Showing titles in Themes & Styles

The most enduring and popular theme of poems and poets is that of love. Love changes; its rhythms pause and pulse on the tiniest of things and the biggest of thrills. Within its shades all other feelings, all other emotions, gently reside, waiting for their moment. In these 50 poems, the many, many shades of love reveal themselves.

It’s that time of year again . . . With his signature wit, Brian Bilston returns with And So This is Christmas, fifty-one poems in celebration of the festive season. From bizarre family traditions to the office Christmas party; from voting day for turkeys to the impossible art of gift-giving...

This remarkable poem, dedicated to Queen Elizabeth I, was Spenser's finest achievement. The first epic poem in modern English, The Faerie Queene combines dramatic narratives of chivalrous adventure with exquisite and picturesque episodes of pageantry. At the same time, Spenser is expounding a deeply-felt allegory of the eternal struggle between Truth and Error....

Shriramcharitmanas by Tulsidas is a revered epic that retells the story of Lord Rama’s life and teachings in poetic form. This text is central to the religious and cultural life of Hindus, especially in northern India. Tulsidas’ work offers profound insights into the values of dharma (righteousness) and devotion, providing spiritual guidance through Rama’s virtues and actions.

Home at last—but not yet safe. In Samuel Butler’s classic prose rendering, Odysseus (Ulysses) is borne sleeping to Ithaca by the generous Phaeacians, while Poseidon exacts a terrible price. Shrouded in Athena’s mist, he awakens on unknown shores, hides his treasure in the Naiads’ cave...

Two of The Odyssey’s most unforgettable chapters come alive in this gripping performance of Samuel Butler’s lucid prose translation. In Book 11, Odysseus sails to the shadowed shores of Oceanus and summons the dead: he speaks with the seer Teiresias, embraces the shade of his mother Anticlea...

Night falls on Ithaca as the stranger in rags prepares for justice. In Book 19, Odysseus and Telemachus spirit away the weapons, Penelope cross-examines the beggar, and faithful Euryclea knows her king by an old scar. In Book 20, sleepless prayers and thunderous omens announce the reckoning...

lift the lapis lazuli tablet and read of Gilgamesh - his adventures and all he endured. King above kings, most formidable presence. Gilgamesh originated in Ancient Mesopotamia nearly 4,000 years ago, yet its themes of power, loyalty, love and loss resound with contemporary relevance. The...

Read by the author, John Stammers ‘Beneath the sharp social satire lurks a psychological insight, a sensitivity to a profound cultural inheritance’ The Times In 2023 the poet John Stammers was struck by a sudden and life-threatening health crisis and came very close to death. By some miracle...

Alexander Pope was celebrated for his command of classical Greek and produced seminal translations of the Iliad and the Odyssey. Prior to the preparation of these translations, Pope took advantage of his mastery of the classical style and also his waspish wit to compose a burlesque epic about the theft of a lock of hair. The incident that inspired Pope was related to him by his friend John Caryll. Lord Petre had cut off a lock of the hair of Arabella Fermor, whom he was courting at the time, without asking the lady's permission.

Between Flowers, Monsters and Mushrooms by Ben Featherstone is a wandering collection of wonderfully imperfect poetry, short stories and unique thoughts on life, forming a contemporary poetry and literary fiction audiobook. It is inspired from the humorous, peculiar sometimes dark margins of...

Tauch in die Frühlingswunder ein, labe Dich am Sommerglück, schwelge im Herbstzauber und feiere die Winterfreuden. Die Schöpfung lädt Dich dazu ein, sie ist der Kompass im Erdendasein. Für sie gibt es keinen Ersatz, sie ist der Lebensankerplatz.

Et lig bliver fundet i en brandtomt indemuret i skorstenen. Liget bliver identificeret som Mats Persson - en mand der forsvandt sporløst en novemberaften i 1983. Ved undersøgelsen af Mats´ forsvinden i 80´erne kom det frem, at Mats tilsyneladende var kommet lidt for tæt på sandheden om...

A celebration of the moon, of life and of love, from one of Australia's most loved authors. By turns romantic and realist, Bruce Pascoe explores the urgency of the contemporary climate crisis and the need to love Country in his haunting, slow-burning and classical poetry style. This is startlingly vulnerable poetry to heal the Earth, to navigate heartache and to provoke stillness and introspection.

In this classic epic chronicle of the Greek Hero on his travels home from the Trojan War, Odysseus survives storm and shipwreck, the cave of the Cyclops, and the isle of Circe. He withstands the lure of the Sirens’ song and a trip to the Underworld, only to find his most difficult challenge at...

'Brian Bilston is a laureate for our fractured times.' Ian McMillan 'Someone who knows their way round both a joke and a bittersweet narrative.' The Times 'Part John Cooper Clarke, part Frank Sidebottom . . . all brilliant.' Esquire 'Bilston is a magician with words' Guardian Alexa, what is...

Raat, Khamoshi Aur Tum' kavita sangrah hai Nilanshu Ranjan ki kalam se. Suniye aur luft utthaiyay.

One of the great innovators in American letters, Walt Whitman created a daringly new kind of poetry that became a major force in world literature. Leaves of Grass is his masterpiece, written in a pure, uninhibited style, combining sensual and mystical sensibilities. Its bold, joyous voice, its expansive optimism, and its transcendental vision made it uniquely American.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning's classic poem recounting the astonishing variety of ways in which she loves her beloved, read by Jenny Agutter.

Richard Osmond won the Seamus Heaney Prize for his widely praised first collection, Useful Verses. His second, Rock, Paper, Scissors, presents an extraordinary, collaged response to the poet’s direct experience of the terrorist attack in London on June 3rd, 2017. Osmond has written a powerful...