Poetry Books

Book Synopsis90 Classic titles celebrating 90 years of Penguin BooksIn October Nights, Gerard de Nerval takes us on a gentle meander through nighttime Paris a dreamlike journey towards getting lost. Also included in this volume is Sylvie, his haunting novella of love and memory, the masterpiece' that inspired Proust to write In Search of Lost Time. Together, these works by the French poet, visionary and pioneering modernist are a testament to the power of jewelled thinking, and an inspiration for flaneurs and romantics everywhere.

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Book SynopsisWINNER of the 2023 Books Are My Bag Readers Award for Best Poetry Collection''Pedersen bends words like no-one else. There''s a naughtiness, an innocence and surprising vulnerability in this collection. It''s poetry to intoxicate. Just sublime.'' Juno Dawson ''Every page of The Cat Prince brought me gladsome joy. Pedersen has the astonishing power of finding the astonishing in every moment that deserves a raised glass'' Daljit Nagra''This laser focused collection of poetry by Michael Pedersen will gut you like a fish and smash your heart in. Searingly specific, exquisite and requisite. I relished reading every tiny morsel of it'' Shirley Manson''Open-hearted, gut-wrenching and yet elegiac, these poems pack a hefty emotional punch. Michael Pederson''s poems display a huge vocabulary for love, love in all its many forms and guises. These poems chart the journey from boyhood to manhood, the highs and the lows, the lo

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Book SynopsisA wise, rude, sharp poetry collection encompassing a life from childhood to attempted adulthood, from one of the most important poets of the new generation.'She writes with honesty, conviction, humour and love. She points out the absurdities we've grown too used to and lets us see the world with fresh eyes.' – Kae TempestHollie McNish, winner of the Ted Hughes Award for Poetry, has thrilled and entranced audiences the length and breadth of the UK with her compelling and powerful performances. Plum, her debut for Picador Poetry, is a wise, sometimes rude and piercingly candid account of her memories from childhood to attempted adulthood. This is a book about growing up, about flesh, fruit, friendships, work and play – and the urgent need to find a voice for the poems that will somehow do the whole glorious riot of it justice.Throughout Plum, McNish allows her recent poems to be interrupted by earlier writing from her younger selves – voices that speak out from the past with disarming and often very funny results. Plum is a celebration, a salute to a life in which we are always growing, stumbling, falling, changing and discovering new selves to add to our own messy store. It will leave the reader in no doubt as to why McNish is considered one of the most important poets of the new generation.Trade ReviewPlum is certainly brave...The poems are refreshingly funny, angry, contemplative and personal. A sense of wanting the world to be a better place shines out. * The Telegraph *She writes with honesty, conviction, humour and love. She points out the absurdities we've grown too used to and lets us see the world with fresh eyes -- Kate TempestHer rhymes have a driving quality, urgent words pinning down fleeting feelings * Observer *The acclaimed Hollie McNish’s Plum immediately establishes an intimacy between the poet and the reader. A collection recounting McNish’s memories of growing up, Plum is charismatic for its revelations of warmth; hilarious and moving. Frank, rude, and innocent, this likeable voice makes for an entertaining read. * Poetry Book Society *‘[Plum] proves poet’s voice is one that needs to be heard…she continues to let it all hang out in fearless and often amusing style.Much of what McNish has to say urgently needs saying’ * The Scotsman *

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Book SynopsisAn exciting addition to Everyman's Library: a new series of small, handsome hardcover volumes devoted to the world's classic poets.

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Book SynopsisA graphic novel presenting the tragic tale of doomed love, set in Verona, Italy, where the Montagues and the Capulets constantly feud.

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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 the words into everyday language A complete list of characters, with descriptions Plenty of helpful commentary

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Book SynopsisNEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER! From Misha Collins, actor, longtime poet, and activist, whose massive online following calls itself his “Army For Good," comes his debut poetry collection, Some Things I Still Can't Tell You. Trademark wit and subtle vulnerability converge in each poem; this book is both a celebration of and aspiration for a life well lived.#1 PUBLISHERS WEEKLY BESTSELLER! USA TODAY Bestseller!This book is a compilation of small observations and musings. It's filled with moments of reflection and a love letter to simple joys: passing a simple blade of grass on the sidewalk, the freedom of peeing outdoors late at night, or the way a hand-built ceramic mug feels when it's full of warm tea on a chilly morning. It's a catalog and a compendium that examines the complicated experience of being all too human and interacting with a complex, confounding, breathtaking world ... and a reminder to stop and be awake and alive in yourself.

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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

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Book SynopsisThe Rape of the Lock and Other Major Writings is a collection of Alexander Pope''s greatest works, edited with an introduction by Leo Damrosch in Penguin Classics.Alexander Pope was the greatest English poet of his age, whose acerbic insights into human nature have entered the language, and whose verse still astonishes with its energy and inventiveness centuries after his death. This new selection of Pope''s work follows the path of his poetic genius over his lifetime. It contains early poems including the masterly mock-epic ''The Rape of the Lock'', which satirizes a notorious society scandal through glorious heroic couplets, the brilliantly aphoristic ''An Essay on Criticism'' and excerpts from his translation of the Iliad. Later poems represented include Pope''s ironic adaptations of Horace''s Epistles, Satires and Odes, and the remarkable ''Dunciad'', a stinging attack on his literary rivals and the mediocrity of Grub Street hacks. Here too are selected prose works and letters from Pope to his contemporaries such as John Gay and Jonathan Swift.This edition contains a wide-ranging introduction that elucidates Pope''s life, poetic art and contemporary contexts, as well as separate introductions to each piece, a chronology, further reading, a biography and extensive notes. Alexander Pope (1688-1744) was born in London in 1688, the son of a well-to-do Roman Catholic cloth merchant. In 1709 he launched his career with a set of four pastorals, followed by An Essay on Criticism, Windsor Forest and the mock-epic Rape of the Lock, which cemented his reputation as the greatest poet of the age. Later works included the Dunciad, Epistles to Several Persons and the ambitious Essay on Man.If you enjoyed The Rape of the Lock, you might like Jonathan Swift''s Gulliver''s Travels, also available in Penguin Classics.

