Other books that might interest you

• 

  The Poetry Of William Blake

  William Blake

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  William Blake was born on 28th November 1757 in London to parents of modest income that could only afford a basic education of reading and writing although he did attend a drawing school for a short time.  His artistic skill was apparent relatively early and at the age of 14 he stopped working in his father’s hosiery shop and became an apprentice engraver.  This apprenticeship finished when he was 21 and at 25 he married Catherine Boucher.  He taught her to read and write and  together in 1789 they published Songs of Innocence with text and engravings printed from copper plates and illustrations finished by hand with watercolours.  It did not sell well and throughout his life he remained largely unrecognised often on the verge of poverty.  This led to a deep depression for many years and he was often considered mad by his contemporaries.  His creativity and imagination with its undercurrents of mysticism, spiritualism and philosophy are apparent in this selection of poems and whilst classed as a seminal figure in the Romantic Age it wasn’t until the late 19th century that his work was recognised.  The 20th century saw an even  greater appreciation of his poetry with Blake’s voyage beyond  the rational and material chiming with the Beat poets, Dylan, Van Morrison and Jim Morrison of the band the Doors , named after Blake’s phrase Doors of Perception from his poem Marriage of Heaven and Hell.  Further acclaim has been attributed to him from many scholars of art, psychology and of course literature.   His poems have inspired composers such as Vaughn Williams, Britten and Taverner  and Jerusalem a hymn still sung today.  Blake’s vivid and intense work is still relevant to all to this day and he is recognised as a saint in the Ecclesia Gnostica Catholica.  William Blake died on 12th August 1827 and in 1957 a memorial was erected at Poet’s Corner in Westminster Abbey. Here we present two of his exceptionally fine epic poems.

  Show book

• 

  Victorian Poetry Volume 2

  Thomas Hardy, Gerard Manley...

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  Victorian Poetry – Volume 2 - An Introduction.  Victoria’s reign was long and presided over the restless expansion of the British Empire and reams of creative genius. Within these volumes we can bring only a glimpse of the richness, beauty and words of their poets and their musings on this remarkable age. Many are world renowned – Tennyson, Browning, Arnold, Kipling, Austin, Hopkins, Hardy and Swinburne. Some almost forgotten – Patmore, Newbolt, Synge.  And some barely noted – Lyall, Meynell and Merdeith.  But together they encompass a great poetical age.  In Volume 2 we collect together Thomas Hardy  to George Meredith.  Among our readers are Richard Mitchley and Ghizela Rowe.

  Show book

• 

  Quiet Night Think - Poems & Essays

  Gillian Sze

  • 0
  • 16
  • 0

  “One function of the poet at any time is to discover by his own thought and feeling what seems to him to be poetry at that time,” writes Wallace Stevens. In Quiet Night Think, award-winning poet Gillian Sze expresses her own definition.
  		 
  During the remarkable period of early parenthood, Sze’s new maternal role urges her to contemplate her own origins, both familial and artistic. Comprised of six personal essays, poems, and a concluding long poem, Quiet Night Think takes its title from a direct translation of an eighth-century Chinese poem by Li Bai, the subject of the opening essay. Sze’s memory of reading Li Bai’s poem as a child marks the beginning of an unshakable encounter with poetry. What follows is an intimate anatomization of her particular entanglement with languages and cultures.
  		 
  In her most generically diverse book yet, Sze moves between poetry and prose, mother and writer, the lyrical and the autobiographical, all the while inviting readers to meditate with her on questions of emergence and transformation: What are you trying to be? Where does a word break off? What calls to us throughout the night?

  Show book

• 

  Freshness of Poetic Perception

  Paul Hamilton Hayne

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  LibriVox volunteers bring you 18 recordings of Freshness of Poetic Perception by Paul Hamilton Hayne. This was the Weekly Poetry project for October 7, 2012.Paul Hamilton Hayne was born in Charleston, South Carolina. He left his law practice to persue his literary interests.  He became a literaey critic and magazine editor in Grovetown, Georgia, where he lived until his death. (Summary by David Lawrence)

  Show book

• 

  Dean McBride (NHB Modern Plays)

  Sonya Hale

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  Set in Croydon, South London, Dean McBride by Sonya Hale is a vivid and poetic story of deprivation, loss and redemption through love, which tells the story of Dean, a young man hardened by suffering, who struggles in life before finding his way back to happiness.
  A monologue play, Dean McBride was a finalist in the inaugural Heretic Voices competition, presenting the best new writing in monologue form, and celebrating unique voices with exceptional stories to tell. It was first performed at the Arcola Theatre, London, in 2018.
  The play is also available in the volume, Heretic Voices: Three Award-winning Monologues.
  'Three exceptional plays… powerful, emotional, rage-filled works that rail against injustice but contain tenderness, humour and passion… it's a pleasure to witness this simple, powerful storytelling' - LondonTheatre1
  'A whole theatrical season condensed into an evening' - Exeunt Magazine
  'Inspiring… a poetic assembly indeed' - A Younger Theatre

  Show book

• 

  Embankment at Night before the...

  D. H. Lawrence

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

  This was the Weekly Poem for 20 May 2006. We stretched our poetry-reading muscles with five versions of this much longer selection than usual (some 96 lines), in which D.H. Lawrence evokes a gritty yet sensitive picture of urban poverty before the First World War. (Summary by LauraFox)

  Show book