Showing titles in Themes & Styles

Despite William Shakespeare being regarded as the most significant figure in the Western literary canon, relatively little is known about his early life and his later ‘lost years’. Even the exact date of his birth is uncertain. 23rd April generally accepted to be the date of his birth, could be a scholarly mistake amplified by the coincidence of it also being the date of his death. His iconic status now spans global literature and stems directly from the magnitude of his plays, both tragedies and comedies, and his poetry which is often cited as some of the greatest love poetry ever written.

In this stunning volume, acclaimed poet Kwame Dawes explores the mythic, ancestral, and spiritual journeys that make up a life. The site of the ruined ancestral home of Kwame Dawes’s family, in one of the earliest post-slavery free villages in Jamaica, Sturge Town is at once a place of myth and, for Dawes, a metaphor of the journeying that has taken him from Ghana, through Jamaica, and to the United States.

Thyestes is a tragic rendition of the fraternal civil war within House Atreides. This 1st century A.D. play was written by the Stoic philosopher Seneca and has been translated into readable prose for a 21st century audience.

From National Poetry Series Competition winner Stephanie Horvath, a haunting, dreamlike odyssey through the landscapes and ethos of America In Field of Vision, we travel the landscape of human emotion—and the American landscape becomes emotion, as through deserts, forests, rivers, and coasts...

The Space-Born is a rare poetic work by Manly P. Hall, presented here as a complete cycle of meditative poems reflecting on human consciousness and its relationship to the infinite. Best known for works such as The Secret Teachings of All Ages and Initiates of the Flame, Hall adopts a quieter and more interior voice in this volume. These poems do not teach through argument or exposition, but through image, rhythm, and reflective cadence. Together, they form a contemplative sequence concerned with inner awakening, moral responsibility, and the meeting point between spirit and lived experience.

The protagonist Beowulf, a hero of the Geats, comes to the aid of Hrothgar, king of the Danes, whose great hall, Heorot, is plagued by the monster Grendel. Beowulf kills Grendel with his bare hands, then kills Grendel's mother with a giant's sword that he found in her lair. Later in his life, Beowulf becomes king of the Geats, and finds his realm terrorized by a dragon, some of whose treasure had been stolen from his hoard in a burial mound.

Drawing upon everyday incidents, common situations, and rural imagery, Robert Frost fashioned poetry of great lyrical beauty and potent symbolism. His language is simple, clear, and colloquial, yet dense with meaning and wider significance. This brilliant collection features some of Frost's greatest works, including "The Road Not Taken," "Asking for Roses," "The Death of the Hired Man," "In the Home Stretch," "Into My Own," "Meeting and Passing," "Mending Wall," and more.

The Divine Comedy (Italian: Divina Commedia) is an Italian narrative poem by Dante Alighieri, begun c. 1308 and completed in 1320, a year before his death in 1321. It is widely considered the pre-eminent work in Italian literature and one of the greatest works of world literature. The poem's imaginative vision of the afterlife is representative of the medieval worldview as it had developed in the Western Church by the 14th century. It helped establish the Tuscan language, in which it is written, as the standardized Italian language. It is divided into three parts.

This poetic exploration of the subject of love was composed in Italy 1821, and published anonymously, as the poet wished its circulation to be restricted to the "esoteric few." The title means "concerning or about a little soul", the subject, in this case, being Shelley's inamorata of the time, Countess Teresa (designated "Emily" in the poem) Viviani, a young woman who was immured in the Convent of Saint Anna by her father. Shelley had had a number of contacts with her by letter and in person.

Experience the stunning Greek poetry of Homer in this collection of his two major works: The Iliad and The Odyssey. These epic poems are beloved for their presentation of Greek history and belief systems, their strong theming and lessons on Greek virtues, and their continued influence on the literary canon.

From Malawian storyteller Upile Chisala comes a collection of poetry and prose exploring the self, joy, Blackness, gender, matters of the heart, spirituality, the experience of Diaspora, and above all, how we survive. Told in five parts, soft magic is a shared healing journey.

Beautifully and eloquently conceived, Awakening of the Heart will take you on a journey of self-discovery and personal transformation from the deepest of heartbreaks to blooming in love again: You will find yourself cocooned in a rebirth that will speak to the deepest parts of your soul: a powerful "awakening" in rediscovering what love truly means. Awakening of the Heart is the must-have book, not only for poetry lovers, but for anyone who wants to explore their own "awakening".

Through poems that are as unforgettably beautiful as they are accessible, Kate Baer proves herself to truly be an exemplary voice in modern poetry. Her words make women feel seen in their own bodies, in their own marriages and in their own lives. Her poems are those you share with your mother, your daughter, your sister and your friends.

Gibran considered The Prophet his greatest achievement. He said: "I think I've never been without The Prophet since I first conceived it in Mount Lebanon. It seems to have been a part of me....I kept the manuscript four years before I delivered it over to my publisher because I wanted to be sure, I wanted to be very sure, that every word of it was the very best I had to offer."

In this book, I share some genuine and unfiltered words from my heart, so that my Muslim sisters around the world can know that their struggles are acknowledged, and valid. I delve into topics such as the impact of mental health, the influence of social media, the beauty of the hijab, seeking righteous companionship, finding a suitable spouse, striving for a flourishing community, and more.

Journey is a collection of poems that offers a reflective look at various periods and experiences of Wade Hudson's life journey. There are poems about growing up in Mansfield, LA, a small, Jim Crow town in the south and the people who nurtured him and loved him. There are poems about the Black...

The language of Poetry is an art that most of us attempt at some point in our lives. Although its commonplace exposure has been somewhat marginalised in today’s often fast-paced lives we all recognise good verse that can empathise with our thoughts or open us up to experience new things in new ways

Drawing inspiration from the art of Kintsugi, the Japanese technique of mending broken pottery with gold, Carol beautifully weaves together the shattered fragments of her heart, transforming them into a life worth living. Divided into three sections, "Shattered", "In Pieces", and "Making Broken Beautiful", this book of poems chronicles the full spectrum of the grieving experience. With raw honesty, Carol illuminates the pain and loneliness that accompany loss, the disorienting struggle to adapt to a changed world, and the gentle steps towards self-discovery.

My poetry is about catching a glimpse of a doorway to another world, there is a sense of a spiritual yearning to know that place and to connect with it. It lies beneath or throughout our world and pulling it into concrete form is not an easy task but it is a gift to me when it happens. It creates something I love. I touch this world in landscape and in nature and sometimes in a particular place like in the Rock of Dunamase. If you have travelled in Ireland, you will know some of these landscapes and their temperaments well.

Кобзар — збірка поетичних творів геніального українського митця Тараса Григоровича Шевченка, що увібрала в собі найбільш видатні його вірші та поеми. Твори, що увійшли до складу «Кобзаря», писалися на тернистих шляхах життя Шевченка, в неволі, у мандрах та вигнанні. Книга складалася поступово, її формувала сама доля великого українського кріпака. Надзвичайно милозвучною мовою автор розповідає про велич та красу українського народу, малює картину його історії та побуту, його трагедій та негараздів, натхнень та прагнень.