Publisher: Imagination Books
Dark Truths - A Poetry Book A collection of darkly tinged poems to touch the soul and spirit, focusing on love, life, guilt and every emotion inbetween.
Alfred Tennyson was born on August 6th, 1809, in Somersby, Lincolnshire, the fourth of twelve children. Most of Tennyson's early education was under the direction of his father, although he did spend four unhappy years at a nearby grammar school. He also showed an early and burgeoning talent for writing; by the age of twelve he had written a 6,000-line epic poem. In the 1820s, however, Tennyson’s father began to suffer frequent mental breakdowns exacerbated by his alcoholism. One brother had frequent violent quarrels with his father, a second would be confined to an insane asylum, and another was later an opium addict. Tennyson left home in 1827 to join his brothers at Trinity College, Cambridge and with it escape from Somersby. At Trinity he was those who knew little of the problems that clouded his life. Although shy he was keen to make new friends; he was handsome, intelligent, humorous, and a gifted impersonator. That same year, he and his brother Charles published Poems by Two Brothers. It attracted the attention of the “Apostles," a select undergraduate literary club led by Arthur Hallam. They provided friendship and confidence. Hallam and Tennyson became the best of friends. The pair, in the summer of 1830, were involved in a ridiculous jaunt to take money and secret messages to revolutionaries plotting to overthrow the Spanish king. Tennyson's political enthusiasm was marginal compared to Hallam's, but he was glad to make his first trip abroad. The landscape and atmosphere of the Pyrenees generated such wonderful poems as "Oenone," "The Lotus-Eaters;" inspired by a waterfall in the mountains; and "The Eagle;" invoked from the sight of the great hunters circling above them. The small village of Cauteretz and the surrounding valley became a location Tennyson would return to many times over the next sixty years. In 1830, he published Poems, ‘Chiefly Lyrical’ and in 1832 a volume entitled ‘Poems’. Tennyson, stung by the harshness of several reviews, would not publish again for nine years. In the autumn of 1833, in what was meant as a gesture of gratitude and reconciliation to his father, Hallam accompanied him to the Continent. In Vienna Hallam died suddenly of apoplexy as a result of a congenital malformation of the brain. Hallam’s death, together with that of his father and a myriad of anxieties, stem-ming mainly from the belief that his family were grimly attached to poverty, and fears that he might become a victim of epilepsy, madness, alcohol, and drugs, as others in his family had, or that he might die like Hallam, conspired to upset the delicate balance of Tennyson's emotions. In 1836, he became engaged to Emily Sellwood. From their correspondence it is clear that she was very much in love with him. He seems to excessively worry about not having the financial means to marry. He was also falling into trances, which he thought were connected with the epilepsy from which other family members suffered. To marry, he thought, would mean passing on the disease to any children he might father. He broke off the engagement. During these years he used the dark feelings and events to write many of his finest works; "Ulysses," "Morte d'Arthur," "Tithonus," "Tiresias," and "Break, break, break." In 1842 Tennyson’s Poems (in two volumes) was a tremendous critical and popular success. In 1845 he was granted a government pension of £200 a year in recognition of his poetic achievements and his financial need. Despite this financial support his doubts persisted. Life for Tennyson was becoming increasingly productive and more lucrative. By 1849 ‘The Princess’ had been published. He was now offered a large advance if he would assemble his elegies on Hallam into one complete poem. Tennyson had now also resumed his relationship with Emily Sellwood and by the following year was talking again of marrying her. In the Spring of 1850 the Poet Laureate William Wordsworth died and a new Laureate wasShow book
In The Kingdom of Surfaces, award-winning poet Sally Wen Mao examines art and history—especially the provenance of objects such as porcelain, silk, and pearls—to frame an important conversation on beauty, empire, commodification, and violence. In lyric poems and wide-ranging sequences, Mao interrogates gendered expressions such as the contemporary “leftover women,” which denotes unmarried women, and the historical “castle-toppler,” a term used to describe a concubine whose beauty ruins an emperor and his empire. These poems also explore the permeability of object and subject through the history of Chinese women in America, labor practices around the silk loom, and the ongoing violence against Asian people during the COVID-19 pandemic. At its heart, The Kingdom of Surfaces imagines the poet wandering into a Western fantasy, which covets, imitates, and appropriates Chinese aesthetics via Chinamania and the nineteenth-century Aesthetic Movement, while perpetuating state violence upon actual lives. The title poem is a speculative recasting of Through the Looking-Glass, set in a surreal topsy-turvy version of the eponymous China-themed 2015 Metropolitan Museum of Art Gala. The Kingdom of Surfaces is a brilliantly conceived call for those who recognize the horrors of American exceptionalism to topple the empire that values capital over lives and power over liberation.Show book
