Poetry Books

Kalevala is the poetic name for Finland: ‘the land of heroes’. Here you’ll find the cultural essence of a young country but an old land, the stories, songs and poems that recount the mythical adventures of humankind. Ambition, lust, romance, birth and death can all be found within its pages, as well as the sampo, a mysterious talisman that brings great happiness to its possessor and over which great battles will be fought.WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY HORATIO CLARE

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Book SynopsisCombining the collections Monster Poems, Morbus and Fashions, Nora Gomringer’s trilogy offers a modern anthropology. Gomringer shines a light on the all-too-human, plays with the superficial and loves the invisible. Accompanied by Reimar Limmer’s illustrations, these poems unpick ideas around the monstrous, the inscribed and gendered body and the face we present to the people around us. Packed with pop culture references and always casting an eye back to where we came from, The Trilogy of Surfaces and Invisibilities is a call for a radical humanism.Trade Review“Annie Rutherford’s translations of Gomringer’s poems are constantly inventive, lithe and impressive.” Sasha Dugdale

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Book SynopsisAs portrayed in Homer''s Odyssey, Penelope - wife of Odysseus and cousin of the beautiful Helen of Troy - has become a symbol of wifely duty and devotion, enduring twenty years of waiting when her husband goes to fight in the Trojan War. As she fends off the attentions of a hundred greedy suitors, travelling minstrels regale her with news of Odysseus'' epic adventures around the Mediterranean - slaying monsters and grappling with amorous goddesses. When Odysseus finally comes home, he kills her suitors and then, in an act that served as little more than a footnote in Homer''s original story, inexplicably hangs Penelope''s twelve maids.Now, Penelope and her chorus of wronged maids tell their side of the story in a new stage version by Margaret Atwood, adapted from her own wry, witty and wise novel.The Penelopiad premiered with the Royal Shakespeare Company in association with Canada''s National Arts Centre at the Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, in Jul

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Book SynopsisBig Cat Phonics for Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised has been developed in collaboration with Wandle Learning Trust and Little Sutton Primary School. It comprises classroom resources to support the SSP programme and a range of phonic readers that together provide a consistent and highly effective approach to teaching phonics.

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Book SynopsisRuth Padel is a prize-winning poet, Fellow of both the Royal Society of Literature and the Zoological Society of London, and first Resident Writer at Somerset House, London. Her collections include Rembrandt Would Have Loved You, Voodoo Shop and The Soho Leopard, all shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot Prize, and more recently Darwin: A Life in Poems, shortlisted for the Costa Poetry Award. Highly acclaimed for her nature writing in a book about conservation, Tigers in Red Weather, and her novel, Where the Serpent Lives, she has also published books on contemporary poetry, including 52 Ways of Looking at a Poem and The Poem and the Journey.In 2014, Ruth Padel is the first Writer in Residence at Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and is recording her experiences in her blog at http://www.ruthpadel.com/blog/.Trade ReviewRuth Padel combines two major gifts: she is both a distinguished poet and a quite exceptional reader of the poetry of others... The result is a book which opens doors, which bids us share with its author and the poems she has chosen a wealth of insight -- George SteinerShe argues away the idea that contemporary poetry is "difficult": all it needs is a little work and the rewards are great * Sunday Times *A brilliant snapshot of contemporary poetry. Padel writes with incisive intelligence, particularly in her lively and provocative introduction on gender-related power in the poetry world and why poetry has "lost its audience -- Christina Patterson, Director of the Poetry Society * Independent *She chooses her poems with impeccable taste, an anthologist of the very best contemporary poetry * The Times *A great gift for any student or poetry virgin who wonders what all the excitement is about * Glasgow Herald *

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Book SynopsisFROM THE BOOKER PRIZE-WINNING AUTHOR OF GIRL, WOMAN, OTHERWINNER OF THE NESTA FELLOWSHIP AWARD 2003''Wildly entertaining, deeply affecting'' Ali Smith, author of How to be both and AutumnA coming-of-age tale to make the muses themselves roar with laughter and weep for pity -- sassy, razor-sharp and transformative.Londinium, AD 211. Zuleika is a modern girl living in an ancient world. She''s a back-alley firecracker, a scruffy Nubian babe with tangled hair and bare feet - and she''s just been married off a fat old Roman. Life as a teenage bride is no joke but Zeeks is a born survivor. She knows this city like the back of her hand: its slave girls and drag queens, its shining villas and rotting slums. She knows how to get by. Until one day she catches the eye of the most powerful man on earth, the Roman Emperor, and her trouble really starts . . .Silver-tongued and merry-eyed, this is a sto

