Introduction, timeline, glossary, and correspondences between lines of the translation and those of the original texts. "A comprehensive Introduction with a light touch (Beckman), a poetic rendering with verve and moxie (Lombardo): This edition of the colossal Babylonian Gilgamesh Epic should satisfy all readers who seek to plumb its wealth and depth without stumbling over its many inconvenient gaps and cruxes. A fine gift to all lovers of great literature."—Jack M. Sasson, Emeritus Professor, Vanderbilt University and The University of North Carolina at Chapel HillTrade Review"Stanley Lombardo’s new Gilgamesh weighs in at a slim 91 pages, including useful front and back matter as well as newly discovered segments from the middle of the story, the so-called Monkey Tablet. . . . Similar to other books produced by Hackett to serve study in liberal arts and humanities, Lombardo’s work is attractive without being ornate and is easily affordable for the college market. It is furnished with auxiliary materials to enhance the ability of a student (or a nonspecialist instructor) to contextualize and navigate an ancient and non-Western primary text. Gary Beckman's introduction is an excellent overview of the five-millennia-old literary tradition about Gilgamesh, legendary king of the historical ancient city of Uruk, and provides an account of the discovery and decipherment of cuneiform that is remarkably concise and comprehensible. . . . Additional material includes an 'About This Edition' section, a timeline, a glossary of proper names, suggestions for further reading, and a table showing how pages in Lombardo’s version correspond with lines of the original text. . . . Lombardo's contribution to the Gilgamesh tradition offers English-language readers a pleasurable, companionable, and rewarding entryway to a very long and ancient humanistic legacy." —Kathryn Slanski, Yale University, in Review of Biblical Literature

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Book SynopsisThis stirring new version of the great Babylonian epic includes material from the recently discovered "monkey tablet" as well as an Introduction, timeline, glossary, and correspondences between lines of the translation and those of the original texts. "A comprehensive Introduction with a light touch (Beckman), a poetic rendering with verve and moxie (Lombardo): This edition of the colossal Babylonian Gilgamesh Epic should satisfy all readers who seek to plumb its wealth and depth without stumbling over its many inconvenient gaps and cruxes. A fine gift to all lovers of great literature."—Jack M. Sasson, Emeritus Professor, Vanderbilt University and The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

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Book SynopsisThe eyes catch a black bird close to an eerie sun. Instantly, a poem: an accident of composition. Or a tree, rock, light from a story heard, dreamt, read or remembered returns as if it were the only tree, rock, light in the planet. The poet is caught, returned to her first heart: poetry. After four novels, Merlinda offers seventy-six poems from the stillness of contemplation to the spinning of tales, then to passage across different histories. Glass becomes eternal greens underwater, fish gossip about colonisation, a gumnut turns dissident, and the dreams of Captain Cook and Pigafetta circumnavigate the globe leaving a trail of blood, beads, and the scent of cloves. But in between, the poet hopes: ‘there could be accidents / of kindness here.’

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Book SynopsisIn his debut full-length collection, former City of New Westminster Poet Laureate Alan Hill delivers a deeply revealing and heartfelt depiction of a lifetime of mental illness -- both his own and that of his brother. IN THE BLOOD traces the brothers'' relationship from childhood to adulthood, and examines how his brother''s diagnosis became inextricably intertwined with Hills own mental health struggles. As his brother spends much of his life in and out of institutions, Hill grapples with his own guilt, shame, and loss. Moving from the past to the present and back again, In the Blood looks for meaning and comfort in the confusion of childhood and the untethered searching of adulthood. With stark vulnerability, Hill reveals the intricate and often hidden bonds that are both broken and created by mental illness and pushes toward a form of relief, release and recovery.