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Book SynopsisTwenty-three poems that transformed English poetry Wordsworth and Coleridge composed this powerful selection of poetry during their youthful and intimate friendship. Reproducing the first edition of 1798, this edition of Lyrical Ballads allows modern readers to recapture the book’s original impact. In these poems—including Wordsworth’s “Lines written a few miles above Tintern Abbey” and Coleridge’s “The Rime of the Ancyent Marinere”—the two poets exercised new energies and opened up new themes.

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

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Book SynopsisAn anthology of verse by women poets writing in Persian, most of whom have never been translated into English before, from acclaimed scholar and translator Dick Davis.A Penguin ClassicThe Mirror of My Heart is a unique and captivating collection of eighty-three Persian women poets, many of whom wrote anonymously or were punished for their outspokenness. One of the very first Persian poets was a woman (Rabe'eh, who lived over a thousand years ago) and there have been women poets writing in Persian in virtually every generation since that time until the present. Before the twentieth century they tended to come from society's social extremes--many were princesses, some were entertainers, but many were wives and daughters who wrote simply for their own entertainment, and they were active in many different countries - Iran, India, Afghanistan, and areas of central Asia that are now Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Tajikistan. From Rabe'eh in the tenth century to FTrade ReviewIn every respect, The Mirror of My Heart is outstanding. Reading it one discovers a whole tradition of love poetry, epigram and elegy, movingly brought into English. Most important now, this anthology reminds us how much we all share the same joys, the same sorrows -- Michael Dirda * The Washington Post *

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewReview from previous edition Catherine Phillips's excellent edition of the poems...will be the standard reading text for many years to come. * Times Literary Supplement *

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Book SynopsisThe perfect gift for fans of Florence + the Machine, with additional lyrics, poems and a new chapter of sermons Songs can be incredibly prophetic, like subconscious warnings or messages to myself, but I often don't know what I'm trying to say till years later. Or a prediction comes true and I couldn't do anything to stop it, so it seems like a kind of useless magic. 'Pop's high priestess bares her soul in this candid collection of poems and lyrics' Observer 'A treasure . . . beautiful. Generous in its honesty, by the end you feel as though you have climbed into the colourful, and sometimes tortured, world of a passionate artist' i 'Makes the reader feel as though they're peeking into a private journal' Refinery29Trade ReviewHer first book of poetry is an elegant collaged scrapbook * Observer *A treasure . . . beautiful. Generous in its honesty, by the end you feel as though you have climbed into the colourful, and sometimes tortured, world of a passionate artist * iNews *Pop's high priestess bares her soul in this candid collection of poems and lyrics . . . offering a chance to appreciate on the bare stage of the blank page the fineness of her words. And like fellow poet-musician Nick Cave, Welch has found a way for the song and the voice of the rabbit-hearted girl to coexist * Observer *A varied, visually arresting tome, it brings together poems, lyrics, sketches and notes from Welch's personal and professional life, making the reader feel as though they're peeking into a private journal * Refinery 29 *An alchemy of memoir and imagination * Waterstones Newsletter *

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Book SynopsisThis volume contains the complete collection of Sarah Kane's plays, including "Blasted"; "Phaedra's Love"; "Cleansed"; "Crave"; "4.48 Psychosis"; and "Skin".Table of ContentsBlasted; Phaedra's Love; Cleansed; Crave; 4.48 Psychosis; Skin

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Book SynopsisThe idea for this book grew out of Wendy Cope''s experience of meeting her audience, when reading her poems in schools. This is an edition of the poems which identifies the references, verse-forms, contexts and occasions of her work, and which offers readers a new arrangement of the poetry as a whole. The notes also identify dates of composition, so that it is possible to observe the development of her work. As well as drawing on Wendy Cope''s three published books, the selection also includes a significant number of poems collected or published for the first time.

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Book SynopsisPublished to mark the 400th anniversary of the book's original publication, this facsimile edition faithfully reproduces one of the finest copies held in the British Library collections.

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Book SynopsisThis book reproduces works by the great 17th and 18th century poets such as Basho, Buson and Issa, as well as later works by contemporary writers and novelists.

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Book SynopsisThe Arden Shakespeare is the established edition of Shakespeare''s work. Justly celebrated for its authoritative scholarship and invaluable commentary, Arden editions guide you to a richer understanding and appreciation of Shakespeare''s plays. This edition of A Midsummer Night''s Dream provides a clear and authoritative text, detailed notes and commentary on the same page as the text and a full introduction discussing the critical and historical background to the play. The editor brings fresh perspectives on global productions and adaptations of this most-loved of Shakespeare''s comedies.Table of ContentsList of Illustrations General editors’ Preface Preface INTRODUCTION STAGE, SCREEN, ART The play in its time: staging and casting British productions: Restoration to nineteenth century British productions: the twentieth century and after Europe Beyond Europe Other media: cinema, music, art SOURCES AND ANALOGUES: FAIRIES AND MORTALS Fairies and fairy lore Ovid: the classics and the fairies Pyramus and Thisbe Theseus and Hippolyta: Plutarch, Chaucer and Shakespeare THEMES AND DESIGNS Pastoral: the forest Dreamers and Lovers Patriarchy Carnival, class, court Theatre, art and illusion The comedy of compromise LANGUAGE AND VERSE A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM Appendix 1: Casting Chart Appendix 2:Date and Occasion Appendix 3: The Text Abbreviations and References Index