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Book SynopsisA captivating collection of enduring verse by one of the Victorian era's most beloved poetsRossetti is unique among Victorian poets for the sheer range of her subject matter and the variety of her verse form. This collection brings together fantasy poems, such as Goblin Market, and terrifyingly vivid verses for children, love lyrics and sonnets, and the vast body of her devotional poetry. Rossetti's poems weave connections between love and death, triumph and loss, heavenly joys and earthly pleasures. The directness and clarity of her lyrics still have the power to startle us with their truth and beauty.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductiTable of ContentsText by R. W. Crump with an Introduction and Notes by Betty S. FlowersAcknowledgmentsIntroductionTable of DatesFurther ReadingGoblin Market and Other Poems (1862)Goblin MarketIn the Round Tower at Jhansi, June 8, 1857Dream-LandAt HomeA TriadLove from the NorthWinter RainCousin KateNoble SistersSpringThe Lambs of Grasmere, 1860A BirthdayRememberAfter DeathAn EndMy DreamSong ("Oh roses for the flush of youth")The Hour and the GhostA Summer WishAn Apple-GatheringSong ("Two doves upon the selfsame branch")Maude ClareEchoWinter: My SecretAnother SpringA Peal of BellsFata Morgana"No, Thank You, John"May ("I cannot tell you how it was")A Pause of ThoughtTwilight CalmWife to HusbandThree SeasonsMirageShut OutSound SleepSong ("She sat and sang alway")Song ("When I am dead, my dearest")Dead Before DeathBitter for SweetSister MaudeRestThe First Spring DayThe Convent ThresholdUp-Hill[DEVOTIONAL PIECES]"The Love of Christ Which Passeth Knowledge""A Bruised Reed Shall He Not Break"A Better ResurrectionAdvent ("This Advent moon shines cold and clear")The Three EnemiesOne CertaintyChristian and Jew/A DialogueSweet DeathSymbols"Consider the Lilies of the Field" ("Flowers preach to us if we will hear")The WorldA TestimonySleep at SeaFrom House to HomeOld and New Year DittiesAmenThe Prince's Progress and Other Poems (1866)The Prince's ProgressMaiden-SongJessie CameronSpring QuietThe Poor GhostA PortraitDream-LoveTwiceSongs in a CornfieldA Year's WindfallsThe Queen of HeartsOne DayA Bird's-Eye ViewLight LoveOn the WingA Ring PosyBeauty Is VainMaggie a LadyWhat Would I Give?The BourneSummer ("Winter is cold-hearted")Autumn ("I dwell alone—I dwell alone, alone")The Ghost's PetitionMemoryA Royal PrincessShall I Forget?Vanity of Vanities ("Ah woe is me for pleasure that is vain")L. E. L.Life and DeathBird or Beast?EveGrown and FlownA Farm WalkSomewhere or OtherA ChillChild's Talk in AprilGone for Ever"The Iniquity of the Fathers Upon the Children"[DEVOTIONAL PIECES]Despised and RejectedLong BarrenIf OnlyDost Thou Not Care?Weary in Well-DoingMartyrs' SongAfter This the JudgmentGood Friday ("Am I a stone and not a sheep")The Lowest PlacePoems Added in Goblin Market, The Prince's Progress and Other Poems (1875)By the SeaFrom Sunset to Star RiseDays of VanityOnce for All/(Margaret)Enrica, 1865Autumn VioletsA Dirge ("Why were you born when the snow was falling")"They Desire a Better Country"A Green CornfieldA Bride SongConfluentsThe Lowest RoomDead HopeA Daughter of EveSong ("Oh what comes over the sea")Venus's Looking-GlassLove Lies BleedingBird RapturesMy FriendTwilight NightA Bird SongA Smile and a SighAmor MundiThe German-French Campaign/1870-1871: 1. "Thy Brother's Blood Crieth"; 2. "Today for Me"A Christmas Carol ("In the bleak mid-winter")ConsiderBy the Waters of Babylon/B.C. 570ParadiseMother Country"I Will Lift Up Mine Eyes Unto the Hills" ("I am pale with sick desire")"The Master Is Come, and Calleth for Thee"Who Shall DeliverMe?"When My Heart Is Vexed, I Will Complain" ("O Lord, how canst Thou say Thou lovest me?")After CommunionSaints and AngelsA Rose Plant in JerichoSing-Song: A Nursery Rhyme BookAngels at the footLove me, - I love youMy baby has a father and a motherOut little baby fell asleep"Kookoorookoo! kookoorookoo!"Baby cryEight o'clockBread and milk for breakfastThere's snow on the fieldsDead in the cold, a song-singing thrushI dug and dug amongst the snowA city plum is not a plumYour brother has a falconHear what the mournful linnets sayA baby's cradle with no baby in itHop-o'-my-thumb and little Jack HornerHope is like a harebell trembling from its birthO wind, why do you never restCrying, my little one, footsore and wearyGrowing in the valeA linnet in a gilded cageWrens and robins in the hedgeMy baby has a mottled fistWhy did baby dieIf all were rain and never sunO wind, where have you beenOn the grassy banksRushes in a watery placeMinnie and MattieHeartease in my garden bedIf I were a QueenWhat are heavy? sea-sand and sorrowThere is but one May in the yearThe summer nights are shortThe days are clearTwist me a crown of wind-flowersBrown and furryA toadstoll comes up in a nightA pocket hankerchief to hemIf a pig wore a wigSeldom "can't"1 and 1 are 2How many seconds in a minuteWhat will you give me for my poundJanuary cold desolateWhat is pink? a rose is pinkMother shake the cherry-treeA pin has a head, but has no hairHopping frog, hop here and be seenWhere innocent bright-eyed daisies areThe city mouse lives in a houseWhat does the donkey bray aboutThree plum bunsA motherless soft lambkinDancing on the hill-topsWhen fishes set umbrellas upThe peacock has a score of eyesPussy has a whiskered faceThe dog lies in his kennelIf hope grew on a bushI planted a handUnder the ivy bushThere is one that has a head without an eyeIf a mouse could flySing me a songThe lily has an airMargaret has a milking-pailIn the meadow - what in the meadowA frisky lambMix a pancakeThe wind has such a rainy soundThree little childrenFly away, fly away over the seaMinnie bakes oaten cakesA white hen sittingCurrants on a bushI have but one rose in the worldRosy maiden WinifredWhen the cows come home the milk is comingRoses blushing red and white"Ding a ding"A ring upon her finger"Ferry me across the water"When a mounting skylark singsWho has seen the windThe horses of the seaO sailor, come ashoreA diamond or a coalAn emerald is green as grassBoats sail on the riversThe lily has a smooth stalkHurt no living thingI caught a little ladybirdAll the bells were ringingWee wee husbandI have a little husbandThe dear old woman in the laneSwift and sure the swallow"I dreamt I caught a little owl"What does the bee doI have a Poll parrotA house of cardsThe rose with such a bonny blushThe rose that blushes rosy redOh fair to seeClever little Willie weeThe peach tree on the southern wallA rose has thorns as well as honeyIs the moon tired? she looks so paleIf stars dropped out of heaven"Goodbye in fear, goodbye in sorrow"If the sun could tell us halfIf the moon came from heavenO Lady Moon, your horns point toward the eastWhat do the stars doMotherless baby and babyless motherCrimson curtains round my mother's bedBaby lies so fast asleepI know a baby, such a babyLullaby, oh lullabyLie a-bedPoems Added in Sing-Song: A Nursery Rhyme BookBrownie, Brownie, let down your milkSroke a flint, and there is nothing to admireI am a KingPlaying at bob cherryBlind from my birthA Pageant and Other Poems (1881)Sonnets are full of love, and this my tomeThe Key-NoteThe Months/A PageantPastime"Italia, Io Ti Saluto!"Mirrors of Life and DeathA Ballad of BodingYet a Little While ("I dreamed and did not seek: today I seek")He and SheMonna Innominata"Luscious and Sorrowful" ("Beautiful, tender, wasting away for sorrow")De ProfundisTempus FugitGolden GloriesJohnny"Hollow-sounding and Mysterious"Maiden MayTill TomorrowDeath-WatchesTouching "Never"Brandons BothA Life's ParallelsAt LastGolden SilencesIn the Willow ShadeFluttered WingsA Fisher-WifeWhat's in a Name?MarianaMemento Mori"One Foot on Sea, and One on Shore"Buds and BabiesBoy JohnnyFreaks of FashionAn October Garden"Summer Is Ended"Passing and Glassing"I Will Arise"A Prodigal SonSoeur Louise de la MisericordeAn "Immurata" Sister"If Thou Sayest, Behold, We Knew It Not"The Thread of LifeAn Old-World Thicket"All Thy Works Praise Thee, O Lord"/A Processional of CreationLater Life: A Double Sonnet of Sonnets"For Thine Own Sake, O My God"Until the Day Break"Of Him That Was Ready to Perish""Behold the Man!"The Descent from the Cross"It Is Finished"An Easter Carol"Behold a Shaking"All Saints ("They are flocking from the East")"Take Care of Him"A Martyr/The Vigil of the FeastWhy?"Love Is Strong as Death" ("I have not sought Thee, I have not found Thee")Poems Added in Poems (1888, 1890)Birchington ChurchyardOne Sea-Side GraveBrother Bruin"A Helpmeet for Him"A Song of FlightA Wintry SonnetResurgamToday's Burden"There Is a Budding Morrow in Midnight"Exultate DeoA Hope CarolChristmas Carols: "Whoso hears a chiming for Christmas in the nighest"; "A holy, heavenly chime"; Lo! newborn JesusA Candlemas DialogueMary Magdalene and the Other Mary/A Song for XII MariesPatience of HopeVerses (1893)"OUT OF THE DEEP HAVE I CALLED UNTO THEE, O LORD"Alone Lord God, in Whom our trust and peaceSeven vials hold Thy wrath: but what can hold"Where neither rust nor moth doth corrupt""As the sparks fly upwards"Lord, make us all love all: that when we meetO Lord, I am ashamed to seek Thy FaceIt is not death, O Christ, to die for TheeLord, grant us eyes to see and ears to hear"Cried out with Tears"O Lord, on Whom we gaze and dare not gaze"I will come and heal him"Ah, Lord, Lord, if my heart were right with Thine"The gold of that land is good"Weigh all my faults and follies righteouslyLord, grant me grace to love Thee in my painLord, make me one with Thine own faithful ones"Light of Light"CHRIST OUR ALL IN ALL"The ransomed of the Lord"Lord, we are rivers running to Thy sea"An exceeding bitter cry"O Lord, when Thou didst call me, didst Thou know"Thou, God, seest me"Lord Jesus, who would think that I am Thine"The Name of Jesus"Lord God of Hosts, most Holy and most HighLord, what have I that I may offer TheeIf I should say "my heart is in my home"Leaf from leaf Christ knowsLord, carry me. - Nay, but I grant thee strengthLord, I am here. - But, child, I look for theeNew creatures; the Creator still the Same"King of kings and lord of lords"Thy Name, O Christ, as incense streaming forth"The Good Shepherd""Rejoice with Me"Shall not the