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Book SynopsisIn Quennets Philip Terry develops a sonnet-like form invented by the Oulipian poet Raymond Queneau. Across three sequences, the 'quennet' is reworked and refigured in response to three perimiter landscapes. The first sequence, 'Elementary Estuaries', is inspired by a series of walks along the Essex estuary, the poems' appearance on the page suggesting the landscape's expansive esturine vistas, its pink sail lofts and windswept gorse, beach huts and distant steeples. In the second sequence, written after a series of walks around the Berlin Wall Trail, or Mauerweg, the form changes to reflect the physical, almost bodily tension of the wall as an architectural and social obstruction. The final sequence, 'Waterlog', retraces the steps of W. G. Sebald through Suffolk, and here the quennet's newely elongated shape and ragged margin evoke the region's eroding coastline, its deserted piers and power stations, electric fences and waterlogged fields. Terry's project is bold in scope, his poems subtle in effect, a mix of sign and song, concerete and lyric, Oulipo and psychogeography.It is a work about boundaries, political, social, and natural, and about the walk as a critical apparatus through which these fields are shown to connect.Trade Review'The lineation speeds along at a nice articulated pace, the Dantesque pitch is right and propulsive, the cast of villains is energising, the balance between language and lingo, the allusive and the obscene just right.' - Seamus Heaney; 'Sparse by design, this poetry is a strong reminder of the power of words when allied to our imagination, experience and emotions.' - Prize Judges, New Angle Prize for East Anglian Literature

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Book SynopsisSeated at a table in the celebrated Brasserie Lipp, the author experiences 'this in- / fernal ticking in the ink' and finds memory coming alive, recovering past moments as intensely present, spots of time which vivify him and his past. Through memory and poetry he experiences revelation of a Christian depth. England is a familiar yet now a foreign country: the author having written for years in French. 'English becomes / a strange tongue echoing readily with names / gainrising with the new-born world they name.' Distinct recollections open into one another, restored and changed in language. Music and painting, too, are evoked as windows on this world. The book includes ninety poems organised into thirty sections, each with three poems which are free-standing yet connected, speaking together. His English takes its bearings from the stress patterns of Anglo Saxon prosody. Not only the poet but his language itself returns to its beginnings.

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Book SynopsisJane Draycott's translation of Pearl reissued as a Carcanet Classic. A Poetry Book Society Recommended Translation. In a dream landscape radiant with jewels, a father sees his lost daughter on the far bank of a river: `my pearl, my girl’. One of the great treasures of the British Library, the fourteenth-century poem Pearl is a work of poetic brilliance; its account of loss and consolation has retained its force across six centuries. Jane Draycott in her new translation remakes the imaginative intensity of the original. This is, Bernard O’Donoghue says in his introduction, `an event of great significance and excitement’, an encounter between medieval tradition and an acclaimed modern poet.Trade Review'When Jane Draycott read, for the first time, sections of her exquisitely modulated translation of the 'Pearl' poem, its echoing character seemed to transport me from one cultural space to another... I came as close to hearing the 'Pearl' poet's voice as I am ever likely to be.' - Stella Halkyard, PN Review

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Book SynopsisThe acclaimed poet Christopher Reid distils Charles Boyle's six books of poems into The Disguise: Poems 1977-2001, recovering a notable one-time poet, now known as a publisher and writer of fiction and non-fiction, from poetic neglect. Charles Boyle established a reputation as a sharp, wry, disabused observer of social mores. Paleface, published by Faber, was shortlisted for the Forward Prize, and The Age of Cardboard and String, also from Faber, was shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot Prize and the Whitbread Award. But in 2001 the well ran dry. Since the first year of the twenty-first century he has not put poetic pen to paper even once. The poems remain vital and fascinating, but they have about them also a kind of archaic cast: here we find the quintessential white male Englishness from the late twentieth century on display as if in a museum. Here too is the excitement of abroad (North Africa especially), and there are ghosts, absences, exile and evasions: in hindsight, these poems offer clues to their own disappearance after thirty notable years spent partly in the sun.Trade Review'This is the business. From the start, you realise that you are in the presence of a sharp, subversive and observant intelligence, a writer with an ear for a story and the easy narrative manner of someone who - it comes as an instant relief to notice this - isn't going to bore you once.' - Nicholas Lezard, The Guardian

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