Selected Poems

Literature & Fiction

Akhmatova, Anna

Poetry

Bloodaxe Books

This single poem (included in his Selected Poetry) is attractively printed in a six page phamplet and illustrated with five graceful line drawings of kumquats. The drawings are executed in a pastel color to match the cover, and kumquats.

Kumquat for John Keats

tony-harrison

Complete Poems

Edith Södergran

History & Criticism

David Constantine's second book shows a remarkable development in the range and power of his poetry. After establishing his reputation with the quiet but resonant poems of A Brightness to Cast Shadows (1980), Constantine has gone on to achieve a classical mastery of form and to further develop a highly individual voice, which now has an almost visionary edge. In the poems and related Greek translations of Watching for Dolphins David Constantine recreates a complete imaginative world. Mythical an biblical figures - Christ, Lazarus, Aphrodite and Persephone - appear as opposing forces of Christian compassion and classical excellence. Contrasts and contradictions are at the heart of Constantine's poetic world. The possibility of personal happiness is insisted upon: any wider optimism would be out of place.

Watching for Dolphins

CONSTANTINE, David

Wonderful verse translations of medieval Latin lyrics.

The Virgin & the Nightingale: medieval Latin lyrics

Adcock, Fleur

Snow light, water light

Frances Horovitz

Selected poems

Denise Levertov

Over the years, Denise Levertov's poetry has moved ever more deeply into the realm of meditation, while yet speaking with the familiar voice of "the poet in the world."Oblique Prayers is arranged in four thematic sections that, taken together, work toward a mature philosophy in equal harmony with public activism and private reflection. A personal mood links the poems of “Decipherings.” In “Prisoners," the poet addresses the continuing horrors of our dark time: genocide, imperialism, impending nuclear holocaust––human degradation in brutal political guise. Levertov is an accomplished translator. With "Fourteen Poems by Jean Joubert," she introduces English-speaking readers to a contemporary French poet whose work is remarkably akin to her own. "Of God and of the Gods," the final section of the book, is informed by a transcendent lyricism that can equate in a breath "a day of spring, a needle's eye."

Oblique prayers

LEVERTOV, Denise

R.S.Thomas is one of the most important poets of our time and this is his selection taken from his six books published since the war.

Selected poems, 1946-1968

R.S. Thomas

The Star: 'A plan to televise a poem packed with obscenities caused outrage last night. ITV chiefs intend to screen a reading of Tony Harrison's verse v. which is full of four-letter words.' Daily Mail: A torrent of four-letter filth... the most explicitly sexual language yet beamed into the nation's living rooms... the crudest, most offensive word is used 17 times.' Gerald Howarth, MP: 'It is full of expletives and I can't see that it serves any artistic purpose whatsoever.' Mary Whitehouse: 'This work of singular nastiness.' Harold Pinter: 'The criticism against the poem has been offensive, juvenile and, of course, philistine. It should certainly be broadcast.' Tony Harrison's v. was written during the Miners' Strike of 1984-85 when he visited his parents' grave in a Leeds cemetery and found it vandalised by obscene graffiti. In the book-length poem, he confronts the foul-mouthed skinhead thug responsible, who becomes a foil for his own anger and alienation. The political and media reaction to v. would make a book in itself. This is that book. As well as Tony Harrison's poem and Graham Sykes's photographs, this new edition of v. includes press articles, letters, reviews, a defence of the poem and film by director Richard Eyre, and a transcript of the phone calls logged by Channel Four on the night of the broadcast. 'If I had the slightest influence over educational policy in this country, I'd see that v. was a set text in every school in the country, but of course if we lived in that sort of country, the poem wouldn't have needed to be written' Richard Eyre. Channel Four's film of v. won the Royal Television Society's Best Original Programme Award. This edition of v. has been used as a set text on many university courses in English literature, social studies and media studies. And some far-sighted schoolteachers have used it in English lessons, some showing their pupils the videos they copied from the TV when the film was first shown or repeated

Harrison, Tony

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