A haiku, an ode, a sonnet, a limerick, an elegy ... more poetry,please.
Poetry Books
Valley Press yes yes mouth
Book SynopsisThis is a book for people who like to gorge on language; a meal too big for people who hate to throw away their food. It is about life's extremes those times when you do things to excess, and those when you avoid doing anything at all. Sometimes political, sometimes sexual and always hungry, this visceral, arresting debut pamphlet marks the arrival of an unforgettable new ''mouth'' in UK poetry.
£7.59
Verve Poetry Press Hurtz
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£7.12
Verve Poetry Press Postcolonial Banter
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£10.44
Poetry Book Society Poetry Book Society Summer 2025 Bulletin
Book SynopsisThe Poetry Book Society was founded by T.S. Eliot to share the joy of poetry. It's a unique poetry book club and every quarter our expert selectors choose the very best new books to deliver to our members across the globe. Our lively quarterly magazine is packed full of sneak preview poems from all the selected poets, alongside exclusive interviews, insightful reviews by the Ledbury Critics and extensive listings of every book and pamphlet published this quarter. Our Summer 2025 Selections are:Choice: Midden Witch by Fiona Benson (Cape)Recommendations: Beast by Pascale Petit (Bloodaxe) Chaotic Good by Isabelle Baafi (Faber) Versus Versus edited by Rachael Boast (Bloodaxe) Bunting's Honey by Moya Cannon (Carcanet)Commended: Heirloom by Catherine-Esther Cowie (Carcanet)TRANSLATION CHOICE: TBCPAMPHLET CHOICE: TBCYou can find out more and join our poetry community today at www.poetrybooks.co.uk.
£11.69
Poetry Book Society Poetry Book Society Spring 2026 Bulletin
£11.69
And Other Stories An Amorous Discourse in the Suburbs of Hell
Book SynopsisA love song between an angel and an accountant in the suburbs of London from Man Booker shortlisted Levy She is a shimmering, melancholy angel, flown from Paradise to save him from the suburbs of hell. He an accountant, dreaming of a white Christmas, a little garden and someone to love. She attempts to fly him away from his habits and fears, while he holds on tight to all he knows. Man Booker Prize shortlisted Deborah Levy whips up a storm of romance and slapstick, of heavenly and earthly delights, in this dystopian philosophical poem about individual freedom and the search for the good life.Trade Review‘I loved this effervescent dialogue between she and He, angel and accountant, wild desire and the (ever more desirable) quotidian. It’s Deborah Levy at her wise, witty and playful best. Read it and be seduced away from (or back into) the suburbs of hell.’ Lisa Appignanesi‘Levy just gets it entirely - the whole business of drab and yet compelling routine, and the fear of the inestimable, the longing nonetheless, the surrender each day to the ordinary, dispersing the dream, only to dream it again. An Amorous Discourse in the Suburbs of Hell encapsulates all of this, redeems the crumpled weary mortal, sends him into a wild realm of uncertainty, satirises him, lavishes him with affection. A crazily beautiful, astonishing, original work of art.’ Joanna Kavenna‘An Amorous Discourse in the Suburbs of Hell redeems the crumpled weary mortal, sends him into a wild realm of uncertainty, satirises him, lavishes him with affection. A crazily beautiful, astonishing, original work of art.’ Joanna KavennaPraise for Deborah Levy ‘Accomplished and uncanny. The strange, unpredictable journey is worth it.’ Alex Clark, Guardian‘A major contemporary writer who never pulls her punches.’ Julia Pascal, Independent‘Levy’s strength is her originality of thought and expression.’ Jeanette Winterson‘She writes like a hyper-kinetic angel.’ Sunday Times ‘Angry and uninhibited, Levy's prose throbs its way into the imagination.’ Observer
£10.44
SmithDoorstop Books The Hoarders
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£6.00
Two Rivers Press The Colour of Rain
Book SynopsisThe Colour of Rain is Susan Utting's fifth full collection, following her New and Selected, Half the Human Race. Here she demonstrates a new-found intimacy with the natural world, a closeness that leads her to become part of it. She 'becomes' a Willow Sister, joins an avenue of poplars, has conversations with bees. And while nature is joyfully celebrated, poems also lament its losses: felled trees. disappearing species, Rachel Carson's all too present 'Silent Spring'. The poet's trademark musicality and dancing rhythms are in evidence throughout the collection's four sections. Her fascination with language, its sounds and resonances, demonstrate reviewer Philip Gross's comment that 'Utting unashamedly loves language, and it seems to love her back.'Trade Review‘Whether she is being a willow or imagining a sister, considering miracles, or reflecting upon family, Susan Utting’s poems are never less than delicately wrought, with a lovely ability to open out their language like Japanese flowers placed in a bowl of water. There is much arboreal meditation here, around which this poet weaves a deeply felt empathy with nature; there are dreamscapes, and portraits of animals and birds; there are witty encounters with weather. Beautifully observant throughout, and often employing an intent edge to their perceptions, these poems draw the reader most adeptly in to their realised world’ – Penelope Shuttle; ‘Susan Utting’s gloriously gathered language susurrates across the page like a spell. With it, she lifts up a corner of ourselves, reminding us of the menace of childhood landscapes, and the fairytale-dark memories we might have left buried there. But these wise and emotionally generous poems are also an incantation for healing, and she shows us how the walls we build around ourselves can be dismantled by the salve inherent in nature’s fundamentals – trees, sea, sky, snow, “the world’s rainbow”’ – Dawn Gorman
£10.79
Crumps Barn Studio Artefact
Book SynopsisCoins and weapons, lost jewels and carved faces. Full of archaeology and history, mystery and surprises - museum treasures and ancient discoveries inspire this stunning new collection of short stories and poetry. Featuring items from the Corinium Museum collection
£10.44
Valley Press The Upcycled Healing Brain
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£11.69
Dedalus Press Fog Bells Eight Contemporary Turkish Poets
£11.40
Galileo Publishing Winter Christmas Poems
£13.49
Andrews McMeel Publishing Darby Love...
