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Tumbling for Amateurs
by Matthew GwathmeyA reimagining of an instructional text on tumbling supports poems about the amateurishness of being human. Tumbling for Amateurs is a reimagining of James Tayloe Gwathmey’s 1910 book of the same name, published as part of Spalding’s Athletic Library. Bookended with “Propositions” on why tumbling is a skill that everyone should learn and “Extracts from Letters of Support,” each verso poem in this collection pairs with a recto illustration based on drawings from the source text. In the spirit of William Blake’s Songs of Innocence and of Experience, word and image work for each other, creating something more than just an instructional manual. Tumbling is, well, a metaphor for everything. And we all are, well, amateurs. Experimentation abounds in these poems and manipulated pictures. There are anaphoras, list sonnets, erasures, palimpsests and concrete poems, all working from tumbling’s limited vocabulary and central focus of acrobatics and gymnastics. In this experimentation of form and text is a search for the lyric, for an emotional connection when one isn’t always possible, in bodies, in movement, in desire. “We measure our lives by what our bodies can do.” “We have no other way to touch each other. / Really no other way to touch each other. / We seek this particular exercise because / we have no other way to touch each other." Like the tumbling acts from which they spring, Gwathmey's poems are delightfully performative. They leap, loop, and reconfigure familiar forms into fresh and acrobatic new intimacies. Slyly queering his source text — an early 20th century tumbling manual for young men salvaged from the dusty closet of family history — Gwathmey transforms instruction into seduction as he conducts a tender and playful archeology of desire." – Suzanne Buffam, author of A Pillow Book"Matthew Gwathmey’s poems, springboarding from a genre of fitness manual popular in the early twentieth century, tumble us into the present through tests gamily set for body and mind. As ripped as his gymnast protagonists—evoked so fetchingly in the book’s illustrations—Gwathmey writes a poetry eschewing the lyrical in favour of a stripped-down, athletic language that gives shape to 'what must remain / nameless.' There’re so many ways to read ourselves into Tumbling for Amateurs. Go toe to toe with these poems and they’ll tone up your grip on what poetry is." – John Barton, author of Lost Family
Browning Studies: Being Select Papers by Members of the Browning Society (Routledge Revivals)
by Edward BerdoeThis title, first published in 1909, presents a selection of the most important essays by members of the renowned Browning Society, which existed to promulgate the works of and appreciation for perhaps the greatest English poet of the Victorian Age. Browning’s poetry deals with themes that are of perennial importance: the nature of the human person, human love, and the source of the love, God. Browning Studies will appeal to Browning enthusiasts and the message his writing communicates: "A profound, passionate, living, triumphant faith in Christ, and in the immortality and ultimate redemption of every human soul in and through Christ."
Shelley: The Man and the Poet (Routledge Revivals)
by A. Clutton-BrockFirst published in 1909, with a second edition in 1923, this concise and easily accessible overview of Shelley’s life and work presents the poet not as popular legend would have it, but in a more objective light. A.Clutton-Brock notes his forthright and imperious attitude to life – a life in which Shelley found himself increasingly unhappy – and critically examines many facets of his artistic career which are often overlooked or misrepresented.
Routledge Revivals: From the Mahabharata (Routledge Revivals)
by Edwin ArnoldFirst published in 1909, this book presents an English translation of chapters 25-42 of the Bhishma Parva from the epic Sanskrit poem Mahabharata — better known as the Bhagavad-Gita, reckoned as one of the "Five Jewels" of Devanagari literature. The plot consists of a dialogue between Prince Arjuna and Krishna, the Supreme Deity, in a war-chariot prior to a great battle. The conversation that takes place unfolds a philosophical system which remains the prevailing Brahmanic belief, blending the doctrines of Kapila, Patanjali, and the Vedas. Building on a number of preceding translations, this highly-regarded poetic interpretation provides a major work of literature in an accessible popular form.
Poems of the Past and the Present (Collected Works Of Thomas Hardy)
by Thomas HardyThe second collection of poetry from the author of such classics as Tess of the D&’Urbervilles and Far from the Madding Crowd.Although well known for his novels, like Jude the Obscure, Thomas Hardy also wrote poetry throughout his life. Poems of the Past and the Present is Hardy&’s second volume of poetry, originally published in 1901. This wide-ranging collection is divided into five sections: War Poems, Poems of Pilgrimage, Miscellaneous Poems, Imitations, Etc., and Retrospect. It features some of Hardy&’s finest work, including &“At a Lunar Eclipse,&” &“The Darkling Thrush,&” &“The Ruined Maid,&” &“The Self Unseeing,&” &“The Well-Beloved,&” and &“Drummer Hodge&” (originally titled &“The Dead Drummer&”).