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Book SynopsisNaomi Shihab Nye is a wandering poet. For nearly 40 years she has travelled America and the world to read and teach. Born in Missouri to a Palestinian father and an American mother, she grew up in St Louis, Jerusalem and San Antonio. Drawing on her Palestinian- American background, the cultural diversity of Texas, and her experiences in Asia, Europe, Canada, Mexico, Central and South America and the Middle East, her poetry 'reflects this textured heritage, which endowed her with an openness to the experiences of others and a sense of continuity across borders' (Bill Moyers). Through her empathetic use of poetic language, she reveals the shining nature of our daily lives, whether writing about local life in her inner-city Texan neighbourhood or the daily rituals of Jews and Palestinians in the war-torn Middle East. Probing the fragile connection between language and meaning, she shows how lives are marked by tragedy, inequity and misunderstanding, and that our best chance of surviving losses and shortcomings is to be acutely aware of the sacred in all things.Trade ReviewHer poems combine transcendent liveliness and sparkle along with warmth and human insight. She is a champion of the literature of encouragement and heart. Reading her work enhances life. * William Stafford *Tender yet forceful, funny and commonsensical, reflective and empathic. -- Donna Seaman * Booklist *Table of Contents10 A Big Life by Naomi Shihab Nye 12 Loose Leaf by Naomi Shihab Nye 14 Touching Tender Spots by Robert Bonazzifrom Different Words to Pray (1980) 23 Minnows 24 The Art of Disappearing 25 Kindness 27 Walking Down Blanco Road at Midnight 28 Adiosfrom Hugging the Jukebox (1982) 30 Lights from Other Windows 31 Daily 32 Making a Fist 33 Famous 34 So Much Happiness 35 Hugging the Jukeboxfrom Yellow Glove (1986) 39 Trying to Name What Doesn't Change 40 The Use of Fiction 41 Yellow Glove 43 Two Countries 44 Pakistan with Open Arms 46 Rain 47 Catalogue Army 48 What He Said to His Enemiesfrom Red Suitcase (1994) 51 Travel Alarm 54 From Here to There 55 The Attic and Its Nails 56 Voices 57 His Secret 58 Violin 59 Living with Mistakes 60 Valentine for Ernest Mann 61 What Brings Us Out 63 Saved 64 Shouldersfrom Fuel (1998) 66 Muchas Gracias por Todo 67 Bill's Beans 68 Wedding Cake 70 Because of Libraries We Can Say These Things 71 Elevator 72 Eye Test 73 One Boy Told Me 75 Boy and Mom at the Nutcracker Ballet 76 Always Bring a Pencil 77 Glint 78 Alphabet 80 Hidden 81 Lost 82 Books We Haven't Touched in Years 83 The Rider 84 Fuel 85 Across the Bay 87 Boy and Egg 88 How Far Is It to the Land We Left? 89 Pause 91 Sad Mail 92 Open House 93 Vocabulary of Dearness 94 Pollenfrom 19 varieties of gazelle (2002) 96 Flinn, on the Bus 98 Different Ways to Pray 100 My Father and the Fig Tree 102 What Kind of Fool Am I? 103 The Words Under the Words 105 The Man Who Makes Brooms 106 Lunch in Nablus City Park 108 Red Brocade 109 For the 500th Dead Palestinian, Ibtisam Bozieh 110 Those Whom We Do Not Know 112 Visit 113 The Small Vases from Hebron 115 My Grandmother and the Stars 116 19 Varieties of Gazelle 118 Jerusalem 120 Ducks 122 Peace 124 Stone House 126 Bloodfrom You and Yours (2005) 128 Cross That Line 129 Someone I Love 131 Isle of Mull, Scotland 132 First Day Without You in 99 Years 133 Our Time 134 Fresh 135 The Day 136 For Mohammed Zeid of Gaza, Age 15 137 The Story, Around the Corner 138 During a War 139 The Sweet Arab, the Generous Arab 140 He Said EYE-RACK 141 The Boy Removes All Traces from His Room 142 It is not a game, it was never a game 144 The Light That Shines on Us Now 145 I Feel Sorry for Jesusfrom Transfer (2011) 148 Storyteller 149 Knowing 150 Amir & Anna 151 'The Only Democracy in the Middle East' 152 Maximum Security 153 Remembering William Stafford 154 Real Estate 155 Tiny Cucumbers 156 Swerve 157 Where Are You Now? 158 Hello, Palestine 159 For Aziz, Who Loved Jerusalem 160 Alive 161 The Young Poets of Winnipeg 162 Dear Mediator 163 Eye Contact with a Squirrel 164 Dallas 165 Burlington, Vermont 166 For Mutanabbi Street 167 Mystery 168 Endure 169 Ringing 170 Mom Gives Away Your Ties 171 At the Block Island FerryNew Poems (2008/2015) 174 Ted Kooser Is My President 175 The First Time I Was Old 176 Letters My Prez Is Not Sending 178 What Happened to the Air 179 Parents of Murdered Palestinian Boy Donate His Organs to Israelis 180 Gate A-4 182 One Way or Another 183 Business 184 A Few Questions for Bashar Assad 185 Arabs in Finland 186 Barbershop 187 It's Good to Sit Down with a Racist Every Now and Then 188 Landmine Kills 10 Girls Collecting Firewood 189 Broken 190 Only Pine Nuts Can Stop a War

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Book SynopsisTessa is a young, brilliant barrister. She has worked her way up from working-class origins to the top of her game: defending, cross-examining and winning. But an unexpected event forces her to confront the patriarchal power of the law, where the burden of proof and morality diverge. Prima Facie by Suzie Miller is an award-winning play for a solo actor, taking us deep into a world where emotion and integrity are in conflict with the rules of the game. After several acclaimed productions in Australia and winning the Australian Writers' Guild Award for Drama, the play received its European premiere at the Harold Pinter Theatre in London's West End in April 2022. It starred Jodie Comer, the Emmy and Bafta Award-winning star of TV's Killing Eve, making her West End debut.Trade ReviewA damning portrait of justice denied women… teems with rich nuance, testing sympathies… like a punch to the guts. --Telegraph; Suzie Miller's play is an outstanding piece of theatre that has a phenomenal impact. --Reviews Hub; An impassioned play about an important subject... blazing. --Time Out; Suzie Miller’s script is shrewd and economical in its analysis of how the system treats assault survivors... timely and timeless. -- Evening Standard; A Striking drama... Suzie Miller's text is pacy and punchy. --Independent; A polemical monologue that makes its point in style.... the cumulative effect is quite something. --The Times; A searing, intense indictment of the ways the legal system perpetuates the patriarchal order that has created it in the first place… The relevance of this unsettling drama for our present moment of #MeToo is obvious… joins the ranks of such works as Michaela Coel’s I May Destroy You and Nina Raine’s Consent… What we come to know is certainly disturbing, but, as in all great theatre, it strikes one as a true privilege to have made the journey --The Arts Desk

