Poetry Books

Book SynopsisTwelfth Night is one of the most popular of Shakespeare's plays in performance, and this edition emphasizes its theatrical qualities in both the introduction and the full and detailed commentary. Where the original music has not survived, James Walker has composed settings compatible with the surviving originals, freshly edited, so that this edition, uniquely, offers all the music required to perform the play.Trade ReviewThe commentary on Twelfth Night is alive with the editors' feeling for the play in performance. * M.M. Mahoud, University of Kent, YES, 27, 1996 *

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Book Synopsis'I have so carefully mapped the corners of my mindThat I am forever waking in a lost country...'SUMMER REQUIEM traces the immutable shifting of the seasons, the relentless rhythms of a great world that both 'gifts and harms'. Luminous, resonant and profound, these poems trace the dying days of summer, 'the hour of rust', when memory is haunted by loss and decay. But in the silence that follows, as the soul is cast adrift, there is also reconciliation with the transience of all things; the knowledge that there is a place, 'changeable, that will not betray'.Trade ReviewImpressive . . . quietly affecting * TELEGRAPH *A soulful collection, haunting yet peaceful * We Love This Book *Seth's display of technical dexterity pulses with the kind of warmth that can only come from the heart * The Lady *

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Book SynopsisThe Rivered Earth contains four libretti written by Vikram Seth to be set to music by Alec Roth - together with an account of the pleasures and pains of working with a composer.Entitled 'Songs in Time of War', 'Shared Ground', 'The Traveller' and 'Seven Elements', they take us all over the world - from Chinese and Indian poetry to the beauty and quietness of the Salisbury house where the poet George Herbert lived and died.Spanning centuries of creativity and humanity, these poems pulse with life, energy and inspired brilliance.They are accompanied by four pieces of calligraphy by the author.Trade ReviewThe language has a remarkably direct, almost naive fullness of rhythm and rhyme . . . extraordinary - GUARDIANVikram Seth is already the best writer of his generation - THE TIMESA phenomenon, a prodigy, a marvel ... It is hard to believe that Seth is only one man - EVENING STANDARDSuch writing reminds us that there are secrets beyond technique, beyond style, which have to do with a quality of soul on the part of the writer, a giving of oneself - Guardian on A SUITABLE BOYA SUITABLE BOY may prove to be the most fecund as well as the most prodigious work of the latter half of this century - perhaps even the book to restore the serious reading public's faith in the contemporary novel . . . You should make time for it. It will keep you company for the rest of your life - THE TIMES

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Book Synopsis'The first poet in the world in some things', is how John Donne was described by his contemporary Ben Jonson. Yet it is only this century that Donne has been indisputably established as a great poet—and even, many feel, the greatest love poet of them all. Jonson went on to remark that 'That Donne, for not keeping of an accent, deserved hanging', yet Donne's rhythms, once thought 'unmusical' are now recognized as the natural rhythms of the speaking voice; his 'eccentricity' as a complex self-doubt; his 'obscurity' the reflection of a brilliantly learned and allusive mind. Poets such as Eliot and Empson have found Donne's poetry profoundly attuned to our modern age, while Yeats' glowing comment will always be true: 'the intricacy and subtlety of his imagination are the length and depth of the furrow made by his passion.' This volume, superbly edited by Professor Smith, is the first complete edition to make a serious attempt to guide the reader closeTable of ContentsThe Complete English PoemsPrefaceTable of DatesFurther ReadingA Note on the MetreSongs and SonnetsAir and AngelsThe AnniversaryThe ApparitionThe BaitThe BlossomBreak of DayThe Broken HeartThe CanonizationCommunityThe ComputationConfined LoveThe CurseThe DampThe DissolutionThe DreamThe EcstasyThe ExpirationFarewell to LoveA FeverThe FleaThe FuneralThe Good MorrowThe IndifferentA Jet Ring SentA Lecture upon the ShadowThe LegacyLovers' InfinitenessLove's AlchemyLove's DeityLove's DietLove's ExchangeLove's GrowthLove's UsuryThe MessageNegative LoveA Nocturnal upon S. Lucy's DayThe ParadoxThe PrimroseThe ProhibitionThe RelicSelf LoveSong (Go, and catch a falling star)Song (Sweetest love, I do not go)Sonnet. The TokenThe Sun RisingThe Triple FoolTwicknam GardenThe UndertakingA Valediction: Forbidding MourningA Valediction: of the BookA Valediction: of my Name in the WindowA Valediction: of WeepingThe WillWitchcraft by a PictureWoman's ConstancyElegies1. Jealousy2. The Anagram3. Change4. The Perfume5. His Picture6. Oh, let me not serve so7. Nature's lay idiot8. The Comparison9. The Autumnal10. The Dream11. The Bracelet12. His Parting from Her13. Julia14. A Tale of a Citizen and his Wife15. The Expostulation16. On his Mistress17. Variety18. Love's Progress19. To his Mistress Going to Bed20. Love's WarSappho to PhilaenisEpithalamions or Marriage SongsEpithalamion Made at Lincoln's InnAn Epithalamion, or Marriage Song on the Lady Elizabeth and Count Palatine being Married on St. Valentine's DayEclogue 1613. December 26EpithalamionEpigramsHero and LeanderPyramus and ThisbeNiobeA Burnt ShipFall of a WallA Lame BeggarCales and GuianaSir John WingfieldA Self AccuserA Licentious PersonAntiquaryDisinheritedPhryneAn Obscure WriterKlockiusRaderusMercurius Gallo-BelgicusRalphiusThe LiarManlinessSatires1. Away thou fondling motley humourist2. Sir; though (I thank God for it) I do hate3. Kind pity chokes my spleen4. Well; I may now receive, and die5. Thou shalt not laugh in this leaf, MuseUpon Mr. Thoms Coryat's CruditiesThe Progress of the Soul (Metempsychosis)Verse LettersThe StormThe CalmTo Mr. B. B.To Mr. C. B.To Mr. S. B.To Mr. E. G.To Mr. I. L. (Blessed are your north parts)To Mr. I. L. (Of that short roll of friends)To Mr. R. W. (If, as mine is, thy life a slumber be)To Mr. R. W. (Kindly I envy thy song's perfection)To Mr. R. W. (Muse not that by thy mind thy body is led)To Mr. R. W. (Zealously my Muse doth salute all thee)To Mr. Rowland WoodwardTo Mr. T. W. (All hail, sweet poet)To Mr. T. W. (At once, from hence)To Mr. T. W. (Haste thee harsh verse)To Mr. T. W. (Pregnant again with th' old twins)To Sir Henry GoodyerA Letter Written by Sir H. G. and J. D. alternis vicibusTo Sir Henry Wotton (Here's no more news)To Sir Henry Wotton (Sir, more than kisses)To Sir Henry Wotton, at his going Ambassador to VeniceH. W. in Hibernia BelligerantiTo Sir Edward Herbert, at JuliersTo Mrs. M. H.To the Countess of Bedford at New Year's TideTo the Countess of Bedford (Honour is so sublime perfection)To the Countess of Bedford (Reason is our soul's left hand)To the Countess of Bedford (Though I be dead)To the Countess of Bedford (To have written then)To the Countess of Bedford (You have refined me)To the Lady BedfordEpitaph on HimselfA Letter to the Lady Carey, and Mistress Essex Rich, from AmiensTo the Countess of Huntingdon (Man to God's image)To the Countess of Huntingdon (That unripe side of earth)To the Countess of SalisburyEpicedes and ObsequiesElegy on the L. C.Elegy on the Lady MarkhamAn Elegy upon the Death of Mistress BoulstredElegy upon the Untimely Death of the Incomparable Prince HenryObsequies to the Lord Harrington, Brother to the Lady Lucy, Countess of BedfordAn Hymn to the Saints, and to Marquis HamiltonThe AnniversariesAn Anatomy of the World: The First AnniversaryTo the Praise of the Dead, and the AnatomyAn Anatomy of the WorldA Funeral ElegyOf the Progress of the Soul: The Second AnniversaryThe Harbinger to the ProgressOf the Progress of the SoulDivine PoemsTo E. of D. with Six Holy SonnetsTo Mrs. Magdalen Herbert: of St. Mary MagdalenHoly SonnetsLa CoronaDivine Meditations1. Thou hast made me2. As due by many titles3. O might those sighs and tears4. Oh my black soul!5. I am a little world6. This is my play's last scene7. At the round earth's imagined corners8. If faithful souls be alike glorified9. If poisonous minerals10. Death be not proud11. Spit in my face ye Jews12. Whyare we by all creatures waited on?13. What if this present were the world's last night?14. Batter my heart, three-personed God15. Wilt thou love God, as he thee?16. Father, part of his double interest17. Since she whom I loved18. Show me dear Christ19. Oh, to vex meA LitanyThe CrossResurrection, imperfectUpon the Annunciation and Passion falling upon one day. 1608Good Friday, 1613. Riding WestwardTo Mr. Tilman after he had taken ordersUpon the Translation of the Psalms by Sir Philip Sidney, and the Countess of Pembroke his SisterThe Lamentations of Jeremy, for the most part according to TremelliusA Hymn to Christ, at the Author's last going into GermanyHymn to God my God, in my SicknessA Hymn to God the FatherNotesIndex of TitlesIndex of First Lines