Judge of all the earth do rightMe and my gift: kind Lord, behold"He cannot deny Himself""Slain from the foundation of the world"Lord Jesu, Thou art sweetness to my soulI, Lord, Thy foolish sinner low and small"Because He first loved us"Lord, hast Thou so loved us, and will not weAs the dove which found no rest"Thou art Fairer than the children of men""As the Apple Tree among the trees of the wood"None other Lamb, none other Name"Thy Friend and thy Father's Friend forget not""Surely He has borne our griefs""They toil not, neither do they spin"Darkness and light are both alike to Thee"And now why tarriest thou?"Have I not striven, my God, and watched and prayed"God is our Hope and Strength"Day and night the Accuser makes no pauseO mine enemyLord, dost Thou look on me, and will not I"Peace I leave with you"O Christ our All in each, our All in allBecause Thy Love hath sought meThy fainting spouse, yet still Thy spouse"Like as the hart desireth the water brooks""That where I am, there ye may be also""Judge not according to the appearance"My God, wilt Thou accept, and will not weA chill blank world. Yet over the utmost sea"The Chiefest among ten thousand" ("O Jesu, better than thy gifts")Some Feasts and FastsAdvent SundayAdvent ("Earth grown old, yet still so green")Sooner or later: yet at lastChristmas EveChristmas DayChristmastideSt. John, Apostle"Beloved, let us love one another," says St. JohnHoly Innocents ("They scarcely waked before they slept")Unspotted lambs to follow the one LambEpiphanyEpiphanytideSeptuagesimaSexagesimaThat Eden of earth's sunrise cannot vieQuinquagesimaPiteous my rhyme isAsh Wednesday ("My God, my God, have mercy on my sin")Good Lord, todayLentEmbertideMid-LentPassiontidePalm SundayMonday in Holy WeekTuesday in Holy WeekWednesday in Holy WeekMaundy ThursdayGood Friday MorningGood Friday ("Lord Jesus Christ, grown faint upon the Cross")Good Friday Evening"A bundle of myrrh is my Well-beloved to me"Easter Even ("The tempest over and gone, the calm begun")Our Church Palms are budding willow twigsEaster DayEaster MondayEaster TuesdayRogationtideAscension EveAscension DayWhitsun Eve ("'As many as I love.' - Ah, Lord, Who lovest all")Whitsun DayWhitsun MondayWhitsun TuesdayTrinity SundayConversion of St. PaulIn weariness and painfulness St. PaulVigil of the PresentationFeast of the PresentationThe Purification of St. Mary the VirginVigil of the AnnunciationFeast of the AnnunciationHerself a rose, who bore the RoseSt. MarkSt. BarnabasVigil of St. PeterSt. PeterSt. Peter once: "Lord, dost Thou wash my feet?"I followed Thee, my God, I followed TheeVigil of St. BartholomewSt. Michael and All AngelsVigil of All SaintsAll Saints ("As grains of sand, as stars, as drops of dew")All Saints: Martyrs"I gave a sweet smell"Hark! the Alleluias of the great salvationA Song for the Least of All SaintsSunday before AdventGIFTS AND GRACESLove loveth Thee, and wisdom loveth TheeLord, give me love that I may love Thee much"As a king,....unto the King"O ye who love todayLife that was born today"Perfect Love casteth out Fear"Hope is the counterpoise of fear"Subject to like Passions as we are"Experience bows a sweet contented face"Charity never Faileth""The Greatest of these is Charity"All beneath the sun hastethIf thou be dead, forgive and thou shalt live"Let Patience have her perfect work" ("Can man rejoice who lives in hourly fear?")Patience must dwell with Love, for Love and Sorrow"Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord"What is the beginning? Love. What the course? Love stillLord, make me pureLove, to be love, must walk Thy wayLord, I am feeble and of mean accountTune me, O Lord, into one Harmony"They shall be as white as snow"Thy lilies drink the dew"When I was in trouble I called upon the Lord"Grant us such grace that we may work Thy Will"Who hath despised the day of small things?""Do this, and he doeth it""That no man take thy Crown""Ye are come unto Mount Sion""Sit down in the lowest room""Lord, it is good for us to be here"Lord, grant us grace to rest upon Thy wordTHE WORLD. SELF-DESTRUCTION"A vain Shadow""Lord, save us, we perish"What is this above thy headBabylon the Great"Standing afar off for the fear of her torment""O Lucifer, Son of the Morning!"Alas, alas! for the self-destroyedAs froth on the face of the deep"Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched"Toll, bell, toll. For hope is flyingDIVERS WORLDS. TIME AND ETERNTIYEarth has clear call of daily bells"Escape to the Mountain"I lift mine eyes to see: earth vanisheth"Yet a little while" ("Heaven is not far, though far the sky")"Behold, it was very good""Whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive"This near-at-hand land breeds pain by measure"Was Thy Wrath against the Sea?""And there was no more Sea"Roses on a brierWe are of those who tremble at Thy word"Awake, thou that sleepest"We know not when, we know not where"I will lift up mine eyes unto the Hills" ("When sick of life and all the world")"Then whose shall those things be?""His Banner over me was Love"Beloved, yield thy time to God, for HeTime seems not shortThe half moon shows a face of plaintive sweetness"As the Doves to their windows"Oh knell of a passing timeTime passeth away with its pleasure and pain"The Earth shall tremble at the Look of Him"Time lengthening, in the lengthening seemeth long"All Flesh is Grass"Heaven's chimes are slow, but sure to strike at last"There remaineth therefore a Rest to the People of God"Parting after parting"They put their trust in Thee, and were not confounded"Short is time, and only time is bleakFor EachFor AllNEW JERUSALEM AND ITS CITIZENS"The Holy City, New Jerusalem"When wickedness is broken as a treeJerusalem of fire"She shall be brought unto the King"Who is this that cometh up not aloneWho sits with the King in His Throne? Not a slave but a brideAntipas"Beautiful for situation"Lord, by what inconceivable dim road"As cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country"Cast down but not destroyed, chastened not slainLift up thine eyes to seek the invisible"Love is strong as Death" ("As flames that consume the mountains, as winds that coerce the sea")"Let them rejoice in their beds" ("Crimson as the rubies, crimson as the roses")Slain in their high places: fallen on rest"What hath God wrought!""Before the Throne, and before the Lamb""He shall go no more out"Yea, blessed and holy is he that hath part in the First ResurrectionThe joy of Saints, like incense turned to fireWhat are these lovely ones, yea, what are these?"The General Assembly and Church of the Firstborn""Every one that is perfect shall be as his master""As dying, and behold we live""So great a cloud of Witnesses"Our Mothers, lovely women pitifulSafe where I cannot lie yet"Is it well with the child?"Dear Angels and dear disembodied Saints"To every seed his own body""What good shall my life do me?" ("Have dead men long to wait?")SONGS FOR STRANGERS AND PILGRIMS"Her Seed; It shall bruise thy head""Judge nothing before the time"How great is little manMan's life is but a working dayIf not with hope of life"The day is at hand""Endure hardness""Whither the Tribes go up, even the Tribes of the Lord"Where never tempest heavethMarvel of marvels, if I myself shall behold"What is that to thee? follow thou me""Worship God""Afterward he repented, and went""Are they not all Ministering Spirits?"Our life is long. Not so, wise Angels sayLord, what have I to offer? sickening farJoy is but sorrowCan I know it? - Nay"When my heart is vexed I will complain" ("The fields are white to harvest, look and see")"Praying always""As thy days, so shall thy strength be"A heavy heart, if ever heart was heavyIf love is not worth loving, then life is not worth livingWhat is it Jesus saith unto the soulThey lie at rest, our blessed dead"Ye that fear Him, both small and great""Called to be Saints"The sinner's own fault? So it wasWho cares for earthly bread tho' white?Laughing Life cries at the feast"The end is not yet"Who would wish back the Saints upon our rough"That which hath been is named already, and it is known that it is Man"Of each sad word which is more sorrowful"I see that all things come to an end""But Thy Commandment is exceeding broad"Sursum CordaO ye,who are not dead and fitWhere shall I find a white rose blowing"Redeeming the Time""Now they desire a Better Country"A Castle-Builder's World"These all wait upon Thee""Doeth well...doeth better"Our heaven must be within ourselves"Vanity of Vanities" ("Of all the downfalls in the world")The hills are tipped with sunshine, while I walkScarce tolerable life, which all life longAll heaven is blazing yet"Balm in Gilead""In the day of his Espousals""She came from the uttermost part of the earth"Alleluia! or Alas! my heart is cryingThe Passion Flower hath sprung up tallGod's Acre"The Flowers appear on the Earth""Thou knewest...thou oughtest therefore""Go in Peace""Half dead""One of the Soldiers with a Spear pierced His Side"Where love is, there comes sorrowBury Hope out of sightA Churchyard Song of Patient HopeOne woe is past. Come what come will"Take no thought for the morrow""Consider the Lilies of the field" ("Solomon most gracious in array")"Son, remember""Heaviness may endure for a night, but Joy cometh in the morning""The Will of the Lord be done""Lay up for yourselves treasures in Heaven""Whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth""Then shall ye shout"Everything that is born must dieLord, grant us calm, if calm can set forth TheeChanging Chimes"Thy Servant will go and fight with this Philistine"Thro' burden and heat of the day"Then I commended Mirth"Sorrow hath a double voiceShadows today, while shadows show God's Will"Truly the Light is sweet""Are ye not much better than they?""Yea, the sparrow hath found her an house""I am small and of no reputation"O Christ my God Who seest the unseenYea, if Thou wilt, Thou canst put up Thy swordSweetness of rest when Thou sheddest restO foolish Soul! to make thy countBefore the beginning Thou hast foreknown the endThe goal in sigh! Look up and singLooking back along life's trodden waySeparately Published PoemsDeath's Chill BetweenHeart's Chill BetweenRepiningNew EnigmasCharadesThe Rose ("O Rose, thou flower of flowers, thou fragrant wonder")The Trees' Counselling"Behold, I