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Book SynopsisDuring his life, Geoffrey Chaucer (born c.1340) was courtier, diplomat, revenue collector, administrator, negotiator, overseer of building projects, landowner and knight of the shire. He was servant, retainer, husband, friend and father, but is now mainly known as a poet and ‘the father of English literature’, a postion to which he was raised by other writers in the generation after his death. It was Boccaccio’s Decameron which inspired Chaucer, in the 1390s, to begin work on The Canterbury Tales, which was still unfinished at his death in October 1400. It tells the story of a group of 30 pilgrims who meet at the Tabard Inn in Southwark, on the south bank of the Thames opposite the city of London, and travel together to visit the then famous shrine of St Thomas Becket in Canterbury cathedral. The tavern host, who accompanies them, suggests that they amuse one another along the way by telling stories, with the best storyteller awarded a meal in the tavern (paid for by all the others) on their return. The stories told by the pilgrims range from bawdy comedies through saints’ lives and moral tracts to courtly romances, always delivered with a generous helping of Chaucer’s own sly wit and ironic humour. Although basing his characters on the stereotypes of ‘estates satire’, Chaucer succeeds in his aim of producing an overview of his times and their culture, for posterity, in the manner of Italian, proto-Renaissance, writers.This transcription and edition is taken from British Library MS Harley 7334, produced within ten years of Chaucer’s death. The on-page notes and glosses aim to enable readers with little or no previous experience of medieva

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Book SynopsisMahmoud Darwish (1942-2008) was the poetic voice of the Palestinian people. One of the most acclaimed contemporary poets in the Arab world, he was also a prominent spokesman for human rights who spent most of his life in exile. In his early work, the features of his beloved land - its flowers and birds, towns and waters - were an integral part of poems witnessing a string of political and humanitarian tragedies afflicting his people. In his most recent books, his writing stands at the border of earth and sky, reality and myth, poetry and prose. Returning to Palestine in 1996, he settled in Ramallah, where he surprised his huge following in the Arab world by writing a book of love, The Stranger’s Bed (1998), singing of love as a private exile, not about exile as a public love. A State of Siege (2002) was his response to the second Intifada, his testament not only to human suffering but to art under duress, art in transmutation. The 47 short lyrics of Don’t Apologise for What You’ve Done (2003) form a transfiguring incarnation or incantation of the poet after the carnage. The Butterfly’s Burden is a translation of these three recent books. It was awarded the Saif Ghobash–Banipal Prize for Arabic Literary Translation in 2008. Arabic-English bilingual edition.

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Book SynopsisTwo plays by award-winning playwright Marie Jones: the smash hit Stones in His Pockets, which ran for four years in London's West End; and an earlier monologue, A Night in November, exploring the subjects of football and sectarianism, set during the 1994 World Cup. Stones in His Pockets is a comedy with a poignant undercurrent, about a small rural town in Ireland where a Hollywood epic is being filmed. The story centres on Charlie Conlon and Jake Quinn, who, like much of the town, are employed as extras for the filming. After a tragic incident concerning a local teenager, Charlie and Jake assume responsibility for giving an account of events, taking on all the roles themselves. A two-hander that delights in exploring the limits of comedy and theatricality, and the collision of romanticised notions of 'Irishness' and the harsher reality, Stones in His Pockets has delighted audiences around the world. Marie Jones's play was first staged at the Lyric Theatre in Belfast in June 1999 before opening at the Tricycle Theatre, London, in August 1999. It transferred to the New Ambassadors Theatre, London, in May 2000. Stones in His Pockets won the 2001 Olivier Award for Best New Comedy. A Night in November is a one-man show following Kenneth McCallister, family man and Ulsterman, on the fateful night in November in Belfast when the Republic of Ireland qualifies against Northern Ireland for the World Cup, and Kenneth finds himself watching the sectarian hatred of the crowd rather than the football. A Night in November was first performed at The West Belfast Festival, Whiterock, Belfast, in August 1994, then toured extensively throughout Ireland, and was also seen in New York. It was staged in London at the Tricycle Theatre in March 1995.Trade Review'[Stones in His Pockets is] a delightful piece... often richly funny' * Daily Telegraph *'[Stones in His Pockets is] an unalloyed source of joy, laughter, tears and delight... Marie Jones's script digs deep and dark while giving us two hours of serious pleasure' * Daily Mail *'[In Stones in His Pockets,] Jones builds an astonishingly complete, acute, funny and humane picture - a complete theatrical tour de force - hilarious, loveable and at times even breathtaking' * Scotsman *'[Stones in His Pockets] is clearly magical, dealing as it does with myths, memories, class and sex, with two actors who create a whole world on stage. The play itself not only sends up the delirious fantasy of film, it becomes a moving and heartfelt tribute to the imaginative power of live performance' * Guardian *'If there is a more cleverly constructed, enterprisingly acted play [than Stones in His Pockets] on offer in London right now, I cannot think of it' * The Times *

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Book SynopsisThe appreciation of Zen philosophy and art has become universal, and Zen poetry, with its simple expression of direct, intuitive insight and sudden enlightenment, appeals to lovers of poetry, spirituality, and beauty everywhere. This collection of translations of the classical Zen poets of China, Japan and Korea includes the work of Zen practioners and monks as well as scholars, artists, travellers and recluses, and covers fifteen centuries of Oriental literature with poets ranging from Xie Lingyun (5th century) through Wang Wei and Hanshan (8th century) and Yang Wan-li (12th century) to Shinkei (15th) Basho (17th) and Ryokan (19th).

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Book SynopsisA delightful anthology of poems sent by many contemporary writers as Christmas cards. From Advent to the New Year, these poems encompass the nativity, the natural world, weather and time's passing, religious and secular celebrations at home and abroad. Wendy Cope welcomes the Christmas life into the house, Seamus Heaney remembers holly-gathering. Gillian Clarke cradles a newborn lamb, and Edwin Morgan tabulates a computer's Christmas card.... Here are eighty poems with a variety of Christmas messages - hopeful, cautionary, joyous, full of wonder.Trade Review'one of the most delightful anthologies to be published in years. It's beautifully illustrated and the poems...echo...with charm and sheer joy'Sir Trevor McDonald

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Book SynopsisA classic in the Bukowski poetry canon, Love Is a Dog from Hell is a raw, lyrical, exploration of the exigencies, heartbreaks, and limits of love.A book that captures the Dirty Old Man of American letters at his fiercest and most vulnerable, on a subject that hits home with all of us.

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Book SynopsisWhy fear Shakespeare? By placing the words of the original play next to line-by-line translations in plain English, this popular guide makes Shakespeare accessible to everyone. And now it features expanded literature guide sections that help students study smarter.