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

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Book SynopsisThe theme of the great Shakespearean tragedies is the fall from grace of a great man due to a flaw in his nature. Whether it is the ruthless ambition of Macbeth or the folly of Lear, the irresolution of Hamlet or the suspicion of Othello, the cause of the tragedy - even when it is the murder of a king - is trifling compared to the calamity that it unleashes. Despite his flawed nature, however, the tragic hero has a nobility that emphasizes the greatness of man. From this paradox the audience is brought to a greater understanding of - and sympathy with - suffering. The four tragedies in this collection are accompanied by notes and an introduction to each text, making this edition of particular value to students and theatre-goers.

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Book Synopsis[Beaumarchais'] fame rests on Le Barbier de Seville (1775) and Le Mariage de Figaro (1784), the only French plays which his stage-struck century bequeathed to the international repertoire. But his achievement has been adulterated, for ‘Beaumarchais’ has long been the brand name of a product variously reprocessed by Mozart, Rossini, and the score or so librettists and musicians who have perpetuated his plots, his characters, and his name. The most intriguing question of all has centered on his role as catalyst of the Revolution. Was his impertinent barber the Sweeney Todd of the Ancien Régime, the true begetter of the guillotine? . . . Beaumarchais' plays have often seemed to need the same kind of shoring up as his reputation, as though they couldn't stand on their own without a scaffolding of good tunes. Yet, as John Wells' lively and splendidly speakable translations of the Barber, the Marriage, and A Mother's Guilt demonstrate, they need assistance from no one. [Beaumarchais] thought of the three plays as a trilogy. Taken together, they reflect, as John Leigh’s commentaries make clear, the Ancien Régime’s unstoppable slide into revolution. --David Coward in The London Review of BooksTrade Review[Beaumarchais'] fame rests on Le Barbier de Seville (1775) and Le Mariage de Figaro (1784), the only French plays which his stage-struck century bequeathed to the international repertoire. But his achievement has been adulterated, for 'Beaumarchais' has long been the brand name of a product variously reprocessed by Mozart, Rossini, and the score or so librettists and musicians who have perpetuated his plots, his characters, and his name. The most intriguing question of all has centered on his role as catalyst of the Revolution. Was his impertinent barber the Sweeney Todd of the Ancien Régime, the true begetter of the guillotine? . . . Beaumarchais' plays have often seemed to need the same kind of shoring up as his reputation, as though they couldn't stand on their own without a scaffolding of good tunes. Yet, as John Wells' lively and splendidly speakable translations of the Barber , the Marriage , and A Mother's Guilt demonstrate, they need assistance from no one. [Beaumarchais] thought of the three plays as a trilogy. Taken together, they reflect, as John Leigh's commentaries make clear, the Ancien Régime's unstoppable slide into revolution. --David Coward in The London Review of Books