£13.49
Button Poetry My Dear Cult Leader
£14.39
Pan Macmillan Wenceslas
Book SynopsisBeginning with the King's Cook, who is preparing a sumptuous Christmas Pie, Wenceslas takes us to a medieval feast. The lords and ladies are at their places, the wine is in full flow, the musicians are playing in the gallery and the entertainment has begun. All should be perfect. But when the good King looks up from his table he sees something more than just snow, falling deep and crisp and even . . . Richly illustrated by Stuart Kolakovic, this gorgeous little book captures the age-old magic of Christmas. In reimagining the much-loved carol of King Wenceslas, Carol Ann Duffy's wonderful poem offers merriment and festive cheer, but also celebrates what is truly important at this special time of year: the simple acts of kindness that each of us can show another.
£7.59
Pan Macmillan Orlam
Book SynopsisNine-year-old Ira-Abel Rawles lives on Hook Farm in the village of Underwhelem. Next to the farm is Gore Woods, Ira’s sanctuary, overseen by Orlam, the all-seeing lamb’s eyeball who is Ira-Abel’s guardian and protector. Here, drawing on the rituals, children’s songs, chants and superstitions of the rural West Country of England, Ira-Abel creates the twin realm through which she can make sense of an increasingly confusing and frightening world.Orlam follows Ira and the inhabitants of Underwhelem month by month through the last year of her childhood innocence. The result is a poem-sequence of light and shadow – suffused with hints of violence, sexual confusion and perversion, the oppression of family, but also ecstatic moments in sunlit clearings, song and bawdy humour. The broad theme is ultimately one of love – carried by Ira’s personal Christ, the constantly bleeding soldier-ghost Wyman-Elvis, who bears ‘The Word’: Love Me Tender.Orlam is not only a remarkable coming-of-age tale, but the first full-length book written in the Dorset dialect for many decades. Orlam also reveals P J Harvey as not only one of the most talented songwriters of the age, but a gifted poet – whose formal skill, transforming eye and ear for the lyric line has produced a strange and moving poem like no other.
£16.99
Button Poetry Pink Elephant
£14.39
Faber & Faber Constellations
Book Synopsis''One drink. And if you never want to see me again you never have to see me again.''A quantum physicist and a beekeeper meet. They hit it off, or perhaps they don't. They might go home together, they might not.Constellations explores love, free will, and friendship through quantum multiverse theory and honey.Constellations premiered at the Royal Court Theatre Upstairs, London, in 2012, and transferred to the Duke of York's. It opened on Broadway in 2015; and at the Vaudeville Theatre, London, in 2021.Nick Payne's gorgeous two-character drama, may be the most sophisticated date play Broadway has seen.' New York Times
£10.44
University of California Press The Iliad and the Odyssey Boxed Set
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£39.90
Saqi Books C+NTO: & Othered Poems
Book SynopsisWINNER OF THE T S ELIOT PRIZE 2021. The female body is a political space. C+nto enters the private lives of women from the butch counterculture, telling the inside story of the protests they led in the '90s to reclaim their bodies as their own - their difficult balance between survival and self-expression. History, magic, rebellion, party and sermon vibrate through Joelle Taylor's cantos to uncover these underground communities forged by women. Part-memoir and part-conjecture, Taylor explores sexuality and gender in poetry that is lyrical, expansive, imagistic, epic and intimate. C+nto is a love poem, a riot, a late night, and an honouring.Trade Review'Joelle Taylor has produced one of the most astonishing and original poetry collections of recent years.' Bernardine Evaristo, New Statesman Books of the Year 2021;'A real treat ... inventive, powerfully moving work.' The Telegraph;'Visionary and powerful. I loved it.' Hollie McNish;'Absolutely incredible ... A celebration and a tribute to the dyke bars and the butches who left their mark ... This is work that should not be missed.' Diva Magazine, Book of the Month;'A reclamation and a proclamation. A book and a performance. A roll call and a remembrance. A tribute and a critique, not just for the Lesbian community, but for anyone who has had to struggle to establish their life and identity. A powerful celebration of an important culture.' Roger Robinson;'An altar of a book. Joelle Taylor has an unmatched gift as a poet, memoirist and chronicler.'Inua Ellam; 'A work of fearsome imaginative and creative reach ... sonorous and soaring poetry.'Fran Lock, Culture Matters;