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Book SynopsisThe Acharnians/The Clouds/Lysistrata''We women have the salvation of Greece in our hands''Writing at a time of political and social crisis in Athens, the ancient Greek comic playwright Aristophanes was an eloquent, yet bawdy, challenger to the demagogue and the sophist. In Lysistrata and The Acharnians, two pleas for an end to the long war between Athens and Sparta, a band of women on a sex strike and a lone peasant respectively defeat the political establishment. The darker comedy of The Clouds satirizes Athenian philosophers, Socrates in particular, and reflects the uncertainties of a generation in which all traditional religious and ethical beliefs were being challenged. Translated with an Introduction and Notes by Alan H. SommersteinTable of ContentsLysistrata and Other PlaysChronologyIntroductionFurther ReadingTranslator's NoteNote on the TextPreface to The AcharniansTHE ACHARNIANSPreface to The CloudsTHE CLOUDSPreface to LysistrataLYSISTRATANotes

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Book SynopsisOne of the major figures of English Romanticism, Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834) created works of remarkable diversity and imaginative genius. The period of his creative friendship with William Wordsworth inspired some of Coleridge''s best-known poems, from the nightmarish vision of the ''Rime of the Ancient Mariner'' and the opium-inspired ''Kubla Khan'' to the sombre passion of ''Dejection: An Ode'' and the medieval ballad ''Christabel''. His meditative ''conversation'' poems, such as ''Frost at Midnight'' and ''This Lime-Tree Bower Mr Prison'', reflect on remembrance and solitude, while late works, such as ''Youth and Age'' and ''Constancy to an Ideal Object'', are haunting meditations on mortality and lost love.Table of ContentsThe Complete PoemsIntroductionAcknowledgmentsTable of DatesFurther ReadingThe PoemsEaster HolidaysDura navisNil pejus est caelibe vitaSonnet to the Autumnal MoonJuliaQuae nocent docentThe NoseLifeTo the MuseDestruction of the BastilleAnthem for the Children of Christ's HospitalProgress of ViceMonody on the Death of Chatteron (first version)Monody on the Death of Chatteron (second version)An InvocationAnna and HarlandTo the Evening StarPainOn a Lady WeepingMonody on a Tea-KettleGenevieveOn Receiving an Account that his Only Sister's Death Was InevitableA Mathematical ProblemHonourOn ImitationInside the CoachDevonshire RoadsMusicAbsence: A Farewell Ode on Quitting School for Jesus College, CambridgeSonnet on the SameHappinessA Wish Written in Jesus Wood, Feb. 10th, 1792An Ode in the Manner of AnacreonTo DisappointmentA Fragment Found in a Lecture-RoomOdeA Lover's Complaint to his MistressWith Fielding's AmeliaWritten After a Walk Before SupperImitated from OssianThe Complaint of Ninathoma, from the SameThe RoseKissesSonnet ("Thou gentle look")Sonnet to the River OtterLines on an Autumnal EveningTo Fortune: On Buying a Ticket in the Irish LotteryPerspiration: A Travelling EclogueLines written at the King's Arms, Ross, formerly the House of the "Man of Ross"Imitated from the WelshLines to a Beautiful Spring in a VillageImitations Ad LyramThe SighThe KissTo a Young Lady, with a Poem on the French RevolutionTranslation of Wrangham's "Hendecasyllabi ad Bruntonam e Granta Exituram"To Miss Brunton with the Preceding TranslationEpitaph on an Infant[Pantisocracy]On the Prospect of Establishing a Pantisocracy in AmericaElegy, Imitated from One of Akenside's Blank-Verse InscriptionsThe Faded FlowerSonnet ("Pale Roamer through the night!")Domestic PeaceSonnet ("Thou bleedest, my poor Heart!")Sonnet to the Author of the "Robbers"Melancholy: A FragmentSongs of the PixiesTo a Young Ass, its Mother being Tethered Near itLines on a Friend Who Died of a Frenzy Fever Induced by Calumnious ReportsTo a Friend, together with an Unfinished PoemSonnets on Eminent Characters:1. To the Honourable Mr. Erskine2. Burke3. Priestly4. La Fayette5. Koskiusko6. Pitt7. To the Rev. W. L. Bowles (two versions)8. Mrs. Siddons9. To William Godwin, Author of "Political Justice"10. To Robert Southey, of Balliol College, Oxford, Author of the "Retrospect," and Other Poems11. To Richard Brinsley Sheridan, Esq.12. To Lord Stanhope, on Reading his Late Protest in the House of LordsTo Earl StanhopeLines to a Friend in Answer to a Melancholy LetterTo an InfantTo the Rev. W. J. Hort, while teaching a young lady some song-tunes on his fluteSonnet ("Sweet Mercy! how my very heart has bled")To the NightingaleLines composed while climbing the left ascent of Brockley Coomb, Somersetshire, May, 1795Lines in the Manner of SpenserTo the Author of Poems published anonymously at Bristol in September 1795The Production of a Young Lady, addressed to the author of the poems alluded to in the preceding epistleEffusion XXXV. Composed August 20th, 1795, at Clevedon, SomersetshireThe Eolian HarpLines written at Shurton Bars, near Bridgewater, September, 1795, in answer to a letter from BristolReflections on Having Left a Place of RetirementOn Donne's PoetryThe Hour When We Shall Meet AgainThe Destiny of NationsReligious MusingsFrom an Unpublished PoemOn Observing a Blossom on the First of February, 1796Verses addressed to J. Horne TookeOn a Late Connubial Rupture in High LifeSonnet written on receiving letters informing me of the birth of a Son, I being at BirminghamSonnet composed on a journey homeward; the author having received intelligence of the birth of a son, Sept. 20th, 1796Sonnet to a friend who asked, how I felt when the nurse first presented my infant to meSonnet [to Charles Lloyd]To a Young Friend, on his Proposing to Domesticate with the Author. Composed in 1796Addressed to a Young Man of Fortune Who Abandoned Himself to an Indolent and Causeless MelancholyTo