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Book SynopsisThis edition includes Edward Gallagher's prose translations of The Lays of Marie de France; a general introduction; a map; commentaries on the lays; two anonymous Breton lays—-The Lay of Melion and The Lay of Tyolet; a glossary of proper names; a glossary of specialized terms; and an appendix of selected texts in the Old French, including Marie's Prologue, Guigemar, Bisclavret, and Yonec.Trade ReviewWith admirable sensitivity to the meaning and style of the originals, Edward J. Gallagher has skillfully rendered these charming Old French verse narratives from the late twelfth century into engaging and readable modern English prose. Gallagher includes a detailed commentary on each of the twelve lays, two useful glossaries, and a selection of lays in Old French. Readers will appreciate his substantial and informative introduction to the works of Marie de France and to the illustrious literary and cultural context within which these masterpieces in miniature took shape. --Donald Maddox, University of Massachusetts AmherstEditions and translations of Marie de France's Lais have appeared at a steady rate since 1885, indeed in every decade since the 1940s. Edward Gallagher's prose translation (which also translates two anonymous lais, Melion and Tyolet) is the latest, a lively, readable version. . . . [T]his book is welcome: it should help introduce yet more students to these fascinating poems in a clear and energetic prose. --Modern Language ReviewProfessor Gallagher’s translation is a very timely one. It is produced in a handsome paperback and is highly accessible in price and in its level of critical language to undergraduates, graduates, and lay (no pun intended) readers alike. Students of medieval literature, French or European, will find it a congenial text, written in clear English prose, of Marie’s twelve Lays, along with two other lays not attributed to Marie. Each Lay is followed by an illuminative commentary. The body of the text is preceded by an excellent Introduction wherein Gallagher provides the chief facts about Marie, her oeuvre, and recent critical scholarship on Marie, without indulging in unneeded pedantry. --Symposium: A Quarterly Journal in Modern Literatures

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Book SynopsisEnglish Romantic poetry from its beginnings and its flowering to the first signs of its decadenceNearly all the famous piéces de résistance will be found here—Intimations of Immortality, The Ancient Mariner, The Tyger, excerpts from Don Juan—s well as some less familiar poems. As muchas possible, the poets are arranged in chronological order, and their poems in order of composition, beginning with eighteenth-century precursors such as Gray, Cowper, Burns, and Chatterton. Naturally, most space has been given over to the major Romantics—Blake, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, Shelley, Clare, and Keats—although their successors, poets such as Beddoes and Poe, are included, too, as well as early poems by Tennyson and Browning. In an excellent introduction, David Wright discusses the Romantics as a historical phenomenon, and points out their central ideals and themes.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 introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