The Browning Cyclopaedia: A Guide to the Study of the Works of Robert Browning (Routledge Revivals)
by Edward BerdoeRobert Browning, the great Victorian poet, is often claimed to be hard to understand, largely on account of the obscurity of his language, the complexity of his thought, and his poetic style. The Browning Cyclopaedia, first published in 1891, presents an exposition of the prominent ideas of each poem, as well as its tone, its sources – historical, legendary or fanciful – and a glossary of every difficult word or allusion which might obscure the poem’s meaning. This volume remains indispensable for students of Robert Browning, as well as those interested in the general aesthetic climate of Victorian poetry.
The Wild Swans at Coole: A Facsimile Edition (Yeats Facsimile Edition)
by George Bornstein William Butler YeatsA stunning facsimile of the 1919 first edition of William Butler Yeats’s The Wild Swans at Coole: an elegant volume showcasing these poems as they would have first been read and a complement to facsimile editions The Winding Stair and The Tower.Published in 1919 during W.B. Yeats’s “middle stage” and composed of poems written during World War I, The Wild Swans at Coole is contemplative and elegiac. This collection captures Yeats at a time when he was looking back on his life, coming to terms with the realities of modern war, reflecting on lost love, and defining his place in the world as a poet. It features forty poems, among them “The Fisherman,” “In Memory of Major Robert Gregory,” “The Wild Swans at Coole,” and “On Being Asked for a War Poem.” This facsimile of the original 1919 edition presents the reader with the work in its original form, with handsome old fashioned type, how readers and Yeats himself would have seen it in the early twentieth century. A great gift book and collector’s item, The Wild Swans at Coole also includes an Introduction and notes by esteemed Yeats scholar George Bornstein.
Early Poems
by Millay Edna St. VincentOne of the most successful poets in America and a fascinating literary figure of the early twentieth century, Edna St. Vincent Millay found her voice in a national poetry contest at the age of twenty. Her poems received critical praise and became the first step toward receiving the Pulitzer Award years later. An acclaimed poet of the Jazz Age, this liberated, often rebellious, woman enchanted us with her beautiful sonnets and lyrics, even as she surprised us with her unconventional personal life. This vibrant volume includes the complete selection of poems from Millay's first three books. Each gem reflects a different facet of the author's versatility. Renascence and Other Poems was Millay's first collection of poetry, a literary sensation when it was published in 1912. Acclaimed by critics for its remarkable use of compelling language and imagery, it is a deeply personal work that reflects the poet's spiritual awakening, using the themes of death and resurrection. In contrast, the poetry in A Few Figs from Thistles represents a cynical stage, a time of rebellion, and a search for personal freedom, as depicted in her famous line, "My candle burns at both ends. " Part beauty, part despair, the free verse and heartfelt sonnets of Second April are an expression of Millay's feelings about love and disillusionment. Eloquent, daring, and sometimes bittersweet, these masterful lyrics exemplify the best work of a complex, passionate, and gifted poet. Includes a selection from the Common Core State Standards Initiative: "Afternoon on a Hill. "
Poems by Robert Frost
by Robert Frost100th Anniversary Edition Poems by Robert Frost A Boy’s Will and North of Boston The publication of A Boy’s Will (1913) and North of Boston (1914) marked the debut of Robert Frost as a major talent and established him as the true poetic voice of New England. Four of his volumes would win the Pulitzer Prize before his death in 1963, and his body of work has since become an integral part of the American national heritage. This is the only edition to present these two classics in their original form. A Boy’s Will introduced readers to Frost’s unmistakable poetic voice, and in North of Boston, we find two of his most famous poems, "Mending Wall” and "The Death of the Hired Man. ” With an introduction by distinguished critic and Amherst professor William H. Pritchard and an afterword by poet and critic Peter Davison, this centennial edition stands as a complete and vital introduction to the work of the quintessential modern American poet. Introduction by William H. Pritchard Afterword by Peter Davison .
