Other books that might interest you

• 

  Impossible Heat

  Ciara Maguire

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  'these basements that taught me to breathe;my body happening in the space between moonlight &the leather straps wrapped round an old dyke's wristgender split open like a crass piñata on the sticky floor'
  Ciara Maguire's poems explore the bright fields and dark corners of love. They are heartbreaking, sexy and addictive.
  'Impossible Heat is a work of claustrophobia, heat, and longing. Sexual ideation extends from the mind of the speaker to colour and consume everything. Long lines and rich cadences hold the reader in a vice, just as the speaker is offered no reprieve from her own intensity of feeling. Amidst the erotic, there is a profound hopelessness that doesn't stop the poems being witty and manic, as the speaker struggles with privacy and performance, with a
  fear of perception but a desperate need to be perceived. The emotional incisiveness of this work is stark, its euphony sumptuous.' Susannah Dickey
  'A nest-making of threads and mirrors, sapphic rorschachs revealing everything and nothing that might be told in the salt content of sweat and the tonguing indent of lyric. These generous poems drift through the gap someone left in your bedroom window. Here are dreams, tragedies of homosexuality, domestic horror shows, a cascade of utopian performatives, moonlight, a summer that may or may not ever end. What innocence is lost or won in love is felt in the sensory plenitude of our speaker's imagination. Maguire is a master of anaphora, list and simile. Impossible Heat surrenders to its own melting, poems yielding
  magical hyperobjects which metabolise into tender adhesives, binding us irresistibly to this book. This is a work of devotion, connection, eclipse, desire and discovery. Its charm is quietly devastating.' Maria Sledmere

  Show book

• 

  Brontë Sisters The: The Complete...

  Emily Brontë, Charlotte Brontë,...

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  Step into the hauntingly beautiful world of the Brontë sisters, where passion, melancholy, and fierce independence collide. This collection brings together the complete poems of Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Brontë—three women whose words continue to resonate across centuries.
  
  From the wild, windswept moors to the depths of the human soul, these poems explore themes of love, loss, and longing with raw, unflinching emotion. A timeless treasure for readers seeking the power of poetic brilliance and the voices of these groundbreaking literary icons.

  Show book

• 

  After Party - A Telegraph and...

  Dean Browne

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  A Poetry Book Society RecommendationA Sunday Times, Telegraph and Irish Times Book of the YearWinner of the Pigott Poetry Prize in association with Listowel Writers’ WeekWinner of the Farmgate Café National Poetry Award 2026Winner of the Seamus Heaney First Collection Poetry Prize 2026Dean Browne arrives at the After Party with the maturity and style of an altogether more seasoned poet. In a debut collection of standout and stand-alone poems, each tests the boundaries of its unique universe. Browne is a mesmeric teller of strange tales, imaginings that can seem origamically contained within the compressed dimensions of a poem. A leg sets off on a long train journey; a Parisian alley cat is launched into space; earthbound lovers attempt to connect while their inner lives prove unbridgeable.Losses are mourned: two poets elegized here – Charles Simic and the late Donegal poet Matthew Sweeney – might offer a fingerpost of sensibilities, though Browne’s significant talent is distinctly his own. After Party introduces a beguiling, resonant new voice, a raised eyebrow and fidelity to the image – sometimes carried along the tightrope much further than seems possible. In poems that are both death-haunted and youthful, and thrumming with a delicious dark humour, Dean Browne brings a much-needed injection of the surreal – or the surreal-ish as he might prefer to say – to Ireland’s rising generation.'Wildly expressive and exuberant, throwing out phrases and ideas almost recklessly. . . After Party is surely the start of an exceptional poetic career' – Graeme Richardson, Sunday Times Books of the Year‘Poems that sneak in the side-door then exit through the ceiling’ – Caroline Bird'The success of this Cork-based 31-year-old is by no means a surprise . . . But it’s still refreshing to encounter such a distilled, haunting voice' – Telegraph, Books of the Year‘Dean Browne is a terrific poet: his language is agile and fresh, his ideas surprising, and the reader feels invigorated, renewed – and lucky to have met such poems’ – Nick Laird

  Show book

• 

  Born in England – Exploring...

  Percy Bysshe Shelley, John...