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Book SynopsisCovering the entire output of an archetypal - and tragically short-lived - romantic genius, the Penguin Classics edition of The Complete Poems of John Keats is edited with an introduction and notes by John Barnard.Keats''s first volume of poems, published in 1817, demonstrated both his belief in the consummate power of poetry and his liberal views. While he was criticized by many for his politics, his immediate circle of friends and family immediately recognized his genius. In his short life he proved to be one of the greatest and most original thinkers of the second generation of Romantic poets, with such poems as ''Ode to a Nightingale'', ''Bright Star,'' ''The Eve of St Agnes'' and ''La Belle Dame sans Merci''. While his writing is illuminated by his exaltation of the imagination and abounds with sensuous descriptions of nature''s beauty, it also explores profound philosophical questions.John Barnard''s acclaimed volume contains all the poems known to have been written by Keats, arranged by date of composition. The texts are lightly modernized and are complemented by extensive notes, a comprehensive introduction, an index of classical names, selected extracts from Keats''s letters and a number of pieces not widely available, including his annotations to Milton''s Paradise Lost.John Keats (1795-1821) lost both his parents at an early age. His decision to commit himself to poetry, rather than follow a career in medicine, was a personal challenge, unfounded in any prior success. His first volume of poetry, published in 1817, was a critical and commercial failure. During his short life he received little recognition, and it was not until the latter part of the nineteenth century that his place in English Romanticism began to be understood, and not until this century that it became fully appreciated.If you enjoyed Keats''s Complete Poems you might enjoy John Clare''s Selected Poems, also available in Penguin Classics.Table of ContentsThe Complete PoemsIntroductionNote to the Third EditionAcknowledgmentsTable of DatesFurther ReadingImitation of SpenserOn Peace"Fill for me a brimming bowl"To Lord Byron"As from the darkening gloom a silver dove""Can death be sleep, when life is but a dream"To ChattertonWritten on the Day that Mr. Leigh Hunt left PrisonTo HopeOde to Apollo ("In thy western halls of gold")Lines Written on 29 May The Anniversary of the Restoration of Charles the 2ndTo Some LadiesOn Receiving a Curious Shell, and a Copy of Verses, from the Same LadiesTo EmmaSong ("Stay, ruby-breasted warbler, stay")"Woman! when I behold thee flippant, vain""O Solitude! if I must with thee dwell"To George Felton MathewTo [Mary Frogley]To -- ("Had I a man's fair form, then might my sighs")"Give me Women, Wine, and Snuff"Specimen of an Induction to a PoemCalidore. A Fragment"To one who has been long in city pent""O! how I love, on a fair summer's eve"To a Friend who Sent me some RosesTo my Brother George ("Many the wonders I this day have seen")To Charles Cowden Clarke"How many bards gild the lapses of time!"On First Looking into Chapman's HomerTo a Young Lady who sent me a Laurel CrownOn Leaving some Friends at an Early Hour"Keen, fitful gusts are whispering here and there"Addressed to HaydonTo my BrothersAddressed to [Haydon]"I stood tip-toe upon a little hill"Sleep and PoetryWritten in Disgust of Vulgar SuperstitionOn the Grasshopper and CricketTo KosciuskoTo G[eorgiana] A[ugusta] W[ylie]"Happy is England! I could be content""After dark vapours have oppressed our plains"To Leigh Hunt, Esq.Written on a Blank Space at the End of Chaucer's Tale of The Floure and the LeafeOn Receiving a Laurel Crown from Leigh HuntTo the Ladies who Saw Me CrownedOde to Apollo ("God of the golden bow")On Seeing the Elgin MarblesTo B. R. Haydon, with a Sonnet Written on Seeing the Elgin MarblesOn The Story of RiminiOn a Leander Gem which Miss Reynolds, my Kind Friend, Gave MeOn the SeaLines ("Unfelt, unheard, unseen")Stanzas ("You say you love; but with a voice")"Hither, hither, love -"Lines Rhymed in a Letter Received (by J. H. Reynolds) From Oxford"Think not of it, sweet one, so - "Endymion: A Poetic Romance"In drear-nighted December"Nebuchadnezzar's DreamApollo to the GracesTo Mrs. Reynolds's CatOn Seeing a Lock of Milton's Hair. OdeOn Sitting Down to Read King Lear Once Again"When I have fears that I may cease to be""O blush not so! O blush not so!""Hence Burgundy, Claret, and Port""God of the meridian"Robin HoodLines on the Mermaid TavernTo - ("Time's sea hath been five years at its slow ebb")To the Nile"Spenser! a jealous honourer of thine""Blue! 'Tis the life of heaven, the domain""O thou whose face hath felt the Winter's wind"Sonnet to A[ubrey] G[eorge] S[pencer]Extracts from an Operai. "O! were I one of the Olympian twelve"ii. Daisy's Songiii. Folly's Songiv. "O, I am frightened with most hateful thoughts"v. Song ("The stranger lighted from his steed")vi. "Asleep! O sleep a little while, white pearl!"The Human Seasons"For there's Bishop's Teign""Where be ye going, you Devon maid?""Over the hill and over the dale"To J. H. Reynolds, Esq.To J[ames] R[ice]Isabella; or, The Pot of BasilTo HomerOde to May. FragmentAcrostic"Sweet, sweet is the greeting of eyes"On Visiting the Tomb of Burns"Old Meg she was a gipsy"A Song about Myself"Ah! ken ye what I met the day"To Ailsa Rock"This mortal body of a thousand days""All gentle folks who owe a grudge""Of late two dainties were before me placed"Lines Written in the Highlands after a Visit to Burns's CountryOn Visiting Staffa"Read me a lesson, Muse, and speak it loud""Upon my life, Sir Nevis, I am piqued"Stanzas on some Skulls in Beauly Abbey, near InvernessTranslated from Ronsard"'Tis 'the witching time of night'""Welcome joy, and welcome sorrow"Song ("Spirit that here reignest")"Where's the Poet? Show him, show him"Fragment of the "Castle Builder""And what is love? It is a doll dressed up"Hyperion. A FragmentFancyOde ("Bards of Passion and of Mirth")Song ("I had a dove and the sweet dove died")Song ("Hush, hush! tread softly! hush, hush my dear!")The Eve of St. AgnesThe Eve of St. Mark"Gif ye wol stonden hardie wight""Why did I laugh tonight?"Faery Bird's Song ("Shed no tear - O, shed no tear!")Faery Song ("Ah! woe is me! poor silver-wing!")"When they were come unto the Faery's Court""The House of Mourning written by Mr. Scott"Character of Charles BrownA Dream, after reading Dante's Episode of Paolo and FrancescaLa Belle Dame Sans Merci. A BalladSong of Four FaeriesTo Sleep"If by dull rhymes our English must be chained"Ode to PsycheOn Fame (I) ("Fame, like a wayward girl, will still be coy")On Fame (II) ("How fevered is the man who cannot look")"Two or three posies"Ode on a Grecian UrnOde to a NightingaleOde on MelancholyOde on IndolenceOtho the Great. A Tragedy in Five ActsLamia"Pensive they sit, and roll their languid eyes"To AutumnThe Fall of Hyperion. A Dream"The day is gone, and all its sweets are gone""What can I do to drive away""I cry your mercy, pity, love - ay, love""Bright star! would I were as steadfast as thou art"King Stephen. A Fragment of a Tragedy"This living hand, now warm and capable"The Cap and Bells; or, The JealousiesTo Fanny"In after-time, a sage of mickle lore"Three Undated FragmentsDoubtful Attributions:"See, the ship in the bay is riding"The PoetGripusAppendix 1: Wordsworth and Hazlitt on the Origins of Greek MythologyAppendix 2: The Two Prefaces to EndymionAppendix 3: The Order of Poems in Poems (1817) and Lamia, Isabella, The Eve of St. Agnes, and Other Poems (1820) and The Publisher's Advertisement for 1820Appendix 4: Keats's Notes on Milton's Paradise LostAppendix 5: Keats on Kean's Shakespearean ActingAppendix 6: Selection of Keats's LettersNotesDictionary of Classical NamesIndex of TitlesIndex of First Lines

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Book Synopsis''Nowhere, beloved, can world be but within us''Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926) is one of the leading poets of European Modernism, and one of the greatest twentieth-century lyric poets in German. From The Book of Hours in 1905 to the Sonnets of Orpheus written in 1922, his poetry explores themes of death, love, and loss. He strives constantly to interrogate the relationship between his art and the world around him, moving from the neo-romantic and the mystic towards the precise craft of expressing the everyday in poetry.This bilingual edition fully reflects Rilke''s poetic development. It contains the full text of the Duino Elegies and the Sonnets to Orpheus, selected poems from The Book of Images, New Poems, and earlier volumes, and from the uncollected poetry 1906-26. The translations are accurate, sensitive, and nuanced, and are accompanied by an introduction and notes that elucidate Rilke''s poetic practice and his central role in modern poetry. 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 ReviewA masterly introduction to Rilke ... a representative and well-judged assortment of poems, both familiar and uncollected ... a wealth of excellent and thoughtful notes * The Brown Book *Table of ContentsSELECTED EARLY POEMS; THE BOOK OF HOURS (SELECTIONS); THE BOOK OF IMAGES (SELECTIONS); NEW POEMS (SELECTIONS); UNCOLLECTED POEMS (SELECTIONS); SONNETS TO ORPHEUS (COMPLETE); DUINO ELEGIES (COMPLETE)

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Book Synopsis''Your soul each moment struggles hard with death -Think of your faith as though it''s your last breath.Your life is like a purse, and night and dayAre counters of gold coins you''ve put away''Rumi is the greatest mystic poet to have written in Persian, and the Masnavi is his masterpiece. Divided into six books and consisting of some 26,000 verses, the poem was designed to convey a message of divine love and unity to the disciples of Rumi''s Sufi order, known today as the Whirling Dervishes. Like the earlier books, Book Three interweaves amusing stories with homilies to instruct pupils in mystical knowledge. It has a special focus on epistemology, illustrated with narratives that involve the consumption of food. This is the first ever verse translation of Book Three of the Masnavi. It follows the original by presenting Rumi''s most mature mystical teachings in simple and attractive rhyming couplets.