£10.44
Nick Hern Books Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons
Book Synopsis'Let's just talk until it goes.' The average person will speak 123,205,750 words in a lifetime. But what if there were a limit? Oliver and Bernadette are about to find out. Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons imagines a world where we're forced to say less. It's about what we say and how we say it; about the things we can only hear in the silence; about dead cats, activism, eye contact and lemons, lemons, lemons, lemons, lemons. Sam Steiner's play premiered at Warwick Arts Centre in 2015 and won three Judges' Awards at the National Student Drama Festival, before appearing at Latitude Festival, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and Camden People's Theatre, London.Trade Review'A masterpiece of beautiful simplicity' * Broadway Baby *'A beautiful play about the beauty and preciousness of language… about as promising as debuts get' * Time Out *'Takes the can opener to a typical opposites-attract romcom in order to explore wider issues of democracy and free speech' * Guardian *'[An] accomplished debut… bright, light and sharp - a rom-com with smarts' * WhatsOnStage *'[A] taut two-hander… intriguing and original… [a] complex piece of theatre' * FestMag *'Marvellously wide-ranging… truly experimental and unique… a must-see' * A Younger Theatre *
£10.44
Andrews McMeel Publishing Time Will Tell
Book SynopsisTime Will Tell is a collection of introspective poetry from bestselling author Courtney Peppernell. Come along and discover what it means to start inward and evolve into the version of yourself the universe knows you can be.From the bestselling author of Pillow Thoughts and Watering the Soul comes another deeply honest and moving collection of poetry and prose that explores the strength and resilience we embody in the face of hardship and change. Presented in six captivating sections—Reflecting, Repairing, Change, Awakening, Emerging, and Rebirth—Time Will Tell tells the story of a curious, lost soul who crashed down to Earth on the search for purpose. With the help of their trusted guide, and told with Courtney Peppernell’s signature encouragement and beauty, this broken but fearless soul fights through each changing cycle and emerges more beautiful and stronger than the moment they fell. Come along as these endearing characters journey inward and you, too, may discover what it means to be free.
£10.79
Andrews McMeel Publishing My Dear Wildflower
Book SynopsisA love letter to his fans, My Dear Wildflower finds New York Times bestseller r.h. Sin at his best, guiding readers through the journey out of despair and back to self-worth with the honest relatability that fans worldwide have come to know him for.
£14.24
Andrews McMeel Publishing Prince of Hearts
Book SynopsisRaegan Fordemwalt—poet and author of the runaway hit Lover Girl—is back with the highly anticipated follow-up collection of poetry and art, Prince of Hearts.Following the success of Lover Girl, Raegan Fordemwalt returns with Prince of Hearts. An indirect sequel to her bestselling debut, this all-new collection of art and poetry takes readers along the narrator’s journey through abandonment and dismantled trust following the loss of significant relationships, both platonic and romantic. A far-too-relatable retelling of the courage required to survive young love, first heartbreaks, and your early-20s, Prince of Hearts is a look through both the rearview and the windshield along the journey to self-love.
£11.69
Penguin Books Ltd Selected Poems
Book SynopsisRudyard Kipling (1865-1936) is often regarded as the unofficial Laureate of the British Empire. Yet his writing reveals a ferociously independent figure at times violently opposed to the dominant political and literary tendencies of his age. Arranged in chronological order, this diverse selection of his poetry shows the development of Kipling''s talent, his deepening maturity and the growing sombreness of his poetic vision. Ranging from early, exhilarating celebrations of British expansion overseas, including ''Mandalay'' and ''Gunga Din'', to the dignified and inspirational ''If -'' and the later, deeply moving ''Epitaphs of the War'' - inspired by the death of Kipling''s only son - it clearly illustrates the scope and originality of his work. It also offers a compelling insight into the Empire both at its peak and during its decline in the early years of the twentieth century.