stand at the door and knock""Gianni my friend and I both strove to excel"The Offering of the New Law, the One Oblation once OfferedThe eleventh hourI know you notA Christmas Carol ("Before the paling of the stars")Easter Even ("There is nothing more that they can do")Come unto MeAsh Wednesday ("Jesus, do I love Thee?")Spring Fancies"Last Night"Peter Grump/ForssHelen GreyIfSeasons ("Oh the cheerful budding-time")Henry HardimanWithin the VeilParadise: in a Symbol"In July""Love hath a name of Death""Tu scnedi dalle stelle, O Re del Cielo""Alas my Lord"An AlphabetHusband and WifeMichael F.M. RossettiA Sick Child's Meditation"Love is all happiness, love is all beauty""A handy Mole who plied no shovel""One swallow does not make a summer""Contemptuous of his home beyond"A Word for the DumbCardinal NewmanAn Echo from Willowwood"Yea, I Have a Goodly Heritage"A Death of a First-born"Faint, Yet Pursuing""What will it be, O my soul, what will it be""Lord, Thou art fulness, I am emptiness""O Lord, I cannot plead my love of Thee""Faith and Hope are wings to Love"A Sorrowful Sigh of a Prisoner"I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow""Passing away the bliss""Love builds a nest on earth and waits for rest""Jesus alone: - if thus it were to me"The Way of the WorldBooks in the Running BrooksGone BeforePrivately Printed PoemsThe Dead CityThe Water Spirit's SongThe Song of the StarSummer ("Hark to the song of greeting! the tall trees!")To my Mother on her BirthdayThe Ruined CrossEvaLove ephemeralBurial AnthemSapphoTasso and LeonoraOn the Death of a CatMother and ChildFair MargaretEarth and HeavenLove attackedLove defendedDivine and Human PleadingTo My Friend ElizabethAmore e DovereAmore e DispettoLove and HopeSerenadeThe Rose ("Gentle, gentle river")Present and FutureWill These Hands Ne'er Be Clean?Sir Eustace GreyThe Time of WaitingCharityThe Dead BrideLife Out of DeathThe solitary RoseLady Isabella ("Lady Isabella")The DreamThe Dying Man to his BetrothedThe MartyrThe End of TimeResurrection EveZara ("Now the pain beginneth and the word is spoken")VersiL'Incognita"Purpurea rosa""Soul rudderless, unbraced""Animuccia, vagantuccia, morbiduccia"Unpublished PoemsHeavenHymnCorydon's Lament and ResolutionRosalindPitia a DamoneThe Faithless ShepherdessAriadne to TheseusOn AlbinaA Hymn for Christmas DayLove and DeathDespairForget Me NotEaster MorningA TirsiThe Last Words of St. TelemachusLord Thomas and fair MargaretLines to my GrandfatherCharade ("My first may be the firstborn")Hope in GriefLisetta all'AmanteSong ("I saw her; she was lovely")Praise of Love"I have fought a good fight"Wishes:/SonnetEleanorIsidoraThe NoviceImmaleeLady Isabella ("Heart warm as Summer, fresh as Spring")Night and Death"Young men aye were fickle found/ Since summer trees were leafy"The Lotus-Eaters:/Ulysses to PenelopeSonnet/from the PsalmsSong ("The stream moaneth as it floweth")A CounselThe World's HarmoniesLines/given with a PenwiperThe last AnswerOne of the Dead"The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint""I do set My bow in the cloud""O Death where is thy Sting?"UndineLady MontrevorFloral Teaching"Death is swallowed up in Victory"DeathA Hopeless Case/(Nydia)Ellen MiddletonSt. Andrew's ChurchGrown Cold/SonnetZara ("The pale sad face of her I wronged")Ruin"I sit among green shady valleys oft""Listen, and I will tell you of a face""Wouldst thou give me a heavy jewelled crown""I said, within myself: I am a fool""Methinks the ills of life I fain would shun""Strange voices sing among the planets which""Sleep, sleep happy one"What Sappho would have said had her leap cured instead of killing herOn KeatsHave PatienceTo Lalla, reading my verses topsy-turvySonnet ("Some say that love and joy are one: and so")The last ComplaintHave you forgotten?A Christmas Carol,/(on the stroke of Midnight)For AdventTwo PursuitsLooking forwardLife hiddenQueen RoseHow one choseSeeking restA Year AfterwardsTwo thoughts of DeathThree MomentsOnceThree NunsSong ("We buried her among the flowers")The WatchersAnnie ("Annie is fairer than her kith")A Dirge ("She was sweet as violets in the Spring")Song ("It is not for her even brow")A Dream"A fair World tho' a fallen"Advent ("'Come,' Thou dost say to Angels")All Saints ("They have brought good and spices to my King")"Eye hath not seen"St. Elizabeth of HungaryMoonshine"The Summer is ended""I look for the Lord"Song ("I have loved you for long long years Ellen")A DiscoveryFrom the Antique ("The wind shall lull us yet")"The heart knoweth its own bitterness" ("Weep yet a while")"To what purpose is this waste?")Next of Kin"Let them rejoice in their beds" ("The winds sing to us where we lie")PortraitsWhitsun Eve ("The white dove cooeth in her downy nest")What?A PauseHoly Innocents ("Sleep, little Baby, sleep")"There remaineth therefore a rest for the people of God" ("Come blessed sleep, most full, most perfect, come")Annie ("It's not for earthly bread, Annie")Seasons ("In spring time when the leaves are young")"Thou sleepest where the lilies fade""I wish I were a little bird"(Two parted)"All night I dream you love me well"(For Rosaline's Album)"Care flieth"(Epitaph)The P.R.B.Seasons ("Crocuses and snowdrops wither")"Who have a form of godliness"BalladA Study. (A Soul)"There remaineth therefore a rest""Ye have forgotten the exhortation"GuessesFrom the Antique ("It's a weary life, it is; she said")Three StagesLong looked forListeningZara ("I dreamed that loving me he would love on")The last look"I have a message unto thee"CobwebsUnforgottenAn AfterthoughtTo the end"Zion said"May ("Sweet Life is dead")River Thames (?)A chilly night"Let patience have her perfect work" ("I saw a bird alone")A Martyr ("It is over the horrible pain")In the LaneAcmeA bed of Forget-me-notsThe Chiefest among ten thousand ("When sick of life and all the world")"Look on this picture and on this""Now they desire"A Christmas Carol,/for my Godchildren"Not yours but you"An AnswerSir WinterIn an Artist's StudioIntrospective"The heart knoweth its own bitterness" ("When all the over-work of life")"Reflection"A Coast-Nightmare"For one Sake"My old Friends"Yet a little while" ("These days are long before I die")"Only believe""Rivals"/A Shadow of Saint DorotheaA YawnFor H.P."Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another""What good shall my life do me?" ("No hope in life; yet is there hope")The Massacre of Perugia"I have done with hope"Promises like PiecrustBy the waters of BabylonBetter soOur widowed QueenIn progress"Out of the deep"For a Mercy receivedSummer ("Come, cuckoo, come")A Dumb FriendMargeryIn PatienceSunshineMeeting"None with Him"Under WillowsA SketchIf I had WordsWhat to do?Young DeathIn a certain place"Cannot sweeten"Of my life"Yes, I too could face death and never shrink""Would that I were a turnip white""I fancy the good fairies dressed in white""Some ladies dress in muslin full and white"Autumn ("Fade tender lily")IL ROSSEGGIAR DELL'ORIENTE1. Amor dormente?2. Amor Si sveglia?3. Si rimanda la tocca-caldaja4. "Blumine" risponde5. "Lassu fia caro il rivederci"6. Non son io la rosa ma vi stetti appresso"7. "Lassuso il caro Fiore"8. Sapessi pure!9. Iddio c'illumini!10. Amicizia:/"Sirocchia son d'Amor"11. "Luscious and sorrowful"12. "Oh forza irresistibile / Dell'umile preghiera"13. Finestra mia orientale14. (Eppure allora venivi)15. Per Prefernza16. Oggi17. (Se fossi andata a Hastings)18. Ripetizione19. "Amico e più che amico mio"20. "Nostre voluntà quieti Virtù di carità"21. (Se cosi fosse)BY WAY OF REMEMBRANCE"Remember, if I claim too much of you""Will you be there? my yearning heart has cried""In resurrection is it awfuller""I love you and you know it--this at least"VALENTINES FROM C.G.R."Fairer than younger beauties, more beloved"A Valentine, 1877187818791880St. Valentine's Day / 1881A Valentine / 1882February 14. 188318841885/ St. Valentine's Day1886/ St. Valentine's Day"Ah welladay and wherefore am I here?""Along the highroad the way is too long""And is this August weather? nay not so""From early dawn until the flush of noon""I seek among the living and I seek""O glorious sea that in each climbing wave""Oh thou who tell'st me that all hope is over""Surely there is an aching void within""The spring is come again not as at first""Who shall my wandering thoughts steady and fix""You who look on passed ages as a glass""Angeli al capo, al piede""Amami, t'amo""E babbo e mamma ha il nostro figliolino""S'addormento la nostra figliolina""Cuccurucù! cuccurucù!" "Oibo, piccina""Otto ore suonano""Nel verno accanto al fuoco""Gran freddo è infuori, e dentro è freddo un poco""Scavai la neve, - si che scavai!""Sì che il fratello s'ha un falconcello""Udite, si dolgono mesti fringuelli""Ahi culla vuota! ed ahi sepolcro pieno""Lugubre e vagabondo in terra e in mare""Aura dolcissima, ma donde siete?""Foss'io regina""Pesano rena e pena""Basta una notte a maturare il fungo""Porco la zucca""Salta, ranocchio, e mostrati""Spunta la margherita""Agnellina orfanellina""Amico pesce, piover vorrà""Sposa velata""Cavalli marittimi""O marinaro che mi apporti tu?""Arrossisce la rosa: e perchè mai?""La rosa china il volto rosseggiato""O cilegia infiorita""In tema e in pena addio""D'un sonno profondissino""Ninna nanna, ninna nanna!""Capo che chinasi"The Succession of KingsA true Story. (continued.)"The two Rossettis (brothers they")Imitated from the Arpa Evangelica: Page 121"Mr. and Mrs. Scott, and I""Gone to his rest""O Uommibatto""Cor mio, cor mio""I said 'All's over' - & I made my""I said good bye in hope"My Mouse"Had Fortune parted us"Counterblast on Penny Trumpet"A roundel seems to fit a round of days""Heaven overarches earth and sea""Sleeping at last, the trouble and tumult over"4th May morning"'Quanto a Lei grata io sono'"The Chinaman"'Come cheer up, my lads, 'tis to glory we steer!'"The Plague"How many authors are my first!""Me you often meet""So I began my walk of life; no stop""So I grew half delirious and quite sick""On the note you do not send me"CharonFrom MetastasioChiesa e SignoreGolden Holly"I toiled on, but thou"Cor Mio ("Still sometimes in my secret heart of hearts")"My old admiration before I was twenty"To Mary Rossetti"Ne' sogni ti veggo"To my For-di-Lisa"Hail, noble face of noble friend!"NotesIndex of TitlesIndex of First Lines