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Book Synopsis''The Mona Lisa of literature'' T. S. EliotIn Shakespeare''s verbally dazzling and eternally enigmatic exploration of conscience, madness and the nature of humanity, a young prince meets his father''s ghost in the middle of the night, who accuses his own brother - now married to his widow - of murdering him. The prince devises a scheme to test the truth of the ghost''s accusation, feigning wild insanity while plotting revenge. But his actions soon begin to wreak havoc on innocent and guilty alike.Used and Recommended by the National TheatreGeneral Editor Stanley WellsEdited by T. J. B. SpencerIntroduction by Alan SinfieldTrade ReviewPraise for William Shakespeare: Complete Works:“A feast of literary and historical information.” -The Wall Street Journal

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Book SynopsisWilliam Shakespeare was born in late April 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon and died in 1616. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. Stanley Wells is Emeritus Professor of the University of Birmingham and Honorary President of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust.Margaret Jane Kidnie is Professor of English at the University of Western Ontario.

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Book Synopsis''He could mingle sublimity with pathos, bitterness with joy and peace and love'' Aldous HuxleyIn one of Shakespeare''s most perennially popular comedies a young woman, Hermia, flees ancient Athens with her lover, only to be pursued by her would-be husband and her best friend. Unwittingly, all four find themselves in an enchanted forest where fairies and sprites take an interest in human affairs, dispensing magical love potions and casting mischievous spells. Slapstick collides with courtly romance and confusion ends in harmony, as love is transformed, misplaced and ultimately restored.Used and Recommended by the National TheatreGeneral Editor Stanley WellsEdited by Stanley Wells Introduction by Helen Hackett

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Book SynopsisBrings together author's poems, spanning his writing life. This book features verses such as 'Cafe' that he considers the upheaval, revolutions and two world wars that he had witnessed, while 'My Faithful Mother Tongue' reflects the loyalty he felt to his native Polish language.

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Book SynopsisOne of the three seminal works of Japanese literature—a beautiful collection of poems and tales that offers an unparalleled insight into ancient JapanAlong with the Tale of Genji and One Hundred Poets, One Poem Each, the Tales of Ise is considered one of the three most important works of Japanese literature. A poem-tale collection from the early Heian period, it contains many stories of amorous adventures, faithful friendship, and travels in exile, framing the exquisite poems at the work's heart.The Tales of Ise has influenced waka, Noh, tales, and diaries since the time it was written, and is still the source of endless inspiration in novels, poetry, manga, and cartoons. This volume has been translated by Peter MacMillan and includes a preface by the renowned Japanologist Donald Keene.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of claTrade ReviewMacMillan's Tales of Ise adds to the treasures of Japanese literature that can now be enjoyed in English translation. It is the most poetic translation of this work to date and establishes MacMillan as an outstanding translator of Japanese poetry -- Donald Keene

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Book SynopsisMilton''s celebrated epic poem, now in a gorgeous new clothbound edition designed by the award-winning Coralie Bickford-Smith. These delectable and collectable editions are bound in high-quality, tactile cloth with foil stamped into the design.In Paradise Lost Milton produced a poem of epic scale, conjuring up a vast, awe-inspiring cosmos and ranging across huge tracts of space and time. And yet, in putting a charismatic Satan and naked Adam and Eve at the centre of this story, he also created an intensely human tragedy on the Fall of Man. Written when Milton was in his fifties - blind, bitterly disappointed by the Restoration and briefly in danger of execution - Paradise Lost''s apparent ambivalence towards authority has led to intense debate about whether it manages to ''justify the ways of God to men'', or exposes the cruelty of Christianity.John Milton (1608-1674) spent his early years in scholarly pursuit. In 1649 he took up the cause for t

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Book SynopsisRead Shakespeare’s plays in all their brilliance—and understand what every word means! Don’t be intimidated by Shakespeare! These popular guides make the Bard’s plays accessible and enjoyable.Each No Fear guide contains: The complete text of the original play A line-by-line translation that puts Shakespeare into everyday language A complete list of characters with descriptions Plenty of helpful commentary

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Book SynopsisA NEW YORK REVIEW BOOKS ORIGINALOne of the delights of Russian literature, a tour de force that has been compared to the best of Nabokov and Bulgakov, Yuri Olesha''s novella Envy brings together cutting social satire, slapstick humor, and a wild visionary streak. Andrei is a model Soviet citizen, a swaggeringly self-satisfied mogul of the food industry who intends to revolutionize modern life with mass-produced sausage. Nikolai is a loser. Finding him drunk in the gutter, Andrei gives him a bed for the night and a job as a gofer. Nikolai takes what he can, but that doesn''t mean he''s grateful. Griping, sulking, grovelingly abject, he despises everything Andrei believes in, even if he envies him his every breath.Producer and sponger, insider and outcast, master and man fight back and forth in the pages of Olesha''s anarchic comedy. It is a contest of wills in which nothing is sure except the incorrigible human heart.Marian Schwartz''s new English translation of Envy brilliantly captures the energy of Olesha''s masterpiece.

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Book SynopsisThis is an English translation of Sophocles' tragedy of Philoctetes, an archer who had been abandoned on Lemnos by the rest of the Greek fleet while on the way to Troy. Focus Classical Library provides close translations with notes and essays to provide access to understanding Greek culture.

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Book Synopsis''Twas brillig, and the slithy toves / Did gyre and gimble in the wabe...'' wrote Lewis Carroll in his wonderfully playful poem of nonsense verse, ''Jabberwocky''. This new edition collects together the marvellous range of Carroll''s poetry, including nonsense verse, parodies, burlesques, and more. Alongside the title piece are such enduringly wonderful pieces as ''The Walrus and the Carpenter'', ''The Mock Turtle''s Song'', ''Father William'' and many more.Trade ReviewOpening at random Gillian Beer's new edition of Lewis Carroll's poems, Jabberwocky and Other Nonsense, guarantees a pleasurable experience - not all of it nonsensical -- Michael Caines * Times Literary Supplement *This is an elegant volume, likely to delight enthusiasts, while introducing Lewis Carroll's poetry to a younger readership. The poems are set out chronologically following a generous, thoughtful introduction from the esteemed Cambridge critic Gillian Beer... Beer has done an admirable job, and this edition will appeal to readers of all ages -- Alexandra Lawrie * Times Literary Supplement *