Selected Poems: Emily Dickinson Poems Selected By Anne Car (Bcl1-ps American Literature Ser.)
by Emily DickinsonA collection of poems by &“one of America&’s greatest and most original poets of all time&” (Poetry Foundation). One of the nineteenth century&’s leading poets, Emily Dickinson wrote nearly 1,800 poems during her lifetime, though only a handful were published. This collection includes some of Dickinson&’s best-known works, reflecting her thoughts on nature, life, death, the mind, and the spirit. &“Emily Dickinson is one of our most original writers, a force destined to endure in American letters. . . . Without elaborate philosophy, yet with irresistible ways of expression, Emily Dickinson&’s poems have true lyric appeal, because they make abstractions, such as love, hope, loneliness, death, and immortality, seem near and intimate and faithful.&” —The Atlantic &“Emily Dickinson did not leave any poetics or treatise to explain her life&’s work, so we can come to her poetry with minds and hearts open, and unearth whatever it is we need to find. Her oeuvre is a large one and most of her work was done in secret—she didn&’t share most of what she wrote. Ten or so poems were published in her lifetime, mostly without her consent. She often included poems with letters but, after her death, the poet&’s sister Vinnie was surprised to find almost eighteen hundred individual poems in Dickinson&’s bedroom, some of them bound into booklets by the poet.&” —Publishers Weekly &“Dickinson found love, spiritual quickening and immortality, all on her own terms.&” —The Guardian
In Flanders Fields and Other Poems (The World At War #26)
by John MccraeIn Flanders Fields is a war poem in the form of a rondeau, written during the First World War by Canadian physician Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae. He was inspired to write it on May 3, 1915, after presiding over the funeral of friend and fellow soldier Alexis Helmer, who died in the Second Battle of Ypres. According to legend, fellow soldiers retrieved the poem after McCrae, initially dissatisfied with his work, discarded it. "In Flanders Fields" was first published on December 8 of that year in the London-based magazine Punch. (Excerpt from Wikipedia)
Bécquer para niños
by Gustavo Adolfo BécquerRimas y leyendas de Bécquer para primeros lectores en una preciosa antología ilustrada. Una antología ilustrada que recopila las mejores rimas y leyendas de Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer. La obra de este poeta romántico sevillano ha dejado una huella imborrable en nuestra literatura. En este libro, los niños descubrirán una selección de las mejores rimas y leyendas del autor, perfecta para adentrarse por primera vez en su obra. Amor, poesía y magia se combinan magistralmente entre sus páginas. Ilustrado deliciosamente, este libro convierte la pluma de Bécquer en el regalo perfecto para los más pequeños.
The Poems of Emily Dickinson
by Emily DickinsonAlthough Dickinson was a prolific private poet, fewer than a dozen of her nearly eighteen hundred poems were published during her lifetime. The work that was published during her lifetime was usually altered significantly by the publishers to fit the conventional poetic rules of the time. Although most of her acquaintances were probably aware of Dickinson's writing, it was not until after her death in 1886-- when Lavinia, Emily's younger sister, discovered her cache of poems-- that the breadth of Dickinson's work became apparent.
Great American Poets: New Hampshire, Tender Buttons, Select Poems, and Selected Poems
by Emily Dickinson Robert Frost Gertrude Stein T. S. EliotThese four timeless poetry collections showcase the pioneering work of some of America&’s most beloved and influential poets. New Hampshire by Robert Frost: This Pulitzer Prize–winning collection features some of Frost&’s most enduring works, all inspired by the cold and wild New Hampshire winter. Along with the title poem, this volume includes &“Fire and Ice,&” &“Nothing Gold Can Stay,&” and &“Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening,&” which Frost himself called &“my best bid for remembrance.&” Tender Buttons by Gertrude Stein: Stein&’s first published work of poetry, this avant-garde meditation on ordinary living is presented in three sections: &“Objects,&” &“Food,&” and &“Rooms.&” Emphasizing rhythm and sonority over traditional grammar, Stein&’s wordplay has garnered praise from readers and critics alike. Selected Poems by T. S. Eliot: This twenty-four poem volume is a rich collection of Eliot&’s greatest works—including &“The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,&” &“Gerontion,&” &“Sweeny Among the Nightingales,&” and others—all of which expertly explore the desires, grievances, failures, and heart of modern humanity. Selected Poems by Emily Dickinson: This collection of poems by &“one of America&’s greatest and most original poets of all time&” includes some of Dickinson&’s best-known works, reflecting her thoughts on nature, life, death, the mind, and the spirit (Poetry Foundation).