£11.69
Bonnier Books Ltd Love: Poems to bolster every heart that ever beat
Book Synopsis*Donna Ashworth's new book Wild Hope is out September 2023*FROM THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF I WISH I KNEWA book for the passionate and warm-hearted among us, Love explores every type of affection and helps us to nurture our most precious connections.This collection invites us to keep space open for the love in our lives and to remember that it can be found in the most unexpected places.From familial ties to friendship and romantic love, these poems show tenderness as a powerful force - even towards yourself.Real readers are falling for Love- 'A poignant, beautiful, and soothing collection of poems' ***** NetGalley- 'I didn't realise how much I needed the words that was on the pages!' ***** NetGalley- 'Fabulous author whose poems come from her heart and whose words seem to speak the emotions in a way many of us can't.' *****Amazon- 'She is a truly talented writer who is capable of writing words that really speak to the soul.' *****Amazon
£9.49
University of California Press Unfortunately It Was Paradise
Book SynopsisThe author is a literary rarity: at once critically acclaimed as one of the most important poets in the Arabic language, and beloved as the voice of his people. A legend in Palestine, his lyrics are sung by fieldworkers and schoolchildren. This collection spans his entire career, nearly four decades, revealing a range of expression and form.Trade Review"Darwish's complex linguistic negotiations of deeply contested places, on the earth and in the mind, demand and sustain serious reading and discussion. . . . [Forché's] fluid and precise approach to translation is everywhere apparent here." * Publishers Weekly *“These translations of Mahmoud Darwish’s marvelous poems reveal the lifelong development of a major world poet. The book is a gift to other poets and lovers of poetry. It’s also an important contribution to current and future discourse on culture and politics.” * American Poet *"This book is a beautiful rendering of beautiful verse. It is an important contribution in making accessible an important figure in modern Arab culture. Unfortunately, It Was Paradise demonstrates that Darwish is a poet of our time as well as a poet of all times." * Journal of Palestine Studies *"This book—perhaps the most important, available, and representative volume of Darwish to date—is really remarkable. It's striking how this poet is so much at once and as a whole: personal and political, 'experimental' yet lyrically so, informed by philosophy yet reminiscent of prayer." * PopMatters *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Munir Akash Introduction Munir Akash and Carolyn Forche FROM Fewer Roses (1986) I Will Slog over This Road Another Road in the Road Were It Up to Me to Begin Again On This Earth I Belong There Addresses for the Soul, outside This Place Earth Presses against Us We Journey towards a Home We Travel Like All People Athens Airport I Talk Too Much We Have the Right to Love Autumn The Last Train Has Stopped On the Slope, Higher Than the Sea, They Slept He Embraces His Murderer Winds Shift against Us Neighing on the Slope Other Barbarians Will Come They Would Love to See Me Dead When the Martyrs Go to Sleep The Night There We Went to Aden Another Damascus in Damascus The Flute Cried In This Hymn FROM I See What I Want to See (1993) The Hoopoe FROM Why Have You Left the Horse Alone? (1995) I See My Ghost Coming from Afar A Cloud in My Hands The Kindhearted Villagers The Owl's Night The Everlasting Indian Fig The Lute of Ismael The Strangers' Picnic The Raven's Ink Like the Letter "N" in the Qur'an Ivory Combs The Death of the Phoenix Poetic Regulations Excerpts from the Byzantine Odes of Abu Firas The Dreamers Pass from One Sky to Another A Rhyme for the Odes (Mu'allaqat) Night That Overflows My Body The Gypsy Woman Has a Tame Sky FROM A Bed for the Stranger (1999) We Were without a Present Sonnet II The Stranger Finds Himself in the Stranger The Land of the Stranger, the Serene Land Inanna's Milk Who Am I, without Exile? Lesson from the Kama Sutra Mural (2000) Mural Three Poems (before 1986) A Soldier Dreams of White Tulips As Fate Would Have It Four Personal Addresses Glossary
£22.50
Oxford University Press Vita Nuova
Book SynopsisVita Nuova (1292-94) is the first of Dante''s major writings. It is a supreme work of love; thirty-one poems are linked by a lyrical prose narrative poem celebrating and debating the subject of love. In the opening chapter Dante sets himself the task of giving meaning to the poetry which he composed and the events which took place after his meeting with Beatrice and the `Lord of Love''. The `new life'' which this meeting inspired is the subject of Dante''s most profound creation, which has been read variously as biography, religious allegory, and a meditation on poetry itself. 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, anTrade Review'the Vita Nuova calls for a bold translator ... Mark Musa, who has published a well-known translation of the Divine Comedy, is much better qualified than most for the task.' Times LIterary Supplement
£8.99
Silver Press Spells
Book SynopsisSpells brings together contemporary voices exploring the territory where justice, selfhood and the imagination meet the transformative power of the occult. These poems unmake the world around them so that it might be remade anew.