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Book SynopsisA hugely influential philosophical work of prose poetry, Kahlil Gibran''s The Prophet is an inspirational, allegorical guide to living, and this Penguin Modern Classics edition includes an introduction by Robin Waterfield.First published in the 1920''s, The Prophet is perhaps the most famous work of religious fiction of the twentieth century, and has sold millions of copies in more than twenty languages. Gibran''s Prophet speaks of many things central to daily life: love, marriage, death, beauty, passion, eating, work and play. The spiritual message he imparts, of finding divinity through love, blends eastern mysticism, religious faith and philosophy with simple advice. The Prophet became the bible of 1960s culture and was credited with founding the New Age movement, yet it still continues to inspire people around the world today. This edition is illustrated with Gibran''s famous visionary paintings.Kahlil Gibran (1883-1931) was a poet, philosopher and artist, who stands among the most important Arabic language authors of the early twentieth century. Born in Lebanon, he spent the last twenty years of his life in the United States, where for many years he was the leader of a Lebansese writing circle in New York. He is the author of numerous volumes, including The Garden of the Prophet, The Storm, The Beloved: Reflections on the Path of the Heart, The Vision, Reflections on the Way of the Soul, and Spirit Brides. If you enjoyed The Prophet, you might like Herman Hesse''s Siddhartha, also available in Penguin Modern Classics.''His work goes on from generation to generation''Daily Mail''To read it was to transcend ordinary levels of perception, to become aware ... of a more intense level of being''Independent

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Book SynopsisAuden, Lewis, MacNeice and other key poets of the 'Thirties' were children of the First World War, obsessed by war and by communalism and by the class-struggle. But from within their strongly defined unity of ideals, a varied body of poetry emerged. This book arranges the poetry to make a 'critical essay' of the period.

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Book SynopsisThe writing of Fernando Pessoa reveals a mind shaken by intense inner suffering. In these poems he adopted four separate personae: Alberto Caeiro, Alvaro de Campos, Ricardo Reis and himself, using them to express ''great swarms of thought and feeling''. While each personae has its own poetic identity, together they convey a sense of ambivalence and consolidate a striving for completeness. Dramatic, lyrical, Christian, pagan, old and modern, Pessoa''s poets and poetry contribute to the ''mysterious importance of existence''.

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Book SynopsisPublished in order of first publication as far as possible, this selection ranges from initial offerings such as ''Tinker''s Wife'' and ''Inniskeen Road: July Evening'' to his tragic masterpiece ''The Great Hunger'' (1942) and his celebratory later verse, ''To Hell with Common Sense'' and ''Come Dance with Kitty Stobling'', which show his increasing comic verve and detachment. The first comprehensive selection of Kavanagh''s poetry to be published, this volume offers a timely reassessment of a poet unfairly neglected outside Ireland.

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Book SynopsisC. P. Cavafy is one of the most singular and poignant voices of twentieth-century European poetry, conjuring a magical interior world through lyrical evocations of remembered passions, imagined monologues and dramatic retellings of his native Alexandria''s ancient past. Figures from antiquity speak with telling interruptions from the author in such poems as ''Anna Comnena'' and ''You did not understand'', while precise moments of history are seen with a sense of foreboding, as in ''Ides of March'', ''The God Abandoning Antony'' and ''Nero''s Deadline''. And in poems that draw on his own life and surroundings, Cavafy recalls illicit trysts or glimpses of beautiful young men in ''One Night'', ''I have gazed so much'' and ''The Café Entrance'', and creates exquisite miniatures of everyday life in ''An Old Man'' and ''Of the Shop''.Winner of the prestigious Harold Morton Landon Translation Award 2009

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Book SynopsisFederico García Lorca was born into an educated family of small landowners in Fuente Vaqueros in 1898. A poet, dramatist, musician and artist, he attended the university at Granada, where he acquired a fine knowledge of literature. In 1919 he went to the Residencia de Estudiantes in Madrid and during his long stay there he met all the principal writers, critics and scholars who visited the place, which was then a flourishing centre of cultural liberalism. In 1928 his Gipsy-Ballad Book (Romancero gitano) received much public acclaim. In 1929 he went to New York with Fernando de los Ríos and his volume of poems Poet in New York (Poeta en Nueva York) was published posthumously in 1940. On his return to republican Spain, he devoted himself to the theatre, as co-director of La Barraca, a government-sponsored student theatrical company that toured the country. He now wrote fewer poems, but these include his masterpiece Lament for Ignacio Sánchez Mejía