The Works of Samuel Johnson, Volume One: Life, Poems, And Tales, Volume 1 The Works Of Samuel Johnson, Ll. D. , In Nine Volumes (The Works of Samuel Johnson #1)
by Samuel JohnsonA brief essay on the life and genius of the prolific eighteenth-century English author, followed by a selection of his poetry, letters, and a novella.Under the pen name &“Dr. Johnson,&” English writer Samuel Johnson was a biographer, essayist, lexicographer, literary critic, moralist, playwright, poet, and travel writer. The son of a bookseller, he made so many contributions to the English language that he is regarded as one of the greatest figures of eighteenth-century literature. The first of nine volumes, The Works of Samuel JohnsonVolume One includes an essay on the life and genius of Samuel Johnson, followed by a collection of his poetry, including his &“Drury Lane Prologue,&” &“On the Death of Mr. Robert Levet,&” and &“The Vanity of Human Wishes.&” A selection of his personal correspondence is featured as well, along with his great satirical novella, The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia.
John Clare
by Simon KövesiJohn Clare (1793–1864) has long been recognized as one of England's foremost poets of nature, landscape and rural life. Scholars and general readers alike regard his tremendous creative output as a testament to a probing and powerful intellect. Clare was that rare amalgam ‒ a poet who wrote from a working-class, impoverished background, who was steeped in folk and ballad culture, and who yet, against all social expectations and prejudices, read and wrote himself into a grand literary tradition. All the while he maintained a determined sense of his own commitments to the poor, to natural history and to the local. Through the diverse approaches of ten scholars, this collection shows how Clare's many angles of critical vision illuminate current understandings of environmental ethics, aesthetics, Romantic and Victorian literary history, and the nature of work.
Bright Star
by John KeatsJOHN KEATS edited with an introduction by Miriam Chalk This book gathers the most potent passages from Keats together, including the famous 'Odes', the sonnets, the luxuriously sensuous 'Eve of St Agnes', the mysterious and atmospheric 'La Belle Dame Sans Merci', and extracts from 'Lamia', Endymion and Hyperion. British Poets Series. Bibliography and notes. John Keats is one of the few British poets who is truly ecstatic and wild. Despite the overly-ornate language, the often awkward phrases ('made sweet moan' in 'La Belle Dame Sans Merci'), despite the Romantic indulgences and the sometimes sexist views, the often over-simplification of natural and human processes and experiences, and despite the tendency to gush and exaggerate, Keats is one of the few poets who write in English who is truly wild and shamanic. He is the British poet closest to the pure intoxication of Arthur Rimbaud. Keats reaches the pinnacle of British poetry, as W. Jackson Bate, typical among critics, says: 'the language of his greatest poetry has always held an attraction; for there we reach, if only for a brief while, a high plateau where in mastery of phrase he has few equals in English poetry, and only one obvious superior. '
The Portable William Blake
by William BlakeIncludes Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience complete; the best of the "prophetic books"; a selection of his other great lyrics; representative prose pieces from A Descriptive Catalogue, Public Address and A Vision of the Last Judgement; complete drawings for the Book of Job; and selected letters.
Complete Writings
by Phillis WheatleyIn 1761, a young girl arrived in Boston on a slave ship, sold to the Wheatley family, and given the name Phillis Wheatley. Struck by Phillis' extraordinary precociousness, the Wheatleys provided her with an education that was unusual for a woman of the time and astonishing for a slave. After studying English and classical literature, geography, the Bible, and Latin, Phillis published her first poem in 1767 at the age of 14, winning much public attention and considerable fame. When Boston publishers who doubted its authenticity rejected an initial collection of her poetry, Wheatley sailed to London in 1773 and found a publisher there for Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral. This volume collects both Wheatley's letters and her poetry: hymns, elegies, translations, philosophical poems, tales, and epyllions--including a poignant plea to the Earl of Dartmouth urging freedom for America and comparing the country's condition to her own. With her contemplative elegies and her use of the poetic imagination to escape an unsatisfactory world, Wheatley anticipated the Romantic Movement of the following century. The appendices to this edition include poems of Wheatley's contemporary African-American poets: Lucy Terry, Jupiter Harmon, and Francis Williams. .