a Friend Who Had Declared his Intention of Writing No More PoetryOde to the Departing YearThe RavenTo an Unfortunate Woman at the TheatreTo an Unfortunate WomanTo the Rev. George ColeridgeOn the Christening of a Friend's ChildInscription by the Rev. W. L. Bowles in Nether Stowey ChurchThis Lime-Tree Bower My PrisonThe Foster-Mother's TaleThe DungeonSonnets Attempted in the Manner of Contemporary Writers: Sonnet I; Sonnet II; Sonnet IIIParliamentary OscillatorsThe Rime of the Ancyent Marinere (1798)The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (1834)ChristabelLines to W. L. while he Sang a Song to Purcell's MusicThe Three GravesThe Wanderings of CainFire, Famine, and SlaughterThe Old Man of the AlpsThe Apotheosis, or The Snow-DropFrost at MidnightFrance. An OdeLewti, or the Circassian Love-ChauntTo a Young Lady on her Recovery from a FeverFears in SolitudeThe NightingaleThe Ballad of the Dark LadieKubla Khan: Or, A Vision in a Dream[Lines from a notebook - September 1798][Hexameters:] William, My Teacher, My Friend![Translation of a passage in Ottfried's metrical paraphrase of the Gospel][Fragmentary translation of the Song of Deborah]Catullian HendecasyllablesThe Homeric Hexameter Described and ExemplifiedThe Ovidian Elegiac Metre Described and ExemplifiedOn a CataractTell's Birth-PlaceThe Visit of the GodsOn an Infant which Died before BaptismSomething Childish, but Very NaturalHome-Sick, Written in GermanyThe Virgin's Cradle-HymnLines written in the album at Elbingerode, in the Hartz ForestThe British Stripling's War-SongNamesThe Devil's ThoughtsLines Composed in a Concert-RoomThe Exchange[Paraphase of Psalm 46. Hexameters]Hymn to the Earth. HexametersMahometOde to Georgiana, Duchess of DevonshireA Christmas CarolOn an InsignificantJob's LuckLoveThe Madman and the Lethargist, an ExampleOn a Volunteer SingerTalleyrand to Lord GrenvilleThe Two Round Spaces on the Tomb-StoneThe Mad MonkA Stranger MinstrelInscription for a Seat by the Road Side Half-Way Up a Steep Hill Facing SouthApologia Pro Vita SuaThe Night-Scene: A Dramatic FragmentOn Revisiting the Sea-ShoreInscription for a Fountain on a HeathDrinking versus ThinkingAn Ode to the RainThe Wills of the WispOde to TranquillityA Letter to ___, April 4, 1802. - Sunday EveningDejection: An Ode[A Soliloquy of the full Moon, She being in a Mad Passion]Answer to a Child's QuestionA Day DreamThe Day-DreamTo AsraThe Happy HusbandA Thought Suggested by a View of Saddleback in Cumberland[Untitled]The KeepsakeThe Picture, or the Lover's ResolutionHymn before Sun-Rise, in the Vale of ChamouniThe Good, Great ManThe Knight's TombTo Matilda Betham from a StrangerWestphalian SongThe Pains of Sleep[Lines from a notebook - September 1803][Lines from a notebook - February-March 1804][What is Life?][Lines from a notebook - April 1805][Lines from a notebook - May-June 1805]Phantom[An Angel Visitant]Reason for Love's Blindness[Untitled]Constancy to an Ideal Object[Lines from a notebook - March 1806][Lines from a notebook - June 1806]Farewell to LoveTime, Real and Imaginary[Lines from a notebook - 1806][Lines from a notebook - October-November 1806][Lines from a notebook - 1806][Lines from a notebook - November-December 1806][Lines from a notebook - February 1807][Lines from a notebook - February 1807][Lines from a manuscript - 1807-8][Lines from a notebook - July 1807; includes lines previously published separately as "Coeli enarrant"][Lines from a notebook - January 1808]To William WordsworthMetrical Feet. Lesson for a BoyRecollections of LoveThe Blossoming of the Solitary Date-Tree. A LamentTo Two SistersOn Taking Leave of ___, 1817A Child's Evening PrayerAd Vilmum AxiologumPsyche[Sonnet - translated from Marino][Fragment: "Two wedded Hearts"]A Tombless EpitaphOn a Clock in a Market-PlaceSeparationThe Visionary Hope[Lines from a notebook - March 1810][Lines from a notebook - April-June 1810][Lines from a notebook - May 1810]Epitaph on an Infant[Lines from a notebook - 1811][Fragment of an ode on Napoleon][Lines inscribed on the fly-leaf of Benedetto Menzini's "Poesie" (1782)][Lines from a notebook - May-June 1811][Lines from a notebook - May-July 1811][Lines from a notebook - May 1814?][Lines from a notebook - 1815-16]On Donne's First PoemLimboMolesNe plus ultraThe Suicide's Argument[An Invocation: from "Remorse"]God's Omnipresence, a HymnTo a Lady. With Falconer's "Shipwreck"Human Life, On the Denial of Immortality[Song from "Zapolya"][Hunting Song from "Zapolya"][Faith, Hope, and Charity. From the Italian of Guarini]Fancy in NubibusIsrael's LamentA CharacterLines to a Comic Author, on an Abusive ReviewTo NatureThe Tears of a Grateful PeopleFirst Advent of Love[Reason][Lines from a notebook - 1822]From the GermanThe Reproof and ReplyYouth and AgeDesireThe Delinquent TravellersSong, ex improvisoWork Without HopeThe Two FountsThe Pang More Sharp Than AllSancti Dominici PalliumThe ImprovisatoreLove's Burial-Place: A MadrigalLines Suggested by the Last Words of BerengariusEpitaphium testamentariumDuty Surviving Self-Love[Homeless]SongProfuse KindnessWritten in an AlbumTo Mary PridhamVerses TrivocularWater BalladCologneOn my Joyful Departure from the Same City[The Netherlands]The Garden of BocaccioAlice du Clos: Or The Forked Tongue. A BalladLove, Hope, and Patience in Education[Lines written in commonplace book of Miss Barbour]To Miss A. T.Love and Friendship OppositeNot at HomeW. H. Eheu!Phantom or Fact?Charity in ThoughtHumility the Mother of Charity["Gently I took that which ungently came"]Cholera Cured Before HandLove's Apparition and EvanishmentTo the Young Artist, Kayser of KaserwerthKnow ThyselfMy Baptismal Birth-DayEpitaphAppendices:1. On the Wretched Lot of the Slaves in the Isles of Western India2. [Notebook draft of an essay on punctuation]NotesIndex of TitlesIndex of First Lines