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewThis books fulfills at least three needs and fulfills them at a very high standard... it expands the body of Ch'an poetry available in English... it provides an account of the Ch'an religious tradition... the translations are graceful. Journal of Chinese ReligionsTable of ContentsDynastic Timeline A Note on Pinyin Romanization List of Illustrations Acknowledgments Introduction Poems Introductions to the Poets and Explanatory Notes Glossary Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisAlice Notley has earned a reputation as one of the most challenging and engaging radical female poets at work today. Her last collection, Mysteries of Small Houses, was a finalist for both the Pulitzer Prize in poetry and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. Structured as a long series of interconnected poems in which one of the main elements is an ongoing dialogue with a seedy detective, Disobedience sets out to explore the visible as well as the unconscious. These poems, composed during a fifteen-month period, also deal with being a woman in France, with turning fifty, and with being a poet, and thus seemingly despised or at least ignored.Table of ContentsDisobedienceA Scarf of Bitter Water (July 30-October 6,1995)Change the Forms in DreamsWhat's SuppressedSun Is Very Near Hot and ButtockslikeI Suppose This Is All a Lefthand PathWhere Is the Babylonian Meter with Its Lovely Caesura?CircorpseHelp Me Corpus SagradaThe Islanders Remember That There Are No Women and No MenRed FishEnuma ElishThe Forest/Swamp/Gorge/Alp HotelLana Turner at Versailles"You"". . . I Thought She Was Going to Be a Ghost Story"Just Under Skin of Left Leg"Have Made Earth as the Mirror of Heaven"Left Side Liberation from EThe Strike (October 7-December 18, 1995)Dante's Ass a Noble PrizeParticle DollThere Isn't Much to Do If You Aren't GeologyAnd Still No Story, How Will You Know When It's Over?More of the Assholes of GiantsRita, a Red Rose, Hates Her ClothesAn Impeccable Sexism I Mean an Elegant Idea or Procedure Haunts the StarsBreaking the Sound BarrierThe Morbid Managers Are Serving Trays of Charnel FleshThe Big Slip on the Dead Woman Is PinkDancing into the Shadows of the Hideous Future City We Don't Think So During This StrikeWhite Rice Words Are the Means of ExchangeSeems to Be Heading for MexicoBeing with People a Cliche Eating DinnerIn the Motherless, Homogenized and E-EpistolaryShit, Fire, and Crystal (December 19, 1995-March 9, 1996)Breaking an Unsound Barrier . . .The Veil Is, Like, Sexism or Is It Like ItBeing WiggyExposing My Breasts So You'llIn That Room, In That Time, But LaterYou Cover All the Windows with Your Manuscript PagesWill Die and Die in So Many Ways, as Professional and Cultural EntityDo I Have to Be Mad Now Later and AlwaysLost the Plumbing Lost My Story GoodOh Put Some Obscenely Concrete Nouns Back in Your PoemsHealthy and Foolish the Mainstream Stars of Kneejerk Joy and Despair May Win the FutureIt's Dumb to Be a Member of a Dominant SpeciesPeople Could Live in This Town, They Don't But I'm Going ToMy Hair Is Terribly Dirty and the Dress Looks DrabMeet Me at La Chapelle for Some More SalamiBut My Real Dreams Are Objective (Objects Made of Me by the Secret)Don't Give Me Drovel, Give Me a Shovel (Popular Poem)Open-Stomach WomanLeveling (March 10, 1996-June 17, 1996)I Know You'll Make Fun of the Clothes the Magi Are WearingCrowded into a Breathless Bubble of Bad Thinking Our Poem the World Owned by a FewComing Down the Spiral Almanac StaircaseCould I Ever Share a Tableau with Miss January's Murderers?Echoes the Past Fucks Me Over and OverIn Any Movie Whatsoever, in Order to Be Working ActorsDo You Want to Be Excellent an A Actress No Not That EitherWe Should All Live Like Rocks in a Flat FieldEveryone's out After Some Emotional ActionSeen the Whale-Skate and Seen a TombKeep Going Down to the TombNot That Person Anymore, Mitch Being Ever FainterFour Scarves and a Lion (June 18, 1996-August 28, 1996)Have I Been Here Before Is Something UnfamiliarThere Was Also Valium in the Drink, Placed There by Two Other PeopleI Don't Have Sympathy We're EqualsPouring Rain No Love from the Weather Except in My DreamRoaring Being a Given, My Roaring's a GivenThe Lines Fall Away SometimesThe Subterranean Senses Are Already There in New AirRemember the Station with No NameFurther Figuration of My Regressive BackashDon't Think That Thought It Will Poison This MomentThe Longest Vampiric History Vs. the SoulPlease Don't Anyone Save My Life PassimLionA New HairdoThe Chaplet on the Donkey's Head: Both Keep DissolvingThe One Thousand Arms of Poking and Pinching LoveThe Usual and the Most Tenuous of Goodbyes

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Book SynopsisComposed at the end of the fourteenth century by an unknown author, The Saga of Grettir the Strong is one of the last great Icelandic sagas. It relates the tale of Grettir, an eleventh-century warrior struggling to hold on to the values of a heroic age becoming eclipsed by Christianity and a more pastoral lifestyle.Trade Review“An amazing epic—as revenge-driven as the Greeks, with fight scenes rivaling today’s superhero action films.” ―Rita Dove, The New York Times Book Review“The [translation is] generally excellent; accurate and readable. . . . Sure to become the standard.” —The Times Literary Supplement

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Book SynopsisIn Purgatorio Dante, having described his journey into Hell, narrates his ascent of Mount Purgatory with Virgil, as he encounters penitents who toil through physical agonies, starvation and flames to assuage their earthly vices. Only by learning from them can he achieve his final enlightened transition to the lost Earthly Paradise at the mountain's summit, where he meets his dead love, Beatrice, and prepares to ascend to Heaven. Depicting a realm of intense sensation and physical experience, Dante's poem transformed the traditional Christian idea of Purgatory by showing how the free will of the aspiring soul could change wordly perversions into perfection. It is a brilliantly nuanced and moving allegory of human possibility, hope and redemption.Trade Review“A masterly translation.” ―Judith Thurman, The New Yorker“Kirkpatrick brings a more nuanced sense of the Italian and a more mediated appreciation of the poem's construction than nearly all of his competitors.” —The Times (London)“We gain much from Kirkpatrick’s fidelity to syntax and nuance. . . . His introduction . . . tells you, very readable indeed, pretty much all you need for a heightened appreciation of the work.”—The Guardian“Likely to be the best modern version of Dante . . . The perfect balance of tightness and colloquialism.” —Bernard O’Donoghue“This version is the first to bring together poetry and scholarship in the very body of the translation—a deeply informed version of Dante that is also a pleasure to read.” —David Wallace, University of Pennsylvania

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Book SynopsisByron's exuberant masterpiece tells of the adventures of Don Juan, beginning with his illicit love affair at the age of sixteen in his native Spain and his subsequent exile to Italy.

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Book SynopsisNow in paperback.Euripides, the last of the three great tragedians of ancient Athens, reached the height of his renown during the disastrous Peloponnesian War, when democratic Athens was brought down by its own outsized ambitions. “Euripides,” the classicist Bernard Knox has written, “was born never to live in peace with himself and to prevent the rest of mankind from doing so.” His plays were shockers: he unmasked heroes, revealing them as foolish and savage, and he wrote about the powerless-women and children, slaves and barbarians-for whom tragedy was not so much exceptional as unending. Euripides’ plays rarely won first prize in the great democratic competitions of ancient Athens, but their combustible mixture of realism and extremism fascinated audiences throughout the Greek world. In the last days of the Peloponnesian War, Athenian prisoners held captive in far-off Sicily were said to have won their freedom by reciting snatches of Euripides’ latest tragedies.Four of those tragedies are presented here in new translations by the contemporary poet and classicist Anne Carson. They are Herakles, in which the hero swaggers home to destroy his own family; Hekabe, set after the Trojan War, in which Hektor’s widow takes vengeance on her Greek captors; Hippolytos, about love and the horror of love; and the strange tragic-comedy fable Alkestis, which tells of a husband who arranges for his wife to die in his place. The volume also contains brief introductions by Carson to each of the plays along with two remarkable framing essays: “Tragedy: A Curious Art Form” and “Why I Wrote Two Plays About Phaidra.”