£11.69
Faber & Faber The Illustrated Old Possum
Book SynopsisCats! Some are sane, and some are mad.Some are good, and some are bad . . .The original Old Possum''s illustrations have been lovingly restored and are showcased in this beautiful new hardback edition, perfect for children and Eliot aficionados alike. These lovable cat poems were written by T. S. Eliot for his godchildren and continue to delight children and grown-ups. The collection inspired the musical Cats!, and features Macavity, Mr Mistofelees and Growltiger!
£13.49
Vintage Publishing Pilgrim Bell: Shortlisted for the 2022 Forward
Book Synopsis*AN OBSERVER BOOK OF THE YEAR 2021***Selected as one of TIME's 100 Must-Read Books of 2021**'Profound and singular, smart and sad and funny. . . We need Pilgrim Bell.' TOMMY ORANGEWith formal virtuosity and ruthless precision, Kaveh Akbar's second collection takes its readers on a spiritual journey of disavowal, fiercely attendant to the presence of divinity where artifacts of self and belonging have been shed. How does one recover from addiction without destroying the self-as-addict? And if living justly in a nation that would see them erased is, too, a kind of self-destruction, what does one do with the body's question, "what now shall I repair?" Here, Akbar responds with prayer as an act of devotion to dissonance - the infinite void of a loved one's absence, the indulgence of austerity, making a life as a Muslim in an Islamophobic nation - teasing the sacred out of silence and stillness.Richly crafted and generous, Pilgrim Bell's linguistic rigour is tuned to the register of this moment and any moment. As the swinging soul crashes into its limits, against the atrocities of the American empire, and through a profoundly human capacity for cruelty and grace, these brilliant poems dare to exist in the empty space where song lives - resonant, revelatory, and holy.America, I warn you, if you invite me into your homeI will linger,kissing my beloveds frankly,pulling up radishesand capping all your pens.There are no good kings,only burning palaces.-from 'The Palace''Very few living writers write so achingly toward God as Kaveh Akbar . . . each of the poems in this collection finds its target' LAUREN GROFFTrade ReviewVery few living writers write so achingly toward God as Kaveh Akbar . . . each of the poems in this collection finds its target -- Lauren Groff * Observer, *Books of the Year* *These are poems on the grand scale, staging dramas of cosmic light and dark -- David Wheatley * Guardian *Kaveh Akbar is the sorcerer's sorcerer, masterful in the way he wields language . . . Profound and singular, smart and sad and funny, but most of all truth's beauty and beauty's truth sung . . . We need Pilgrim Bell. We need Kaveh Akbar -- Tommy Orange, author of THERE THEREA measured, quiet pondering of intense subjects and subjectivities... Pilgrim Bell insistently travels to necessary places, with regard to the intimacies of faith, the landscapes of empire and the performativity and honesty of poetry. The poems are deeply considered and show a contemplative maturation of Akbar's voice -- Khairani Barokka * Times Literary Supplement *What thrilled me most about this book was another commitment: the commitment to writing discomfort, or ugliness. Doing it well, and doing it without insisting upon beautification. Pilgrim Bell is a book that chooses honesty over beauty, which makes it a breathtaking text -- Hanif Abdurraqib, author of A LITTLE DEVIL IN AMERICAKaveh Akbar is truly a great writer, and his new collection Pilgrim Bell is a marvel. Like his previous work, it dazzles us. Akbar is an unlikely prophet - hilarious and irreverent and self-deprecating. Yet even nonbelievers will travel the circles of faith and hellscape, love and rebuke, through his captivating voice. He is incapable of setting down a line that's less than luminous. Pilgrim Bell is destined to become a classic -- Mary KarrWorking at and along the outer edges of language, Pilgrim Bell calls us to attention and to attend to that which poetry and prayer share, while simultaneously demanding that we tend to the political, the social, the erotic - all that is quotidian and human . . . In Pilgrim Bell, the poet Kaveh Akbar, 'God's incarnate spit in the mud,' takes us down to the ground, to the prosaic, the dismissed and overlooked, the better to talk to the great Silence, bearer of many names including that of God -- M. NourbeSe PhilipIn this rich and moving collection, Akbar writes poems of contradiction and ambivalence centered on religious belief and ethnic and national identity. Evocative and polyphonic, surprising but never artificially shocking, Akbar's poems flit from the divine to the corporeal in the same breath . . . This impressive, thoughtful work shimmers with inventive syntax and spiritual profundity -- Publishers Weekly
£11.69
Oxford University Press The Poetic Edda
Book SynopsisShe sees, coming up a second time,earth from the ocean, eternally green;the waterfalls plunge, an eagle soars above them,over the mountain hunting fish.After the terrible conflagration of Ragnarok, the earth rises serenely again from the ocean, and life is renewed. The Poetic Edda begins with The Seeress''s Prophecy which recounts the creation of the world, and looks forward to its destruction and rebirth. In this great collection of Norse-Icelandic mythological and heroic poetry, the exploits of gods and humans are related. The one-eyed Odin, red-bearded Thor, Loki the trickster, the lovely goddesses, and the giants who are their enemies walk beside the heroic Helgi, Sigurd the Dragon-Slayer, Brynhild the shield-maiden, and the implacable Gudrun. This translation also features the quest-poem The Lay of Svipdag and The Waking of Angantyr, in which a girl faces down her dead father to retrieve his sword.Comic, tragic, instructive, grandiose, witty, and profound, the poems of the Edda have influenced artists from Wagner to Tolkien and speak to us as freely as when they were first written down seven hundred and fifty years ago.Trade ReviewLarringtons version of The Poetic Edda has been beautifully translated, and the flow of each poem is perfect. * Kirsty Hewitt, Book Hugger *A 750-year-old haul of Icelandic verse might not sound like cutting-edge entertainment but these sinewy sagas include such modern elements as gutsy heroines and ultra-violence. * Christopher Hirst, Independent *This is a lovingly presented translation of one of the most important works of Norse mythology ... A fabulous collection worthy of multiple readings. * Arthur Chappell, Concatenation.org *
£16.19
Faber & Faber Motel Chronicles Hawk Moon
Book SynopsisHis words appear modest, but they have huge scope.'Wim WendersThis volume is the first collection of Sam Shepard's autobiographical fiction and poetry.It inspired the award-winning film, Paris, Texas.'Sam Shepard is the greatest U.S. playwright of his generation.