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Book SynopsisHere are poems to take you on a journey from the ''suddenly'' of love at first sight to the ''truly, madly, deeply'' of infatuation and on to the ''eternally'' of love that lasts beyond the end of life, along the way taking in flirtation, passion, fury, betrayal and broken hearts. Bringing together the greatest love poetry from around the world and through the ages, ranging from W. H. Auden to William Shakespeare, John Donne to Emily Dickinson, Robert Browning to Roger McGough, this new anthology will delight, comfort and inspire anyone who has ever tasted love - in any of its forms.

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Book SynopsisWilliam Shakespeare is a global icon for his plays such as Hamlet, Macbeth and Romeo and Juliet, but his poetic meditations on love are among the most powerful and evocative poems ever written. This Penguin Classics edition of Sonnets and A Lover''s Complaint is edited by John Kerrigan.''Shall I compare thee to a summer''s day?''The language of Shakespeare''s sonnets has become inseparable from the language of love in English; but the force and tenderness of these poems is undiminished by age. When this volume of Shakespeare''s poems first appeared in 1609, he had already written most of the great plays that made him famous. The 154 sonnets - all but two of which are addressed to a beautiful young man, ''Mr W.H.'', or a treacherous ''dark lady'' - contain some of the most exquisite and haunting poetry ever written, and deal with eternal subjects such as love and infidelity, memory and mortality, and the destruction wreaked by Time. Also in