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Book SynopsisThe selected poems of a legendary romantic.Described as 'Mad, bad and dangerous to know' by one of his lovers, Lady Caroline Lamb, Lord Byron was the quintessential Romantic. Flamboyant, charismatic and brilliant, he remains almost as notorious for his life - as a political revolutionary, sexual adventurer and traveller - as he does for his literary work. Yet he produced some of the most daring and exuberant poetry of the Romantic age, from 'To Caroline' and 'To Woman' to the satirical English Bards and Scotch Reviewers, his exotic Eastern tales and the colourful narrative of Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, the work that made him famous overnight and gave birth to the idea of the brooding Byronic hero.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. RTable of ContentsSelected Poems (Byron)IntroductionTable of DatesFurther ReadingA Note on This EditionA Fragment ('When, to their airy hall, my fathers' voice')To WomanThe CornelianTo Caroline ('You say you love, and yet your eye')English Bards And Scotch Reviewers: A SatireLines to Mr Hodgson (Written on Board the Lisbon Packet)Maid of Athens, ere we partWritten after Swimming from Sestos to AbydosTo Thyrza ('Without a stone to mark the spot')Childe Harold's Pilgrimage: A Romaunt, Cantos I-IIPreface to the First and Second CantosTo IantheCanto the FirstCanto the SecondAppendix to Canto the SecondAn Ode to the Framers of the Frame BillLines to a Lady WeepingThe Waltz: An Apostrophic HymnRemember Thee! Remember Thee!The Giaour: A Fragment of a Turkish TaleThe Bride of Abydos: A Turkish TaleThe Corsair: A TaleOde to Napoleon BuonaparteStanzas for MusicShe walks in beautyLara: A TaleThe Destruction of Sennacherib Napoleon's Farewell (From the French)From the French ('Must thou go, my glorious Chief')The Siege of CorinthWhen we two partedFare thee well!PrometheusThe Prisoner of Chillon: A Fable and Sonnet on ChillonDarknessChilde Harold's Pilgrimage: A Romaunt, Canto IIIEpistle to Augusta ('My sister! my sweet sister!' &c.)Lines (On Hearing that Lady Byron was Ill)Manfred: A Dramatic PoemSo, we'll go no more a rovingChilde Harold's Pilgrimage: A Romaunt, Canto IVEpistle from Mr Murray to Dr Polidori ('Dear Doctor, I have read your play')Beppo: A Venetian StoryEpistle to Mr Murray ('My dear Mr Murray')MazeppaStanzas to the PoThe Isles of GreeceFrancesca of Rimini. From the Inferno of Dante, Canto the FifthStanzas ('When a man hath no freedom')Sardanapalus: A TragedyWho kill'd John Keats?The Blues" A Literary EclogueThe Vision of JudgmentOn This Day I Complete My Thirty-Sixth YearNotesWorks Cited in the NotesIndex of TitlesIndex of First Lines

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Book SynopsisThe inspiration for the major motion picture The Green Knight starring Dev Patel.An early English poem of magic, chivalry and seduction Composed during the fourteenth century in the English Midlands, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight describes the events that follow when a mysterious green-coloured knight rides into King Arthur's Camelot in deep mid-winter. The mighty knight presents a challenge to the court: he will allow himself to be struck by one blow, on the condition that he will be allowed to return the strike on the following New Year's Eve. Sir Gawain takes up the challenge, decapitating the stranger - only to see the Green Knight seize up his own severed head and ride away, leaving Gawain to seek him out and honour their pact. Blending Celtic myth and Christian faith, Gawain is among the greatest Middle English poems: a tale of magic, chivalry and seduction.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the

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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 SynopsisAn enchanting collection of the very best of Russian poetry, edited by acclaimed translator Robert Chandler together with poets Boris Dralyuk and Irina MashinskiIn the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, poetry's pre-eminence in Russia was unchallenged, with Pushkin and his contemporaries ushering in the 'Golden Age' of Russian literature. Prose briefly gained the high ground in the second half of the nineteenth century, but poetry again became dominant in the 'Silver Age' (the early twentieth century), when belief in reason and progress yielded once more to a more magical view of the world. During the Soviet era, poetry became a dangerous, subversive activity; nevertheless, poets such as Osip Mandelstam and Anna Akhmatova continued to defy the censors. This anthology traces Russian poetry from its Golden Age to the modern era, including work by several great poets - Georgy Ivanov and Varlam Shalamov among them - in captivating modern translations by Robert CTrade ReviewIt is marvellous -- George Szirtes * New Statesman *This extraordinary anthology has no precedent or peer ... Finally, a comprehensive collection of fine, often extraordinarily fine, translations, with accurate and acute background and critical information ... Robert Chandler and Boris Dralyuk are not just the editors, they are the chief translators, outstanding in their unerring feel for the sense of the original and ways in which the English language can match it ... This book provides a much-needed entry into Russian poetry -- Professor Donald Rayfield * PN Review *This anthology is ambitious - in scope, biographical apparatus and in what it expects of its translators [...] As you read through the names which, great and small, form the 20th century's poetic roll of honour, the introductory biographies (excellent throughout) strike repeatedly gloomy notes of censorship, banishment and worse. Times have changed: the uncensored individual voice has lost authority, and the children of the new Russia have yet to be heard. Anthologies such as this should remind them why their country's poetry once so greatly mattered * Observer *A new poetic world ... The editors have used this anthology to open up exciting new horizons. Russian literature, after Stalin, suddenly looks very different. Surely that is what anthologies are for * Standpoint *A stunning anthology. It is a treasure house of poetic riches and a monument to the lives of those who created them -- David Cooke * London Grip *Russia's proud poetic heritage is revived brilliantly in English in this new anthology from Penguin Classics * RTÉ Ten *This is a lively collection complete with informative pen portraits ... It embraces the sweep of modern Russian history, including the now somewhat neglected Soviet period, imparting something of the profundity, humanity and suffering of that experience, whilst remaining upbeat and amusing, in the best traditions of Russian art * The Spokesman *It is tempting to describe this book as encyclopaedic. In as much as it opens only in about 1780 and is able tocover only a very limited amount of the work of a finite number of poets, of course it is not. But the great quantity and range of material that is included, plus the wonderfully informative Introduction, Bibliography and Notes that we have come to expect of any work in which Robert Chandler has had a hand, do indeed take it a long way towards qualifying for that descriptor -- Andrew Sheppard * East-West Review *The glory of Russian literature is its poetic tradition, and it remains little known in the English-speaking world. This ample anthology, a labour of love on the part of its three editors, seeks to rectify that situation ... The ultimate goal of any translation is to inspire. The Penguin Book of Russian Poetry closes with four wonderful English poems by non-Russians (one by Chandler himself), and if immersion in this volume contributes to further creativity of this sort, it will have justified its place on our bookshelves. * TLS *The appearance of this anthology is a major advance in the appreciation of Russian poetry in the West ... the breadth of coverage is outstanding * Society for Co-operation in Russian and Soviet Studies *This new anthology is a major and surely lasting achievement that will represent Russian poetry memorably to a new generation of anglophone readers * Translation and Literature *A lucky find for Slavic scholars, English-speaking Russophiles, and poetry lovers of many stripes ... Even if Russia cannot fully be understood, its poetry, at least, is something to be believed in * Russian Life *What the three editors have set out to give us is not literary history, but the experience of Russian poetry as a living organism in English ... A lively collection that will be a standard work for years to come * Australian Book Review *A Keatsian thing of beauty and a joy forever. It is a book that enables us to meet long-dead poets as we read their work ... and an ambitious search for the elusive Russian soul -- Phoebe Taplin * American Book Review *This book will create many new readers of Russian poetry. The editors' presentation is authoritative and expansive ... Special appeal, though, lies in gorgeous translations that read as stand-alone poems * Slavic Review *The Penguin Book of Russian Poetry ... dramatically changed the shape of Russian poetry. As you read on, the landscape becomes stranger and more unfamiliar, especially as you come to the late twentieth century. Almost 150 pages of post-war poetry, nearly thirty poets, most of them unfamiliar to many English­speaking readers. New names. A new poetic world. Our sense of Russian literature has changed dramatically in recent years -- David Herman