£10.44
Wordsworth Editions Ltd Richard II
Book SynopsisEdited, introduced and annotated by Cedric Watts, M.A., Ph.D., Emeritus Professor of English, University of Sussex. Richard II is one of Shakespeare’s finest works: lucid, eloquent, and boldly structured. It can be seen as a tragedy, or a historical play, or a political drama, or as one part of a vast dramatic cycle which helped to generate England’s national identity. Today, to some of us, Richard II may appear conservative; but, in Shakespeare’s day, it could appear subversive: ‘I am Richard II’, declared an indignant Queen Elizabeth. Numerous recent revivals in the theatre and on screen have demonstrated the enduring power and poignancy of this drama of the downfall of an egoistic but pitiable monarch. Richard II is the seventeenth volume in the Wordsworth Classics’ Shakespeare Series, in which each volume has been freshly edited by Cedric Watts.
£5.96
Wordsworth Editions Ltd Collected Poems of Robert Burns
Book SynopsisWith an Introduction by Donald McFarlan.Robert Burns, the most celebrated of all Scottish poets, is remembered with great devotion - his birthday on 25th January provokes fervour and festivity among Scots and many others the world over. Born in 1759 into miserable rustic poverty, by the age of eighteen Burns had acquired a good knowledge of both classical and English literature. In June 1786 his first collection of verse, Poems Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect, which included 'To a Mouse' and 'The Cotter's Saturday Night', was greeted with huge acclaim by all classes of society. His later poems and ballads include 'Auld Lang Syne', the beautiful song 'My Love is like a Red Red Rose', 'Highland Mary', 'Scots Wha Hae' and his masterpiece, 'Tam o'Shanter'.
£6.23
Enitharmon Press Sonnets to Orpheus
Book SynopsisIn fifty-five sonnets, Rilke plays an astonishing set of philosophical and sensual variations on the Orpheus myth. 'Praising, that's it!' he declares; nature, art, love, time, childhood, technology, poverty, justice - all are encompassed in poems that spark with insight and invention, amongst the joyful and light-footed that Rilke ever wrote. 'All poetry resists translation, and one poem may have many different versions in another language; what I look for first is clarity, and this version supplies that generously. With the presence of the German text and Crucefix's helpful notes, the English-speaking reader with little or no German will find in this version a welcoming entrance to the path which leads eventually to a full understanding - if a full understanding of this mysterious poetry is ever possible. This translation will have, and keep, a place on my shelves where all the poetry lives.' PHILIP PULLMANTrade Review'This translation will have, and keep, a place on my bookshelves where all the poetry lives.' PHILIP PULLMAN The Sonnets to Orpheus are some of the greatest philosophical poems of the century. Martyn Crucefix's impressive previous translations of the Duino Elegies have accustomed us to a way of hearing Rilke, but these are, if anything, more beautiful and natural versions, the form falling lightly on the ear, the thought tantalisingly clear in these bold explorations at the edge of sensibility. GEORGE SZIRTES
£9.49
Pan Macmillan The Sonnets
Book SynopsisThe Sonnets explore many of Shakespeare's most common themes: jealousy, betrayal, melancholy. They ache with unfulfilled longing, and, for many, they are the most complete and moving meditations on love ever written.Part of the Macmillan Collector’s Library; a series of stunning, clothbound, pocket sized classics with gold foiled edges and ribbon markers. These beautiful books make perfect gifts or a treat for any book lover. This edition features an afterword by Peter Harness.The Sonnets of William Shakespeare, a cycle of 154 linked poems first published in 1609, are reproduced in full in this Macmillan Collector’s Library edition. Filled with ideas about love, beauty and mortality, the sonnets are written in the same beautiful and innovative language that we have come to know from Shakespeare's plays. The first 126 sonnets are addressed to a young man known as the 'Fair Youth', while others are directed at a 'Rival Poet', and a 'Dark Lady'.Trade ReviewEvery generation continues to be in his debt. Shakespeare’s plots, which are brilliantly polyvalent, continue to inspire ceaseless adaptations and spin-offs. His unforgettable phrase-making recurs on the lips of millions who do not realise they are quoting Shakespeare * Guardian *
£9.49
Oxford University Press Beowulf