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Book SynopsisComposed in the twelfth century in north-eastern Iran, Attar''s great mystical poem is among the most significant of all works of Persian literature. A marvellous, allegorical rendering of the Islamic doctrine of Sufism - an esoteric system concerned with the search for truth through God - it describes the consequences of the conference of the birds of the world when they meet to begin the search for their ideal king, the Simorgh bird. On hearing that to find him they must undertake an arduous journey, the birds soon express their reservations to their leader, the hoopoe. With eloquence and insight, however, the hoopoe calms their fears, using a series of riddling parables to provide guidance in the search for spiritual truth. By turns witty and profound, The Conference of the Birds transforms deep belief into magnificent poetry.Trade Review“This felicitous translation is a classic and reaches the widest possible audience.” — David Azzolina, Assistant Professor, University of PennsylvaniaTable of ContentsThe Conference of the Birds - Farid ud-Din Attar Translated with an Introduction by Afkham Darbandi and Dick DavisIntroductionThe Conference of the BirdsBiographical Index

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Book SynopsisA work of tremendous influence that has inspired writers from his ancient Greek contemporaries to modernist writers such as T.S. Eliot, Homer''s epic poem The Iliad is translated by Robert Fagles with an introduction and notes by Bernard Knox in Penguin Classics.One of the foremost achievements in Western literature, Homer''s Iliad tells the story of the darkest episode in the Trojan War. At its centre is Achilles, the greatest warrior-champion of the Greeks, and his refusal to fight after being humiliated by his leader Agamemnon. But when the Trojan Hector kills Achilles'' close friend Patroclus, Achilles storms back into battle to take revenge - although knowing this will ensure his own early death. Interwoven with this tragic sequence of events are powerfully moving descriptions of the ebb and flow of battle, of the domestic world inside Troy''s besieged city of Ilium, and of the conflicts between the Gods on Olympus as they argue over the fate of mortals.Table of ContentsThe IliadTranslator's PrefaceIntroductionIntroductionThe Spelling and Pronunciation of Homeric NamesMaps1. Homeric Geography: Mainland Greece2. Homeric Geography: The Peloponnese3. Homeric Geography: The Aegean and Asia MinorInset: Troy and VicinityHomer: The IliadBook 1: The Rage of AchillesBook 2: The Great Gathering of ArmiesBook 3: Helen Reviews the ChampionsBook 4: The Truce Erupts in WarBook 5: Diomedes Fights the GodsBook 6: Hector Returns to TroyBook 7: Ajax Duels with HectorBook 8: The Tide of Battle TurnsBook 9: The Embassy to AchillesBook 10: Marauding Through the NightBook 11: Agamemnon's Day of GloryBook 12: The Trojans Storm the RampartBook 13: Battling for the ShipsBook 14: Hera Outflanks ZeusBook 15: The Achaean Armies at BayBook 16: Patroclus Fights and DiesBook 17: Menelaus' Finest HourBook 18: The Shield of AchillesBook 19: The Champion Arms for BattleBook 20: Olympian Gods in ArmsBook 21: Achilles Fights the RiverBook 22: The Death of HectorBook 23: Funeral Games for PatroclusBook 24: Achilles and PriamNotesThe Genealogy of the Royal House of TroyTextual Variants from the Oxford Classical TextNotes on the TranslationSuggestions for Further ReadingPronouncing Glossary

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Book Synopsis A new selection from the national epic of India Originally composed in Sanskrit sometime between 400 BC and 400 AD, The Mahabharata-with one hundred thousand stanzas of verse-is one of the longest poems in existence. At the heart of the saga is a conflict between two branches of a royal family whose feud culminates in a titanic eighteen-day battle. Exploring such timeless subjects as dharma (duty), artha (purpose), and kama (pleasure) in a mythic world of warfare, magic, and beauty, this is a magnificent and legendary Hindu text of immense importance to the culture of the Indian subcontinent.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative textTable of ContentsThe MahabharataPrefacePronunciation of SanskritIntroductionThe Mahabharata1. Beginnings2. The Hall3. The Forest4. Virata5. Perseverance6. Bhisma7. Drona8. Karna9. Salya10. The Night-raid11. The Women12. Tranquillity13. Instruction14. The Horse Sacrifice15. The Hermitage16. The Clubs17. The Great Journey18. The Ascent to HeavenVariant Readings AdoptedKey to Names and GlossaryFurther ReadingMap: The India of the MahabharataGenealogical TablesIndex

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Book Synopsis''At one and the same time the greatest of all works of English patriotism and a searing critique of warfare'' Jonathan BateYoung King Henry wages war on France. Tainted by his family''s past crimes and with enemies among his own men, he must face the difficult responsibilities of kingship, unite his country and rouse his ''band of brothers'' to battle at Agincourt. An heroic coming-of-age story and a work of stirring patriotic oratory, Henry V also has darker undercurrents that ultimately question the price of military victory.Used and Recommended by the National TheatreGeneral Editor Stanley WellsEdited by A. R. Humphreys with an Introduction by Ann Kaegi

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Book Synopsis''What passing-bells for these who die as cattle?''The First World War produced an extraordinary flowering of poetic talent, from poets whose words commemorate the conflict as enduringly as monuments in stone. Their poems have come to express the feelings of a nation about the horrors and aftermath of war. This new anthology provides a definitive record of the achievements of the Great War poets. As well as offering generous selections from the celebrated soldier-poets, including Wilfred Owen, Siegfried Sassoon, Rupert Brooke, and Ivor Gurney, it also incorporates less well-known writing by civilian and women poets. Music hall and trench songs provide a further lyrical perspective on the War. The work of each poet is prefaced with a biographical account that sets the poems in their historical context. In addition, Tim Kendall''s introduction charts the history of the war poets'' reception and challenges prevailing myths about their progress from idealism to bitterness. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World''s Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford''s commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.Trade Review[It] will provide the best critical introduction to [the war poets'] body of work as its authority and accuracy supplants previous anthologies. * Agenda *extraordinary in scope ... an anthology to keep and treasure. Strongly Recommended for any secondary school or college library. * Martin Axford, The School Librarian *Of all the (many) books I've read over the years about the war poets and the poetry of war, I think this one comes the closest to capturing the breadth and depth of that extraordinary burst of creative engendered by The War to End All Wars. * Moira Briggs, Vulpes Libris *Kendall's judicious selections, and his concise and useful introductions to each of the chosen poets, suggest that his anthology will become a standard work. * Sean O'Brien, Times Literary Supplement *Oxford World's Classics' beautifully produced Poetry of the First World War is one of the most important and far-reaching anthologies to have been published in this, World War One's centenary year. * Kirsty Hewitt, Book Hugger *a thought provoking and moving collection * Sallie Eden, Roseland Online *Table of ContentsThomas Hardy (1840-1928) ; A. E. Housman (1859-1936) ; May Sinclair (1863-1946) ; W. B. Yeats (1865-1939) ; Laurence Binyon (1869-1943) ; Charlotte Mew (1869-1928) ; Robert Service (1874-1958) ; Edward Thomas (1878-1917) ; Wilfrid Wilson Gibson (1878-1962) ; Mary Borden (1886-1968) ; Siegfried Sassoon (1886-1967) ; Rupert Brooke (1887-1915) ; Julian Grenfell (1888-1915) ; T. P. Cameron Wilson (1888-1918) ; Patrick Shaw Stewart (1888-1917) ; Ivor Gurney (1890-1937) ; Isaac Rosenberg (1890-1918) ; Arthur Graeme West (1891-1917) ; Wilfred Owen (1893-1918) ; Margaret Postgate Cole (1893-1980) ; May Wedderburn Cannan (1893-1973) ; Charles Sorley (1895-1915) ; Robert Graves (1895-1985) ; David Jones (1895-1974) ; Edmund Blunden (1896-1974) ; Edgell Rickword (1898-1982) ; Music Hall and Trench Songs

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Book SynopsisChristopher Marlowe (1564-1593), a man of extreme passions and a playwright of immense talent, is the most important of Shakespeare''s contempories. This edition offers his five major plays, which show the radicalism and vitality of his writing in the few years before his violent death.Tamburlaine Part One and Part Two deal with the rise to world prominence of the great Scythian shepherd-robber; The Jew of Malta is a drama of villainy and revenge; Edward II was to influence Shakespeare''s Richard II. Doctor Faustus, perhaps the first drama taken from the medieval legend of a man who sells his soul to the devil, is here in both its A- and its B- text, showing the enormous and fascinating differences between the two.Under the General Editorship of Dr Michael Cordner of the University of York, the texts of the plays have been newly edited and are presented with modernized spelling and punctuation. In addition, there is a scholarly introduction and detailed annotation. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World''s Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford''s commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.Table of ContentsTamburlaine, Part I ; Tamburlaine, Part II ; Doctor Faustus, A-Text ; Doctor Faustus, B-Text ; The Jew of Malta ; Edward II

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Book SynopsisA reading a day for Lent exploring themes in 40 of George Herbert's poems by Mark Oakley.Trade ReviewIt's extremely unusual to meet anyone who isn't a specialist who has such a subtle feeling for language as he does.', Sir Andrew Motion, former Poet Laureate;The Splash of Words: Believing in poetry (Canterbury Press, 2016): This beautiful and wise meditation centred around Mark Oakley's anthology of the `soul language' of poetry opens new windows in the shared house of both poetry and belief.', Carol Ann Duffy, Poet Laureate;'A wonderful exposition of the relationship between faith, poetry and struggle.', Shami Chakrabarti, The Guardian;'A very moving book, opening all kinds of doors into a more compassionate, more truthful understanding.', Rowan Williams, Master of Magdalen College, Cambridge;Readings for Funerals (SPCK, 2015): This book will be a great help and a real comfort to anyone going through a difficult time in their life - something that happens to us all sooner or later.', Dame Judi Dench;'I have tested Mark Oakley's Readings for Weddings (SPCK 2003, 2014) with a number of couples I have been preparing for marriage over the last few years. They have been universally grateful for such a rich and varied quarry from which they have been able, in every case, to extract something that was highly appropriate but that would otherwise never have been discovered.', Richard Chartres, Former Bishop of London;A Good Year (SPCK, 2016): A good read.', Anvil