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Book SynopsisA modern classic about the bitter rivalry between Mary, Queen of Scots, and her cousin and fellow ruler, Elizabeth I of England - retold by Scotland's most popular playwright. 'Once upon a time, there were twa queens on the wan green island, and the wan green island was split inty twa kingdoms. But no equal kingdoms...' Mary and Elizabeth are two women with much in common, but more that sets them apart. Following the death of her husband, the Dauphin of France, the beautiful, and staunchly Catholic Mary Stuart has returned from France to rule Scotland, a country she neither knows nor understands. Ill-prepared to rule in her own right, Mary has failed to learn what her protestant cousin, Elizabeth Tudor, knows only too well - that a queen must rule with her head, not her heart. All too soon the stage is set for a deadly endgame in which there can only be one winner and one queen on the one green island. Liz Lochhead's play Mary Queen of Scots Got Her Head Chopped Off is presented in a distinctive cabaret style, with much of the dialogue in the 'Braid Scots' vernacular. It was first performed by the Communicado Theatre Company at the Lyceum Studio Theatre, Edinburgh, in August 1987. This revised version was published alongside the revival by the National Theatre of Scotland, which toured in 2009. Also included is a new introduction by the author.Trade Review'A triumph… the characterisations never slide over into caricature but are full-bodied, subtle, humorous and virile' * Time Out *'Twenty-two years on, it's a text that still takes the breath away with the fearless theatricality of its cabaret style, and the sheer force of the glittering poetic links it forges between the fraught and unresolved politics of Scotland in the 16th century, and tensions over gender and religion that still haunt our society today' * Scotsman *

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Book SynopsisA ferociously gripping play that tackles the challenging moral issues of contemporary military occupation and its effect on the mental health of serving soldiers with startling insight. Falklands War veteran Major Oscar Hadley is sent to a combat zone to probe allegations of severe misconduct by Eddie Clark, a young squaddie from Burnley and part of a self-styled ‘Bully Boy’ unit of the British Army. As the interrogation develops, Oscar begins to discover that ‘truth’ in a modern insurgency can be a point of view rather than a fact. Written with startling insight by author and broadcaster Sandi Toksvig, Bully Boy was first performed at Nuffield Theatre, Southampton, in 2011.Trade Review'Fine, absorbing and remarkably accomplished… delves, with sensitivity, into an issue of burning relevance' * Telegraph *

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Book SynopsisA hilarious and heart-warming comedy about football, friendship and finding your way. Luke wants Danny, but Danny's got a secret. Joe's happy in goal, but Geoff wants a headline gig. Viv just wants to beat the lesbians to the league title. Game on. Tom Wells' play Jumpers for Goalposts premiered at Watford Palace Theatre in 2013, before touring the UK, including a run at the Bush Theatre, London. This volume also includes Tom Wells' short play Jonesy, the underdog story of an asthmatic teen who dreams of making a name for himself as a 'Netball Maverick' and earning the respect of the lads from GCSE PE.Trade Review'Generous, warm-hearted and packed with telling, often very funny detail' * Evening Standard *'Blissfully funny but at times deeply affecting too... the dialogue is blessed with sharp one-liners... what makes [Tom Wells] so special is his gift of making the small change of everyday lives shine so brightly' * Telegraph *'Wells has that rare gift of being able to capture the goodness that resides amongst people with an unforced warmth and a highly observant ear and eye for comedy... unreservedly recommended' * Independent *'The delicate balance between humour and pathos is seldom achieved with such deftness... a stunning piece of writing - fresh, funny, painful, engaging' * The Stage *'Finds extraordinary beauty in the ordinary lives of its characters' * Financial Times *

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Book Synopsis'Love or knowledge: which would you choose?' A moving, comical and eye-opening story of four young women fighting for education and self-determination against the larger backdrop of women’s suffrage. 1896. Girton College, Cambridge, the first college in Britain to admit women. The Girton girls study ferociously and match their male peers grade for grade. Yet, when the men graduate, the women leave with nothing but the stigma of being a 'blue stocking' - an unnatural, educated woman. They are denied degrees and go home unqualified and unmarriageable. In Jessica Swale's debut play, Blue Stockings, Tess Moffat and her fellow first years are determined to win the right to graduate. But little do they anticipate the hurdles in their way: the distractions of love, the cruelty of the class divide or the strength of the opposition, who will do anything to stop them. The play follows them over one tumultuous academic year, in their fight to change the future of education. Blue Stockings received its professional premiere at Shakespeare's Globe, London, in August 2013, directed by John Dove.Trade Review'Cracking... leaves you astonished at the prejudices these educational pioneers had to overcome' * Guardian *'Brings wit and intelligence to a meaty subject' * Evening Standard *'Lively and eye-opening' * Independent *'Thoughtful and provocative... thoroughly researched and grippingly dramatised' * The Stage *'Touching and entertaining... Swale tells the story with both wit and a hint of righteous indignation' * Telegraph *

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Book SynopsisA simple and delightfully inventive re-telling of the stories from the Arabian Nights. It is wedding night in the palace of King Shahrayar. By morning, the new Queen Shahrazad is to be put to death like all the young brides before her. But she has one gift that could save her – the gift of storytelling. With her mischievous imagination, the young Queen spins her dazzling array of tales and characters. On her side are Ali Baba, Es-Sindibad the Sailor and Princess Parizade – adventurers in strange and magical worlds populated by giant beasts, talking birds, devilish ghouls and crafty thieves. But will her silver-tongued stories be enough to enchant her husband and save her life? This revised edition of Dominic Cooke's Arabian Nights was published alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company's production in 2009.Trade Review'The family show to see this Yule' * The Guardian *'Superb... weaves a potent spell of enchantment as it moves from cruelty to happiness and from the blissfully ribald to the deeply affecting' * Daily Telegraph *'A masterful piece of storytelling... a truly magical piece of theatre that delights all the senses' * Whatsonstage.com *

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