Book SynopsisBeowulf is the longest and finest literary work to have come down to us from Anglo-Saxon times, and one of the world''s greatest epic poems. Set in the half-legendary, half historical Scandinavian past, it tells the story of the hero Beowulf, who comes to the aid of the Danish king Hrothgar by killing first the terrifying, demonic monster Grendel, and then Grendel''s infuriated and vengeful mother. A lifetime later, Beowulf''s own kingdom, Geatland, is threatened by a fiery dragon; Beowulf heroically takes on this challenge, but himself dies killing the dragon. The poem celebrates the virtues of the heroic life, but Hrothgar and Beowulf are beacons of wisdom and courage in a dark world of feuds, violence and uncertainty, and Beowulf''s selfless heroism is set against a background of ruthless power struggles, fratricide and tyranny. This acclaimed translation is complemented by a critical introduction and substantial editorial apparatus. `The poem has at last found its translator . . .supremely well done'' Charles Causley 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 ContentsINCLUDES: INTRODUCTION, TEXTUAL NOTE, BIBLIOGRAPHY, TIME CHART, GENEALOGICAL TABLES, MAP, EXPLANATORY NOTES, INDEX OF NAMES
£6.64
Oxford University Press Alls Well That Ends Well
Book Synopsis
£8.54
Faber & Faber Ted Hughes New Selected Poems 19571994 Faber
Book SynopsisThis volume replaced Ted Hughes''s Selected Poems 1957-1981. It contains a larger selection from the same period, to which are added poems from more recent books, uncollected poems from each decade of Ted Hughes''s writing life, and some new work. Another notable feature is the inclusion of poems from his books for younger readers, What is the Truth? and Season Songs.
£999.99
Vintage Publishing Vinegar Girl
Book Synopsis'A thoroughly modern love story' Guardian Kate Battista is stuck.How did she end up running house and home for her eccentric scientist father and infuriating younger sister Bunny?Trade ReviewA joy to experience. * Literary Review *A new Anne Tyler book is always a treat. The terrifically talented author is the latest to tackle Shakespeare…and our favourite so far. * Good Housekeeping *I loved Kate and Pyotr and the way they discover the oversized, tender, irreverent relationship that fits them... It is joyfulIt's knockabout comedy at its best, genuinely laugh-out-loud funny and, indeed, may be her funniest book to date * Daily Mail *The worst wedding in history ... vintage Anne Tyler * The Times *
£9.49
Penguin Books Ltd Poems and Prose
Book SynopsisCloser to Dylan Thomas than Matthew Arnold in his ‘creative violence’ and insistence on the sound of poetry, Gerard Manley Hopkins was no staid, conventional Victorian. On entering the Society of Jesus and the age of twenty-four, he burnt all his poetry and ‘resolved to write no more, as not belonging to my profession, unless by the wish of my superiors.'' The poems, letters, and journal entries selected for this edition were written in the following twenty years of his life and published posthumously in 1918. His verse is wrought from the creative tensions and paradoxes of a poet-priest who wanted to evoke the spiritual essence of nature sensuously, and to communicate this revelation in natural language and speech-rhythms while using condensed, innovative diction and all the skills of poetic artifice. Intense, vital, and individual, his writing is the ‘terrible crystal’ through which the soul—the inscape, the nature of
£9.49
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC The Beauty Queen Of Leenane
Book SynopsisThe Beauty Queen of Leenane tells the darkly comic tale of Maureen Folan, a plain and lonely woman in her early forties, and Mag her manipulative ageing mother whose interference in Maureen's first and potentially last loving relationship sets in motion a train of events that is as gothically funny as it is horrific.Trade Review'He (McDonagh) offers all the familiar delights of farce and melodrama, while at the same time offering a powerful critique of contemporary Ireland.' Michael Billington, Guardian, 22.07.10 'Martin McDonagh's play...is not the callous thing that we often hail as;black comedy', but a richly human illustration of that tragicomic paradox. If it wasn't so funny it would be squalid' Libby Purves, The Times, 22.07.10 'The dramatic tension McDonagh creates is brilliantly sustained, while the sudden twists and turns of the plot elicit genuine gasps of surprise from the audience.' Charles Spencer, Daily Telegraph, 23.07.10 'His (McDonagh's) ear for the Irish rhythms and the absurdities of everyday speech is matchless.' Georgina Brown, Mail on Sunday, 01.08.10 'Martin McDonagh is one of the top playwrights to have emerged in the 1990's' Patrick Marmion, Daily Mail, 06.08.10
£10.44
Faber & Faber Collected Poems