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Book SynopsisAt the centre of this collection, which includes groups of elegies and love poems, there is a short sonnet sequence which concentrates themes apparent elsewhere in the book: the individual''s responsibility for his own choices, the artist''s commitment to his vocation, the vulnerability of all in the face of circumstance and death.''Throughout the volume Heaney''s outstanding gifts, his eye, his ear, his understanding of the poetic language are on display - this is a book we cannot do without.'' Martin Dodsworth, Guardian

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Book SynopsisTaking in its sights Matthew Arnold''s ''land of dreams'', the collection explores the idealism and reality of a multicultural Britain with wit, intelligence and no small sense of mischief. Nagra, whose own parents came to England from the Punjab in the 1950s, conjures a jazzed hybrid language to tell stories of aspiration, assimilation, alienation and love, from a stowaway''s first footprint on Dover beach to the disenchantment of subsequent generations. By turns realist and romantic, these charged and challenging poems never shy from confrontation, but remain, always, touched by a humorous zeal and an appetite for living.

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Book SynopsisYou were brought up on mythology. Hollow mythology. That''s why you''re all stuck, all angry, a prince in the wrong story. A prince with a black eye.Fleeing a world he has rejected, Robin finds solace in his music and the sanctuary of his remote family home. But as his kingdom begins to crumble around him, how far will he go to save it and at what cost?Polly Stenham''s No Quarter premiered at the Royal Court Theatre, London, in January 2013.

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Book SynopsisThe first poem in Gottfried Benn's first book, Morgue (1912) - written in an hour, published in a week, and notorious ever after, or so the poet claimed - with its scandalous closing image of an aster sewn into a corpse by a playful medical student, set him on his celebrated path.

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Book SynopsisIn this series, a contemporary poet selects and introduces a poet of the past. By their choice of poems and by the personal and critical reactions they express in their prefaces, the editors offer insights into their own work as well as providing an accessible and passionate introduction to the most important poets in our literature.The birds are gone to bed; the cows are still,And sheep lie panting on each old mole hill,And underneath the willow''s grey-green bough --Like toil a resting -- lies the fallow plough.-- Hares at Play

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Book SynopsisWendy Cope''s first book of poems and parodies, Making Cocoa for Kingsley Amis, went straight into the bestseller lists. Its successor, Serious Concerns has proved even more popular, addressing such topics as ''Bloody Men'', ''Men and Their Boring Arguments'', ''Two Cures for Love'', ''Kindness to Animals'' and ''Tumps'' (Typically Useless Male Poets).This beautifully designed edition forms part of a series of ten titles celebrating Faber''s publishing over the decades.

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Book SynopsisYehuda Amichai was first brought to attention in this country by his inclusion in Modern Poetry in Translation (1965). The magazine''s editors, Daniel Weissbort and Ted Hughes, here provide a selection of Amichai''s poetry translated by various hands, placing his achievements alongside those other Eastern European poets with whom he was first introduced Zbigniew Herbert, Miroslav Holub, Vasko Popa, Czeslaw Milosz and Andrei Voznesensky while demonstrating what makes his own talent so unique.In Ted Hughes''s words, Amichai was ''the poet whose books I still open most often, most often take on a journey, most often return to when the whole business of writing anything natural, real and satisfying, seems impossible. And that after thirty years of feeling the same way about him. The effect his poetry has on me is to give me my own life to open it up somehow, to make it available to me afresh, to uncover all kinds of riches in every moment of it, and to free me from my mental prisons''.

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Book SynopsisAbove all don''t use the word good as though it meant something in evolutionary science.Hilary, a young psychology researcher at a brain-science institute, is nursing a private sorrow and a troubling question at work, where psychology and biology meet. If there is nothing but matter, what is consciousness?This is ''the hard problem'' which puts Hilary at odds with her colleagues who include her first mentor Spike, her boss Leo and the billionaire founder of the institute, Jerry.Is the day coming when the computer and the fMRI scanner will answer all the questions psychology can ask? Meanwhile Hilary needs a miracle, and she is prepared to pray for one.The Hard Problem by Tom Stoppard premiered at the National Theatre, London, in January 2015.

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Book SynopsisWinner of the Hatchards & Biographers'' Club First Biography PrizeWith this meticulously researched biography, we don't so much move closer as move in with Gunn and shadow him through his life . . . Gunn's life is chronicled beautifully here.' Andrew McMillan, Literary ReviewA consummately researched, intelligent and sympathetic biography and, which matters most, he's a very good reader of the poems.' Sam Leith, GuardianA fine, frank biography.' Peter Conrad, ObserverAdmirably unsentimental . . . allowing all Gunn's complexities and contradictions to emerge unvarnished . . . the greatness of his poetry endures.' Daily TelegraphThe first biography of Thom Gunn, and likely the definitive one . . . Nott's book is one of the best versions of a gay relationship conducted over this half century.' Colm ToibinNott has set out here to produce a work sturdy enough to support decades of future commentary on Gunn. He's succeeded this book is everything you ever wanted to know about Thom Gunn but had not even thought about asking.' New York Times Book ReviewThe eagerly awaited, no-holds-barred biography of the great poet: an intellectual maverick, sexual rebel and icon of queer literature.Thom Gunn: A Cool Queer Life is a landmark study of one of England''s and America's most innovative and revolutionary poets. Michael Nott chronicles, for the first time, Gunn's largely undocumented life: his childhood in Kent and London, his mother's suicide, and his mind-opening education at Cambridge, where he read Shakespeare and John Donne, wrote his first book, Fighting Terms, and met the man who was to become his life partner Mike Kitay.In his mid-twenties, Gunn followed Kitay to America and became one of the great poet-documenters of San Francisco's queer culture, capturing both the hippie mentality of the time and his own visceral experience of sex, drugs, and loss. Through the eighties and beyond, Gunn found himself in the midst of the AIDS crisis, recording its catastrophic impact in The Man with Night Sweats, poems that provide, too, its most poignant epitaph.Gunn was not a confessional poet, but inseparable from his rigorous formal poetry was a ravenous embracing of life and an acute awareness of death. Michael Nott, co-editor of The Letters of Thom Gunn, draws on letters, diaries, notebooks, interviews, and Gunn's poetry to bring us a vivid portrait of a great literary mind, sexual rebel and queer icon.

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Book SynopsisSimon Armitage turns Hansel & Gretel into a darkly glittering fairy tale for grown-ups. In vivid and trenchant language, he puts a contemporary spin on the tale we know from the Brothers Grimm. Here is a twenty-first century story, whose preoccupations are poverty and hunger, war and flight, a shifting dystopian landscape where nothing is quite as it seems.Text and illustration fuse beautifully to summon a nightmarish vision that nonetheless contains humour and humanity and the possibility of a more hopeful future to come.

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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Book Synopsis''It would be difficult - in my opinion impossible - to point to a contemporary poet of greater originality or more genuine depth of feeling'' Anthony PowellTHE DEFINITIVE JOHN BETJEMAN COLLECTION, REISSUED FOR THE CENTENARY OF HIS BIRTHCollected Poems made publishing history when it first appeared, and has now sold more than two million copies, to an ever-growing readership. This newly expanded edition includes Betjeman''s verse autobiography, Summoned by Bells. With a new Introduction by Poet Laureate, Andrew Motion, Collected Poems is the definitive Betjeman companion.Includes his verse autobiography Summoned by Bells in its entirety.Trade ReviewA true poet who extends experience * Margaret Lane *John Betjeman has succeeded . . . in narrowing the gulf between poetry and the public . . . he has established a personal regency over all contemporary taste * The Times *It would be difficult - in my opinion impossible - to point to a contemporary poet of greater originality or more genuine depth of feeling * Anthony Powell *

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Book SynopsisThe complete works of one of Britain's finest, introduced by Andrew Motion.

