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  Love's Labour's Lost

  William Shakespeare

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  This new edition of Shakespeare's Love's Labour's Lost presents a highly readable text of the play based on the first quarto of 1598. A thorough but concise critical commentary and a comprehensive introduction illuminate the significant elements of the play, its remarkable use of language, and its performance history.

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  Absalom and Achitophel

  John Dryden

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  John Dryden published Absalom and Achitophel: A Poem in 1681. It is an elaborate historical allegory using the political situation faced by King David (2 Samuel 14-18) to mirror that faced by Charles II. Each monarch had a son whom a high-ranking minister attempted to use against him. James Scott, first Duke of Monmouth, Charles II's illegitimate son, was detected planning a rebellion late in 1681, supposedly instigated by the Earl of Shaftesbury, who was tried for high treason, and it is believed that Dryden wrote the poem in an effort to sway the jury in his trial. The fates of both Absalom (Monmouth) and Achitophel (Shaftesbury) are left unspecified at the end of the poem (Monmouth did rebel in 1685, after his father's death, and was executed, and Shaftesbury was acquitted), but we are left to surmise that their fates would resemble those of their Biblical counterparts: Absalom was killed against David's instructions and Achitophel hanged himself.The poem can be enjoyed without any special knowledge of either the Bible or seventeenth-century English history, but it is useful to understand why Monmouth (AKA Absalom) was such a useful tool to use against his father: Charles had many illegitimate offspring, but his wife was barren, so at his death the crown would pass (did pass) to his brother, James, who was Catholic, but Monmouth was Protestant as well as well-beloved by both the king and the people. England had good reason to dread a return of officially enforced Catholicism. The narrator's urbane attitude toward David's amatory adventures in the opening of the poem and his burlesque of the supposed Jebusitical plot (the "Popish Plot" of 1678) establish clearly his Tory bias in favor of the Establishment and his disdain of the panic caused by fear of Catholicism (Dryden himself converted to the Catholic faith at some time before 1685).

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  Sunset Song (NHB Modern Plays) -...

  Lewis Grassic Gibbon

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  A classic of Scots literature, brilliantly adapted for the stage.
  Sunset Song is the first novel in Lewis Grassic Gibbon's Scots Quair trilogy, a rich evocation of growing up on a farm in Scotland in the early-20th century, of being in love and in lust, of getting by as a young mother on your own and of losing your lover in war.
  The distinguishing feature of the books - and of this dramatisation - is the use of the rhythms and vocabulary of Scots to tell the story.
  This stage version of Sunset Song by Alastair Cording was first performed at the Tron Theatre, Glasgow, in 1991.
  'Succeeds marvellously... puts Scotland's own history onto the stage with vigour, precision and skill... a pure piece of theatre' - Guardian
  'Does full justice to Grassic Gibbon... a joy and a wrench to watch its blithe unfolding of tragedy and hope' - Scotland on Sunday

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  Othello (NHB Classic Plays) -...

  William Shakespeare

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  Frantic Assembly's electrifying take on Shakespeare's tragedy of paranoia, sex and murder, firmly rooted in a volatile twenty-first century.
  In a world of broken glass and shattered promises, of poisonous manipulation and explosive violence, Othello's passionate affair with Desdemona becomes the catalyst for jealousy, betrayal, revenge and the darkest intents.
  As relevant today as it ever was, Othello exposes the tension, fear and paranoia buried beneath the veneer of our relationships and how easily that can be maliciously exploited.
  Frantic Assembly's touring production was first performed in 2008, with revivals in 2014 and 2022. This edition of Scott Graham and Steven Hoggett's muscular, radically adapted text also features articles and interviews about the production and Frantic Assembly's revolutionary work.
  'Frantic Assembly breathe new life into Shakespeare's tale... in Scott Graham's pulse-racing production' - Time Out
  'A fierce reimagining of Shakespeare's tragedy' - The Times
  'Pulsating... hurls Othello well and truly into our times' - Independent

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  Poets of the Early 20th Century...

  Edna St. Vincent Millay, T S...

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  In England the Victorian Age was about to become the past and a new age of worldwide wars of horror and slaughter would envelop and decimate generations, forever staining mankind.   
   
  The Century would see the World discover strengths. The Democracies would stand firm against Fascism and later Communism yet still keep its own elite and privileged in power and the rest of us underfoot. 
   
  The World was more connected than ever before.  Culture accelerated its kaleidoscopic and interwoven journey. Transport delivered people by car and train and then aeroplane to far flung corners of the globe.  Empires were at their zenith and ready to fragment with new nations, many troubled, rising from their decay. 
   
  The natural world continued to be plundered and pillaged for its resources by industries who pledged ‘more’ and ‘better’ and would clothe and feed a growing world yet sow the seeds now ready to devastate us in our current times. 
   