Book SynopsisThis collection of the work of one of the greatest modern poets was first published in America in 1954. The Collected Poems was prepared by Stevens himself, shortly before his death, and contains all of his published books of poetry, covering more than four decades: from the brilliant rococo lyrics of Harmonium, through the large-scale orchestrations of his middle years, to the magnificent austere lyrics of ''The Rock'', which first appeared in the Collected Poems, Stevens''s poetry meditated unremittingly upon the relation between the world and the imagination. ''He seems to me - and sems to my readers, I am sure - one of the true poets of our century, someone whom the world will keep on reading just as it keeps on listening to Vivaldi or Scarlatti, looking at Tiepolo or Poussin. His best poems are the poetry of a man fully human - of someone sympathetic, magnanimous, both brightly and deeply intelligent; the poems see, feel, and think with equal success; tTrade Review"'One of the most considerable poets of the last hundred years... Poems that are as distinguished as any written this century.' Thom Gunn, London Magazine"
£17.00
Oxford University Press The Major Works
Book SynopsisThis authoritative edition was first published in the acclaimed Oxford Authors series under the general editorship of Frank Kermode. It brings together a unique combination of Yeats''s poetry and prose - all the major poems, complemented by plays, critical writings, and letters - to give the essence of his work and thinking.W. B. Yeats was born in 1865, only 38 years after the death of William Blake, and died in 1939, the contemporary of Ezra Pound and James Joyce. His career crossed two centuries, and this volume represents the full range of his achievement, from the Romantic early poems of Crossways and the symbolist masterpiece The Wind Among the Reeds to his last poems. Myth and folk-tale influence both his poems and his plays, represented here by Cathleen ni Houlihan and Deirdre among others. The importance of the spirit world to his life and work is evident in his critical essays and occult writings, and the anthology also contains political speeches, autobiographical writings, a
£10.44
Penguin Books Ltd Poems on the Underground
Book SynopsisAfter nearly thirty years and almost 500 poems, Poems on the Underground has become a familiar and welcome sight on London''s Tube, paying tribute to the magnificent tradition of English poetry, and to those who have contributed to its richness and diversity. In this beautiful paperback edition, poems old and new, familiar and unfamiliar explore such diverse topics as love, London, exile, family, dreams, war, music and nature, and feature hundreds of poets including Owen Sheers, Paul Muldoon, Sylvia Plath, William Blake, D. H. Lawrence, Kathleen Raine, Roger McGough, Wilfred Owen, Wendy Cope and John Clare, among many others.Trade ReviewThe most democratic artistic intervention of my lifetime -- Maev Kennedy * Guardian *London's most original contribution to urban civilisation -- Simon Jenkins * Evening Standard *Beautifully presented ... This makes it an ideal book to dip into. Few people would see this book lying around the house and not be tempted to quickly browse through and find a morsel of verse that meant something to them at that moment. Everyone will find their own favourites in the book * A Common Reader *
£14.24
Faber & Faber New Selected Poems
Book SynopsisNew Selected Poems is a book of singular abundance and formal verve, featuring poems of rare vision and dramatic power by a consummate and resilient artist. Demonstrating the wide range of Derek Mahon''s verse, from the early lyricism to a more expansive middle period (''New York Time'', ''Decadence'') and the flowering of his late style, it includes recent, uncollected work and culminates in the generous, far-reaching reverie ''Dreams of a Summer Night''.
£13.49
Bloodaxe Books Ltd alphabet
Book SynopsisInger Christensen (1935-2009) was one of Denmark's best-known poets. Her poetry reflects a complex philosophical background, yet it has enjoyed wide public popularity. Many of her poems have a visionary quality, yet she is a paradoxically down-to-earth visionary, focusing on the simple stuff of everyday life and in it discovering the metaphysical, as if by chance.In alphabet, Christensen creates a framework of psalm-like forms that unfold like expanding universes, crystallizing into words both the beauty and the potential for destruction that permeate our world and our times. In this collection, she has created a system by combining the alphabet with Fibonnaci's numeric sequence, in which each number is equal to the sum of the two preceding numbers: 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, etc. alphabet is about the relationship between people and nature and, like it, is itself a form of creation. With the word exist as the pivot, the poems move -- from the first wondering confirmation, apricot trees exist -- out into the world to life and death, the planet and calamity.
£10.44