Albrecht Dürer and me
by David ZierothDavid Zieroth's Albrecht Dürer and me, an autobiographical travelogue spanning the author's journeys through central Europe, explores the transformative effect of dislocation. Inspired by and responding to art and music, history and war, architecture and place, this collection unearths knowledge that can only be realized by leaving home.Throughout the book, the observant eye of a visitor witnesses the layering of history and the contemporary, and contemplates the juxtaposition of the practical aspects of travelling ("noise") with emotional and spiritual evolution ("'Nude self-portrait'"). Responding to greats such as W.H. Auden, James Joyce and Albrecht Dürer, the speaker expresses how viewing foreign artwork or hearing unfamiliar music can spark a new awareness, not only of international culture, but of the expression of life and the human condition.The poems temper the high with the low, reflecting the many dualities of wanderlust. Stately homes are contrasted with war-scarred architecture, and sleepless nights, crowded trains and missed connections offset literature and symphony. "Berlin Album" reflects on the stains the past has left on modern-day Germany: "church bells at 6:00 p.m. / from spires on Borsigstrasse / pass an iron sound through rippled windows / so my body vibrates, and remembers / bullet holes in stone walls along the Spree." "on first hearing Mahler's Fifth" echoes that musical composition to mirror and evoke life's song and "weeds grew while I was away" describes the shock of returning home with the expectation of stasis only to find that things have changed.Attentive, humble and expertly crafted, Albrecht Dürer and me is a travel diary rife with evocative image, sensory detail and eloquent reflection, narrated with an honest, mature voice.
Cycling with the Dragon
by Elaine WooCycling with the Dragon is a personal investigation of family,love, culture, self, and the helpless feeling of "smallness." Elaine Woo's poems take the form of the words that they speak: she forms an "o" for the buoy that is a child's safety-raft (found in the solitude of a notebook and Harriet the Spy), and weaves a poem about fearing snakes and dreams into a descending slither.Woo's poems weave meaning with form, writing in a pastiche of diverse poetic voices who are small by virtue of age or status (be they women, children, ethnic minorities or the creatures of nature). And like tenacious seeds they break through to reach the sun, to face an abusive parent, bullies, the pain of shyness, envy, or racism.
For Your Safety Please Hold On
by Kayla CzagaFor Your Safety Please Hold On is a truly remarkable first poetry collection from debut talent Kayla Czaga. Her poems are already making waves-several from this collection have received award attention, including: The Fiddlehead's 23rd annual Ralph Gustafson Poetry Prize, The Malahat Review's 2012 Far Horizon's Award for Poetry and an Editor's Choice Award in ARC Poetry Magazine's 2012 Poem of the Year Contest. They have also been shortlisted for The New Quarterly's 2013 Occasional Verse Contest, longlisted for CBC's 2013 Canada Writes Poetry Contest and have appeared in literary publications across North America.The poems in For Your Safety Please Hold On move in thematic focus from family, to girlhood, to adulthood, each permeated by Czaga's lively voice and quick-witted, playful language. They test the line between honest humour and bitter reality in a sophisticated, incisive manner that tugs at the gut and feels true.The linguistic hopscotch of Czaga's poems about girlhood is often beautifully juxtaposed with feelings of menace or a first taste of smothering expectations-"She sits. She sips her bright pink fingers. / She slips into smart short haircuts, yes, / she does so, and does herself up just so." While her pin prick meditations on contemporary adulthood suggest a yearning for personal meaning and purpose on a larger scale-"I still wander, sometimes, / my coat closing the world out of my body, with pockets / full of garbage, with my slender steady want. I still / make the bed and at bedtime unmake it."The irrepressible energy of the poems in For Your Safety Please Hold On, paired with their complex balancing act between light and dark, humour and melancholy, innocence and danger, make this collection an extraordinary first offering.
Hastings-Sunrise
by Bren SimmersHastings-Sunrise is a love letter to a fleeting place and time. Bren Simmers's second collection captures her old East Vancouver neighbourhood in the midst of upheaval. As it is colonized by tides of matching plaid and diners serving pulled-pork pancakes, condo developments replace the small businesses and cheap rentals that once gave the area its charm.Much like opening a set of nesting dolls, leafing through the collection exposes further layers of depth and intimacy. Within the context of cultural change, Simmers explores the meaning to be found in everyday things: the making of a home, the life built from daily routines. At the same time, she reveals the dissonance that can occur between personal and large-scale change: "Twitter feed of melting sea ice, / colony collapse / while we picnic under pink ribbons, / kiss again like we mean it."Throughout the collection, the poet's eye unfailingly lights on the perfect details to evoke a scene: "On Mr. Donair's spit, / the earth rotates. Papal smoke emits / from Polonia Sausage, semis shunt / downtown." Visual poems forming maps of Christmas lights and autumn colours further bring the Hastings-Sunrise neighbourhood to life, illustrating the interweaving of human and natural spaces and locating "home" in between.Like a tree clothed in multicoloured yarn or a miniature house filled with free books, Hastings-Sunrise is a gift to readers, beautiful in its simplicity.