Altri libri che potrebbero interessarti

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  The Book of Hours - a new poetic...

  Rainer Maria Rilke, Brett Alan...

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  Written at the turn of the twentieth century, The Book of Hours is one of the most significant works of modern German poetry. There has never been an English translation that preserved the tight poeticism and Christian mysticism of the original until now. In this long poem, the narrator-poet is a monk and icon painter desperately trying to see God in a way that his art can’t capture. Over three sections (The Book of Monkish Life, The Book of Pilgrimage, and The Book of Poverty & Death), Rilke takes the narrator on a journey from the pastoral lands of his monastery to the bustling and inhuman cities of the world on a quest to make sense of God's central mystery. A variety of images recur: building, trees (roots and fruits), ripening, ore, and what Rilke simply calls "the things". Through these motifs, the narrator seeks to understand God by exploring imagery that is the inverse of the usual Biblical symbols. What can we learn by thinking of God as darkness, as son, as poor neighbor, or as the rock that runs through the earth...? And, ultimately, what truly are poverty and death to the holy pilgrim?

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  The Ballad of Reading Gaol

  Oscar Wilde

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  Wilde’s meditation on capital punishment, the Ballad of Reading Gaol comes after he was convicted and imprisoned under charges of gross indecency. The charges stemmed from his affair with Lord Alfred Douglas, the son of the Marquis of Queensberry. It relates the story of an execution of a man who murdered his wife which Wilde witnessed during his internment. Published in 1898, it was Wilde’s last published poem as he would die in 1900 from cerebral menengitis, caused by syphilis.(Summary by John Gonzalez)

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  Who Can Be Happy and Free in...

  Nikolai Nekrasov

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  Who Can Be Happy and Free in Russia? by Nikolai Nekrasov is one of the most powerful and socially significant works of Russian literature. Written during the nineteenth century, this remarkable narrative poem explores the struggles, hopes, and everyday realities of ordinary people living in a rapidly changing Russian society.
  
  The story begins with a simple yet profound question: who truly lives happily and freely in Russia? Determined to find the answer, a group of peasants sets out on a long journey across the countryside. As they travel from village to village, they meet individuals from many walks of life—landowners, priests, soldiers, laborers, and peasants—each offering their own perspective on happiness, freedom, and hardship.
  
  Through these encounters, the travelers discover that life in Russia is filled with contradictions. While some possess wealth or power, they often lack peace or fulfillment. Meanwhile, the working people who labor tirelessly for survival struggle under poverty and social injustice. Nekrasov uses these stories to reveal the deep inequalities and challenges faced by the Russian people during a period marked by social transformation and the aftermath of serfdom.
  
  The poem paints a vivid portrait of rural life, capturing the voices, traditions, and resilience of the peasantry. Nekrasov's writing blends powerful storytelling with lyrical expression, giving dignity and emotional depth to characters whose lives are shaped by hardship, hope, and perseverance.
  
  At its heart, the work is both a journey and a search for truth. The travelers' quest becomes a reflection on the nature of happiness and freedom within a society struggling with inequality and change. Along the way, Nekrasov explores themes such as social justice, dignity, hardship, moral courage, and the enduring spirit of ordinary people.
  
  Renowned for its emotional intensity and its commitment to portraying the lives of the common people, Who Can Be Happy and Free in Russia? stands as a landmark of Russian poetic literature. The work remains a compelling and thought-provoking exploration of society, asking questions that continue to resonate across generations.
  
  Through its powerful voices and unforgettable journey, Nekrasov's masterpiece invites readers to reflect on the true meaning of freedom, dignity, and happiness in the lives of individuals and nations alike.

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  Top 10 Poets – The U S The -...

  Paul Laurence Dunbar, James...

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  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, to better understand and to enjoy the many strands of our lives. 
  But finding a starting point can be overwhelming, even off-putting, so in this series we offer up our Top 10 classic poets, who brim with talent and verse, on a range of subjects and themes that we can all enjoy. 
  In the vast landmass of North America lie huge bodies of water that are called lakes but act as inland seas, vital waterways of communication and commerce.  Around these agéd waters some of its greatest poets have waxed lyrically on both the times and everything around them.

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  The Secret Garden

  Frances Hodgson Burnett

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  'What happened then, some would say, was almost magic.'
  Disregarded and disobedient, ten-year-old Mary Lennox is sent from India to Yorkshire, and put into the care of an uncle she has never met.
  At Misselthwaite Manor, a brokenhearted house full of secrets and strange noises, Mary discovers a garden as lost and neglected as she is. If she can learn to make friends with robins, grumpy gardeners and a boy who speaks to animals, Mary might be able to bring more than just the garden back to life…
  The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett's tale about the magic of nature and the nature of magic, has been a beloved and quietly radical classic of children's literature since its publication in 1911. Holly Robinson and Anna Himali Howard's thrillingly adventurous adaptation was first performed at Regent's Park Open Air Theatre, London, in 2024.

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  Born in the USA - Exploring...

  Emily Dickinson, Amy Lowell,...

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  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 through the prism of individual regions of the United States through the centuries and decades. 
   
  The United States may be many things: the world’s policeman, a bully, a shameless purveyor of mass market culture but it also, in its better moments, a standard bearer for truth, transparency, equality and the more positive qualities of democracy. 
   
  Little wonder that’s its poets are rightly acknowledged as wonders of their art.  Leading lights in the fight against slavery and for equality, even if the rest of the Nation is finding it problematic to catch up.   
   
  In this volume we have collected verse from poets born in the tiny Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Its history is scarred with tragedy, much of its own making, and yet its natural beauty and its kaleidoscope of cultures summon the envy of us all when put to verse by the likes of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Amu Lowell, Emily Dickenson, William Cullen Bryant and James Russell Lowell.

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