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Book SynopsisA new edition of the most widely known and popular collection of Japanese poetry.The best-loved and most widely read of all Japanese poetry collections, the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu contains 100 short poems on nature, the seasons, travel, and, above all, love. Dating back to the seventh century, these elegant, precisely observed waka poems (the precursor of haiku) express deep emotion through visual images based on a penetrating observation of the natural world. Peter MacMillan''s new translation of his prize-winning original conveys even more effectively the beauty and subtlety of this magical collection.Translated with an introduction and commentary by Peter MacMillan.Trade ReviewBy far the best translation to date -- Donald KeeneFor more than seven centuries, these poems have resonated with countless readers ... [Peter Macmillan's] excellent new translation of these poems makes clear why they have mattered so much for so long ... [revealing] the vivid emotions that have kept the heart of the collection beating all this time * TIME *

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Book SynopsisWhat happens when two sets of parents meet up to deal with the unruly behaviour of their children? A calm and rational debate between grown-ups about the need to teach ids how to behave properly? Or a hysterical night of name-calling, tantrums and tears before bedtime?Boys will be boys, but the adults are usually worse - much worse.Christopher Hampton''s translation of Yasmina Reza''s sharp-edged play God of Carnage premiered at the Gielgud Theatre, London, in March 2008. Christopher Hampton has translated five plays by Yasmina Reza: ''Art'', The Unexpected Man, Conversations after a Burial, Life x 3 and God of Carnage.Winner of three 2009 Tony Awards, including Best Play.Winner of the 2009 Olivier Award for Best Comedy.Trade Review"Reza holds the mirror up to bourgeois hypocrisy withthe savage indignation of a born satirist", Guardian. "A triumph! Brilliantly translated by Christopher Hampton", Daily Express.

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

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Book SynopsisWhen Odysseus Elytis was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, the Swedish Academy's citation singled out The Axion Esti, first published in 1959, as 'one of twentieth-century literature's concentrated and richly faceted poems.'

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Book Synopsis

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Book SynopsisHe was like a rugby man,He hit her like a rugby man,Straight into her shoulder,The momentum of the crash,Dragging her beyond the kerb,Towards the front tyre of my bus.Early one morning on Putney Bridge, three strangers' lives collided for one fleeting second.Inspired by real events, Once Upon a Bridge weaves a tale about human triumph and frailty, about the power of destiny and chance, and why sometimes we choose to hate and other times we choose to dance.Commissioned by Ireland''s Druid Theatre and live-streamed from Mick Lally theatre in Galway, Sonya Kelly''s latest play received a string of excellent reviews for its bold intimacy and engaging story telling.Trade ReviewHas a clever, teasing quality, especially in its ambiguous ending. Described as a fairytale, it is one that can accommodate commentary on issues of race, postcolonial identities and the assumptions we make about status and social class. * Guardian *Absorbing ... Sonya Kelly’s fascinating new drama is an insightful exploration of unchecked aggression and its regretful aftermath. * Irish Times *

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Book SynopsisA revised edition of this acclaimed and best-selling edition of Shakespeare's Sonnets and updated throughout to take account of recent scholarship since its first publication in 1997.Trade Review"... this must now be the edition of first resort." Paul Hammond, Review of English Studies

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Book SynopsisGood evening. I'm Inspector Carter. Take my case. This must be Charles Haversham! I'm sorry, this must've given you all a damn shock. After benefitting from a large and sudden inheritance, the inept and accident-prone Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society embark on producing an ambitious 1920s murder mystery. They are delighted that neither casting issues nor technical hitches currently stand in their way. However, hilarious disaster ensues and the cast start to crack under the pressure, but can they get the production back on track before the final curtain falls? The Play That Goes Wrong is a farcical murder mystery, a play within a play, conceived and performed by award-winning company Mischief. It was first published as a one-act play and is published in this new edition as a two-act play.Trade ReviewImmaculately staged . . . reduced even a staid matinee audience to hysterics * The Times *Effortless slapstick that Keaton and Chaplin would be hard pushed to trump * Whatsonstage *For a side-splitting, jolly good laugh, The Play That Goes Wrong is exactly what the doctor ordered * British Theatre Guide *A highly developed sense of mischief and cheeky aplomb ... it's all very silly ... but it's done with just the right amount of tongue-in-cheek. * Guardian *Boy does it hit the funny bone ... a rising tide of hysteria ... an enduring cult hit in the making * Daily Telegraph *This new comedy has, of course, actually done everything right . . . there are laughs to be had here . . . * Time Out London *Farce is rarely funnier; the theatre of the absurd, rarely more surreal. * Independent *often very funny . . . slapstick, done well, can reduce even the gravest souls into tears and there are some perfectly timed pratfalls here * Financial Times *these improv stand-up Lamda graduates are definitely on to something. * Daily Express *

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