Frankenstein was written in the Romantic literary period. The literary trend of the early 1800s produced poems that described how nature elevated and blissed human minds. Most literary work at this time was written and published by men. In amongst these ecstatic reveries of nature, the 19 year old, Mary Shelley wedged the chilling story of Frankenstein into the literary landscape and our minds forever. Her story filled an empty space in humankind's collective consciousness. That empty space was waiting for this story of over-reaching scientific madness. This version of Frankenstein is a translation not an abridged telling. I have translated the Old Romantic era English into easy-to-read accessible English. • The same characters say the same things at the same times in the story. • Plot point for plot point the story stays the same. • The themes are all preserved. • The transcendent and brutal settings of the story are still on the pages. • References to poems and other literature are explained. • Supplementary information supports understanding of the text. This book is for • humans who like to read archetypal literature in easy-to-read language, • neuro-diverse readers, • young readers, • English second language speakers, • English literature students who need a study guide to unravel the original Frankenstein. • anyone (I think that's most of us) who finds old English inaccessible but would like to read Frankenstein. This accessible Frankenstein is part of Inclusive Books (Inc!Bs) journey to rewrite history inclusively.Show book
Joanne S. Duffin’s poetry is a captivating fusion of the personal and the universal, delving into the depths of the human experience. Her verses touch upon matters of the heart, offer insightful observations of the world, and fearlessly tackle the pressing issues of our time, both within the United States of America and on a global scale. As you turn the pages, you’ll find yourself immersed in the wonders and interpretations of the natural world, the joys of family, the treasure of discovered love, the journey of self-discovery, philosophical musings, political commentary, patriotic reflections, and the pursuit of justice. Duffin’s poetry also explores the complexities of friendship, the pain of loss, and the inevitability of death. This groundbreaking work of fiction will captivate your mind as you traverse space and time alongside the author, who fearlessly delves into the very essence of self-expression. Throughout her poetry, Duffin never loses sight of the profound impact and influence of the past, acknowledging the experiences that have shaped her as both a writer and a human being. Embark on this transformative literary journey with Joanne S. Duffin, and allow her unique voice to guide you through a landscape of beauty, understanding, and introspection, as her thoughts and words weave a tapestry of the human condition.Show book
The Apothecary of Flight by Jane Burn is a heady flight into the art of poetry itself: its vital importance as a tool for expression; for understanding and translating the self; for articulating the sheer force and joy of poetry and the way, for a person with autism, it can hold, identify and celebrate both the smallest and weightiest of life's experiences and concepts. These unfettered and exquisite poems pulse with the details of both the wild and tame, the sacred and the humane – observing nature and animals with an artist's eye, capturing the ways in which place and time can hold the experiences of the body, memory and identity. This ongoing dialogue with poetry itself sets a visionary path towards discovery – the page as a place to root oneself, a place of deep creative freedom, self-permission, belonging and defiance. Ultimately, the form, presence and physicality of Burn's extraordinary poems move us with compassion towards the happiest solitude of words, and of love.Show book
It’s March 1918, and World War I is raging in Europe. In the trenches in northern France, a group of British officers, led by the war-weary Captain Stanhope, ready themselves for a major German attack while facing their worst fears. R.C. Sherriff drew on his own experiences in World War I to create the play, which premiered in 1928 and is now considered one of the preeminent works about the horrors of war. Recorded at The Invisible Studios, West Hollywood, in February 2024. Adapted and Directed by Martin Jarvis Producing Director: Susan Albert Loewenberg An L.A. Theatre Works full cast recording, starring: James Callis as Lieutenant Hibbert Josh Cole as 2nd Lieutenant Raleigh Jack Cutmore-Scott as Captain Stanhope Tobias Echeverria as Young German Soldier, English Soldier Adam Godley as Lieutenant Osborne Ian Ogilvy as The Colonel Darren Richardson as Mason Simon Templeman as 2nd Lieutenant Trotter Matthew Wolf as Captain Hardy, Company Sergeant-Major Senior Producer: Anna Lyse Erikson Prepared for audio by Mark Holden Recorded and edited by Neil Wogenson Designed by Neil Wogenson, Charles Carroll and Mark Holden, and mixed by Charles Carroll for The Invisible Studios, West Hollywood. Senior Radio Producer: Ronn Lipkin Foley Artist: Stacey MartinezShow book