  The globe was as vibrant and violent as troubled and tarnished as it ever was.  But new ideas, new political systems, new times changed everything once again. 
   1 - The Poets of the Early Twentieth Century  - Volume 2 - An Introduction 
  2 - The Lions by Joseph Mary Plunkett 
  3 - 1841-1891 by Joseph Mary Plunkett 
  4 - If We Return by F W Harvey 
  5 - The Soldier Speaks by F W Harvey 
  6 - The Negro Soldiers by Roscoe C Jamison 
  7 - Into Battle by Julian Grenfell 
  8 - Prayer For Those on the Staff by Julian Grenfell 
  9 - Hymn by Fenton Johnson 
  10 - Tired by Fenton Johnson 
  11 - Sonnet I by Fernando Pessoa 
  12 - If, After I Die by Fernando Pessoa  
  13 - I Have A Rendezvous with Death by Alan Seeger 
  14 - All Thats Not Love by Alan Seeger 
  15 - Maktoob by Alan Seeger 
  16 - The Unseen Planets by Raymond Chandler 
  17 - The Poet's Knowledge by Raymond Chandler 
  18 - I Saw A Man This Morning by Patrick Shaw Stewart 
  19 - Whispers of Immortality by T S Eliot 
  20 - The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock by T S Eliot 
  21 - Preludes by T S Eliot 
  22 - The Wounded Bird by Katherine Mansfield 
  23 - Stars by Katharine Mansfield 
  24 - A Fine Day by Katherine Mansfield 
  25 - I Taught Myself To Live Simply by Anna Akhmatova 
  26 - When I Write Poems by Anna Akhmatova 
  27 - Poetry by Claude McKay 
  28 - The White House by Claude McKay 
  29 - The Lynching by Claude McKay 
  30 - Strange Hells by Ivor Gurney 
  31 - Crucifix Corner by Ivor Gurney 
  32 - Serenade by Ivor Gurney 
  33 - Break of Day in the Trenches by Isaac Rosenberg 
  34 - Dead Man's Dump by Isaac Rosenberg 
  35 - August 1914 by Isaac Rosenberg 
  36 - Journey's End by Zora Neale Hurston 
  37 - The Dog Tupman by Stella Benson 
  38 - The Ballad of the Harp-Weaver by Edna St Vincent Millay 
  39 - My Heart Being Hungry by Edna St Vincent Millay 
  40 - What Lips My Lips Have Kissed, And Where, And Why by Edna St Vincent Millay 
  41 - Sonnet XVIII - I, Being Born a Woman by Edna St Vincent Millay 
  42 - Unity by Cesar Vallejo 
  43 - Love by Edith Sodergran 
  44 - On Foot I Had to Cross the Solar System by Edith Sodergran 
  45 - Insouciance by Richard Aldington 
  46 - Goodbye by Richard Aldington 
  47 - Grey Hairs by Marina Ivanova Tsvetaeva 
  48 - Lady with Camelias by Marina Ivanova Tsvetaeva 
  49 - To Mother by Marina Ivanova Tsvetaeva 
  50 - Back To Rest by Lietenant William Noel Hodgson MC 
  51 - Before Action  by Lieutenant William Noel Hodgson MC 
  52 - Past One O'Clock by Vladimir Mayakovsky 
  53 - So This Is How I Turned into a Dog by Vladamir Mayakovsky 
  54 - Verse for a Certain Dog by Dorothy Parker 
  55 - A Dream Lies Dead by Dorothy Parker<p

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  Between 2 worlds: The Life of An...

  Birol Bahadir

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  What's the life of an immigrant like? A nomad in the middle of nowhere with an unknown future and unfamiliar faces lurking everywhere. That's the life that the Author of Between 2 Worlds, Birol Bahadir, had to endure as he grew up in a foreign land full of uncertainties. Born in a Turkish family but raised in an unknown land in Germany, Birol succumbed to western influence that halted his growth and put a question mark on his identity.Between 2 Worlds takes you through the life of an immigrant living a life of despair entrenched with a feeling of alienation. It's a heart-touching story that provides the readers with a glimpse of an immigrant surviving in western countries.It's Bahadir's tale of survival, living through the dungeons of Islamophobia and hate. This book provides an in-depth view of the life of an immigrant juggling the dilemma of identity.This book is for everyone living away from their homeland to make a fortune in a foreign land. It's a biography/memoir that will urge you to find a connection with Birol's life. Drift into a journey with this heart touching story that takes you through moments Birol faced while living as a Turkish Muslim immigrant and trying to find his true identity.Feelings of alienation and pangs of isolation afflict every immigrant family living in a foreign land, persisting incessantly in the initial days. Facing discrimination and hatred because of being termed a 'refugee' often takes away the will to survive. But, there's a feeling that keeps you going, forcing you to push your limitations with every challenge that comes your way.Perhaps, that's what drove Birol forward. This book epitomizes immigrants' difficulties and problems like Birol, who eventually come out of it stronger than before. It is a beautiful memoir and a real life story penned by a once broken and battered Birol, who finally stood up to the occasion and overcame challenges bravely, excelling to his maximum potential.

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