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Book SynopsisHere is a perfect little gift: the most beloved poems by the most essential American poet of the last centuryTrade Review"It is ever more apparent that Williams was this century’s major American poet." -- Chicago Tribune"Possibly no modern American poem is more widely known than Williams’s ‘The Red Wheelbarrow,’ that tiny epiphany. Williams himself, not given to making high claims for his own work, considered this poem ‘quite perfect.’ If you look at the lingua franca of American poetry today—a colloquial free verse focused on visual description and meaningful anecdote—it seems clear that Williams is the twentieth-century poet who has done most to influence our very conception of what poetry should do, and how much it does not need to do." -- Adam Kirsch - The New York Review of Books"He had a thirst for now. And he had his own beat, ‘a certain unquenchable exaltation’ as he said of his renowned wheelbarrow. The excitement the writing exuded is as contagious today as when he made his rounds ‘quickened by the life about him.’ The reader is induced to stay awake. Make contact. Look ahead." -- C. D. Wright"Williams is the author of the most vivid poems of modern American poetry." -- Octavio Paz

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Book SynopsisBoomslang is the name of an arboreal African snake (Dispholidus typus) of the family Colubridae, known for its potent venom and  rear-fanged jaw structure.It was also the label affixed to a widely-ignored poetic form championed by various disenfranchised and largely unpublished writers of the late twentieth century.  The boomslang tongue can be vaguely traced back to its rather obscure roots in mid-1980s Long Beach (California) and even more tentatively to late-1970s Detroit. It was a malleable and difficult-to-define dialect often characterized by contra-diction, half-assonance, lexiflexion, and neologism.  It was decidedly non-prosaic and generally ebbed and flowed in subtle to even elusive rhythms that followed a sort of unsung musicality.  Very few examples have survived - and copies of these titles are now quite difficult to find (

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Book SynopsisWhat happens when the writer loses the plot?Emma Watson is nineteen and new in town. She's been cut off by her rich aunt and dumped back in the family home. Emma and her sisters must marry, fast. If not, they face poverty, spinsterhood, or worse: an eternity with their boorish brother and his awful wife.Luckily there are plenty of potential suitors to dance with, from flirtatious Tom Musgrave to castle-owning Lord Osborne, who's as awkward as he is rich.So far so familiar. But there's a problem: Jane Austen didn't finish the story. Who will write Emma's happy ending now?Based on her incomplete novel, this sparklingly witty play looks under the bonnet of Jane Austen and asks: what can characters do when their author abandons them?

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Book SynopsisDylan Marlais Thomas was born on 27 October 1914 in the Welsh coastal town of Swansea. He began writing poetry in his teenage years and continued to develop his style and craftmanship by participating in activities such as writing for local and school newspapers, as well as joining debate teams and theatre troupes. Thomas had his first real breakthrough in 1934 when a collection of his poems titled 18 Poems was published by The Sunday Referee. Along with poetry, Thomas had a passion for theatre and filmmaking, and even helped to direct and produce propaganda films during World War II. Thomas also penned a number of plays for radio but his most popular work, Under Milk Wood, wasn't broadcast until after his death. Thomas was just 39 years old when he died of pneumonia on 9 November 1953. Under Milk Wood was first broadcast by the BBC two months later on 25 January 1954 and was enjoyed by critics as well as the general listener.

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Book SynopsisIf I should die, think only this of me:That there''s some corner of a foreign fieldThat is for ever England.From The Soldier to Anthem for Doomed Youth Rupert Brooke and Wilfred Owen are two of the best-loved poets from the heroic lost generation of the First World War. Brooke''s work was well-known before the war, with the now iconic lines:''Stands the Church clock at ten to three?And is there honey still for tea?'' from The Old Vicarage, Grantchester. And Wilfred Owen, awarded the Military Cross, had been writing poetry since he was ten years old.This superb collection is the perfect introduction to two of our greatest poets.

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Book SynopsisFrom the internationally bestselling author of Love Her Wild, The Dark Between Stars, and The Truth About Magic comes LVOE., a dazzling new journey into the great unknown by Atticus. Featuring over 250 brand new poems, this sees Atticus take his readers on an enthralling, unforgettable new adventure. For the first time since he began writing, three-time New York Times bestselling author Atticus is inviting readers to take a look behind the mask as he embarks on a powerful journey inward in search of love, peace, and acceptance.His fourth poetry collection, LVOE., is a study into himself. Using his instantly recognisable lyrical style, gorgeous black-and-white illustrations, and relatable themes, Atticus will once again dazzle readers, inspiring them to also look within. This collection will feature all-new poems, each paired with beautiful sketches that bring the words alive from the page.An exploration of self-love, meditation, m

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Book SynopsisIn her extraordinary collection, Kathleen Jamie examines her native Scotland - a country at once wild and contained, rural and urban - and her place within it. In the author's own words: '2014 was a year of tremendous energy in my native Scotland, and knowing I wanted to embrace that energy and participate in my own way, I resolved to write a poem a week, and follow the cycle of the year.' The poems also venture into childhood and family memory - and look to ahead to the future. The Bonniest Companie is a visionary response to a year shaped and charged by both local and global forces, and will stand as a remarkable document of our times.Trade ReviewAn engaging and energetic collection that follows the cycle of a year, cycles within cycles, the migrations of birds and people. The many voices of Scotland’s natural and social worlds combine to create an outstanding aural map of our times -- Jackie Kay * Herald *

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Book SynopsisA fantastic Christmas present for Neil Gaiman super fans ** AS SEEN ON CHANNEL 4 NEWS ** Sometimes it only takes a stranger in a dark place... to say we have the right to be here, to make us warm in the coldest season. In 2019, Neil Gaiman asked his Twitter followers: What reminds you of warmth? Over 1,000 responses later, Neil began to weave replies from across the world into a poem in aid of the UNHCR’s winter appeal. It revealed our shared desire to feel safe, welcome and warm in a world that can often feel frightening and lonely. Sales of every copy of this book will help support the work of UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, which helps forcibly displaced communities and stateless people across the world. Now publishing in hardback and illustrated by a group of artists from around the world, What You Need to Be Warm is an exploration of displacement and flight from conflict through the objects and memories that represent warmth. It is about our right to feel safe, whoever we are and wherever we are from. It is about holding out a hand to welcome those who find themselves far from home. Featuring new, original illustrations from Chris Riddell, Benji Davies, Yuliya Gwilym, Nadine Kaadan, Daniel Egnéus, Pam Smy, Petr Horácek, Beth Suzanna, Bagram Ibatoulline, Marie-Alice Harel, Majid Adin and Richard Jones, with a thought-provoking cover from Oliver Jeffers.Trade ReviewThis timely book is a reminder of the basic human need for comfort and shelter * Daily Mail *

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Book SynopsisRead & Co. Classics presents this new beautiful edition of William Shakespeare''s poem, "A Lover''s Complaint", featuring a specially commissioned new biography of William Shakespeare. The poem tells the story of a young women lamenting her love for a man who once charmed and abandoned her. As she weeps at the edge of a river, an old man approaches, compelling her to recount her tale of sorrow. It was published as a conclusion to the original edition of Shakespeare''s Sonnets, in 1609. Shakespeare's sonnets beautifully explore the themes of love and beauty, time and mortality. William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616) was an English playwright, poet, and actor. He is considered to be the greatest writer in the English language and is celebrated as the world''s most famous dramatist.

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Book SynopsisA beautiful gift anthology of classic poetry which captures the excitement and joy of a new arrival in the family. Part of the Macmillan Collector’s Library; a series of stunning pocket-sized classics with ribbon markers. These beautiful books make perfect gifts or a treat for any book lover. This edition is edited by Becky Brown. There are poems which celebrate the anticipation of the happy event and the outburst of joy and hope which it brings. There are gorgeous lullabies and rhymes to read aloud as well as wise words of encouragement and advice. Poems for New Parents also looks forward to a child’s own discoveries and flourishing imagination. In this perfect present for new parents, you’ll find poetry that’s inspiring and poignant, sometimes funny and sometimes reflective, from a wealth of famous poets such as William Wordsworth, Lewis Carroll and Mary Coleridge.

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