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  Poetry. A form of words that seems so elegantly simple in one verse and so cleverly complex in another.  Each poet has a particular style, an individual and unique way with words and yet each of us seems to recognise the path and destination of where the verses lead, even if sometimes the full comprehension may be a little beyond us. 
   
  Through the centuries every culture has produced verse to symbolize and to describe everything from everyday life, natural wonders, the human condition and even in its more hubristic moments, the crushing triumph of an enemy. 
   
  In the volumes of this series, we take a look at poetry through the prism of individual regions of England, or sometimes more quaintly known as ‘Albion’, or ‘Blighty’, through the centuries of its gloried history. 
   
  England, despite its perception of reserve and under-statement has, in reality, strode the global stage at various time in many things, both good and bad, from Empire to long distance running. Here our focus in on its literature.  Famed for its fiction and dramas, it is equally admired for its plethora of gifted poets and the dazzling verse which has added so much to its artistic legacy.  These classic poets are wonders of their age and of their art.  Genius is written in their names. 
   
  In this volume we explore the poets of Oxford.  A small city, with its famed university, with an enviable historical grandeur and roll-call of poets who dazzle, humble and inspire us all in ways that only a poet can.  Our poets include A E Housman, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Michael Drayton, Percy Bysshe Shelley and a host of other timeless greats.

  Show book

• 

  Churchill in Moscow

  Howard Brenton

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  'Everything is possible in Moscow at night.'
  The Kremlin, Moscow, 1942. A top-secret meeting between Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin: one, a wealthy aristocrat from a blue-blooded line of English nobility; the other, a Georgian peasant, hell-bent on destroying capitalism and the class system. Can these two leaders find common ground? As diplomats struggle to control the escalating chaos, two interpreters find themselves caught in the eye of the storm.
  Howard Brenton's gripping play Churchill in Moscow dramatises the historic meeting of two unpredictable titans as history teeters on a knife-edge. It opened in 2025 at London's Orange Tree Theatre, directed by the venue's Artistic Director Tom Littler, starring Roger Allam as Churchill and Peter Forbes as Stalin.
  'Brenton is a masterly storyteller'Financial Times

  Show book

• 

  Samson Agonistes

  John Milton

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  John Milton's Samson Agonistes is a powerful and stirring dramatic poem that combines the depth of classical tragedy with profound spiritual and moral reflection. First published in 1671, this masterpiece draws inspiration from the biblical story of Samson, exploring themes of strength, weakness, divine justice, human suffering, and redemption. It is widely regarded as one of Milton's most intense and philosophically rich works, reflecting his mastery of language and his profound theological insight.
  
  The poem tells the story of Samson, the once-mighty Hebrew hero who has been blinded and imprisoned by the Philistines after being betrayed by Delilah. Reduced from his former physical power, Samson faces the anguish of personal failure, captivity, and spiritual testing. Through dialogue, soliloquy, and reflection, Milton examines the inner life of his tragic hero, revealing a mind grappling with despair, anger, and ultimately, reconciliation with God's divine plan.
  
  Milton's use of classical Greek tragedy conventions—such as the chorus and heightened poetic language—imbues the work with gravitas and dramatic tension. The chorus offers commentary and reflection, providing moral and philosophical insight that complements Samson's personal struggle. Themes of divine providence, human responsibility, and the moral consequences of pride and temptation are central, making the poem both a deeply spiritual meditation and a compelling literary drama.
  
  The climax of the poem demonstrates Samson's ultimate redemption and moral triumph. Though physically defeated, he uses the last remnants of his strength to destroy the Philistine temple, achieving justice against his oppressors while fulfilling God's will. Milton portrays this act not merely as vengeance but as the culmination of faith, patience, and moral fortitude, highlighting the triumph of spiritual over physical strength.
  
  Samson Agonistes remains a cornerstone of English literature, celebrated for its eloquence, philosophical depth, and tragic intensity. It appeals to readers of epic and dramatic poetry, as well as those interested in theology, human psychology, and the timeless struggle between human frailty and divine purpose. Milton's blend of classical structure, poetic brilliance, and profound moral inquiry ensures that Samson Agonistes continues to resonate as a monumental work of Renaissance literature and spiritual reflection.

  Show book