Showing titles in English, Irish, Scottish & Welsh

Here is Virginia Woolf at her most entertaining and informative, relishing the portraits and insights she presents as she surveys a varied collection of individuals in English society and English literature. In The Common Reader Volume 2, (published in 1932), the essay lives on and even more so in this sensitive and engaging book by Georgina Sutton.

Lamia is a tragic narrative poem in two parts. It was written in 1819 and first published in 1820 with "Isabella" and "The Eve of St. Agnes". The Greek god Hermes has left Olympus in search of a beautiful nymph. He comes across Lamia, a woman trapped in the form of a snake, who promises to reveal the nymph to him if he, in exchange, restores her human form so she may seek the love of Lycius, a youth of Corinth.

The lyrical ballad The Lady of Shalott is one of Tennyson's best-known and best-loved poems. It is based on the story of Elaine of Astolat, a figure from Arthurian legend, who dies from her unrequited love for Sir Lancelot. The subject matter provided inspiration for many of the Pre-Raphaelite painters. Tennyson published two versions of the poem, both of which are included in this recording. The first was written in 1832, and the second—the better-known of the two versions—in 1842.

The selection of eighteen poems is taken from Tennyson's first collection, published in 1830. The most famous poem in the collection is Mariana, a dramatic narrative, which, like The Lady of Shalott, describes the tragic fate of an abandoned woman. All the poems feature the elegant euphony for which Tennyson's verse has become famous.

Many of the short poems for which Keats has become famous were written in a burst of inspiration early in 1819, including these four odes: Ode to a Nightingale, Ode on a Grecian Urn, Ode to Psyche, and Ode on Melancholy. The generally melancholy and sometimes elegiac quality of these poems is reflective of Keats' inevitable preoccupation with his declining health. Another significant factor was his infatuation with Fanny Brawne, who returned his affection in an unfortunately non-exclusive manner.

"El retrato del Sr. W. H." es una historia escrita por Oscar Wilde, publicada por primera vez en la revista Blackwood's Magazine en 1889. Fue posteriormente añadida a la colección "El crimen de lord Arthur Savile y otras historias". En esta novela corta Oscar Wilde intenta descubrir la identidad de la persona a la que van dedicados los sonetos de Shakespeare, un secreto que los expertos intentan averiguar sin éxito desde hace quinientos años. Hay múltiples teorías al respecto y Wilde se decanta por la teoría de que el autor de estos es Willie Hughes.

SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2022 T.S. ELIOT PRIZE SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2022 JOHN POLLARD FOUNDATION INTERNATIONAL POETRY PRIZE bandit country, the much-anticipated debut collection from James Conor Patterson, is a rollicking, hyper-literate and at times deeply troubling account of a young man’s...

This Very Short introduction explores the major themes of Austen criticism through close analysis of her major and minor works, with particular emphasis on the literary, social, and political backgrounds from which the novels emerge, and with which they engage. Thomas Keymer combines critical introductions to each of Austen's six major novels with an exploration of the key themes in her works. 

Ellenor, fille d'un riche attorney et Ralph, jeune avocat ambitieux, sont amis d'enfance. Peu à peu, leur amitié s'est transformée en un sentiment plus tendre. Ils s'éprennent l'un de l'autre et se fiancent. Et, tout à coup, une nuit de mai va bouleverser leur vie...

On 16 August 1819, a crowd of about 60,000 people gather at Manchester in a peaceful demonstration to demand reform of the parliamentary electoral system. The government of the day interpreted the gathering as an act of rebellion and ordered the militia to disperse the crowd. In the resulting fracas, fifteen demonstrators were killed and several hundred injured. Shelly was living at Leghorn at the time of the massacre, and the news of the massacre roused his fiery republican sentiments. The result was The Mask Of Anarchy, a rousing call to action on behalf of the oppressed.

Today Thomas Gray is remembered almost solely for this melancholy meditation on the inevitability of death and the insignificance of fame. The poem was originally thought to have been inspired by the death of Gray's close friend, Richard West, but modern critics think this to be unlikely. Retiring by nature, Gray did not want the elegy to be published, but his hand was forced by an unscrupulous editor who planned to publish the poem without permission. The polished elegance of the versification has ensured that the poem has retained its appeal over the centuries.

Vinegar Hill explores the liminal space between private experiences and public events as Tóibín examines a wide range of subjects—politics, queer love, reflections on literary and artistic greats, living through COVID, memory and a fading past, and facing mortality. The poems reflect a life well-travelled and well-lived; from growing up in the town of Enniscorthy, wandering the streets of Dublin and Barcelona, and crossing the bridges of Venice to visiting the White House, listeners will travel through familiar locations and new destinations through Tóibín's unique lens.

Thomas Love Peacock is today remembered as the author of seven satirical novels which many regard merely as literary curiosities. However, he was also a man of considerable learning, a skilled poet, and an astute literary critic. This collection includes Recollections of Thomas Love Peacock, an affectionate reminiscence by Sir Edward Strachey; Some Recollections of Childhood, a window into Peacock's early youth; "Four Ages of Poetry", in which he pokes fun at his contemporaries; and "The Last Day of Windsor Forest", an old man's recollection of a memorable episode.

A beautiful selection of poems from a young man who would become a brilliant author and essayist, a thinker who was very much at the forefront of changes in the twentieth century. Here is a book that could be carried in your pocket and enjoyed quickly—a poem of innocent love or remembrance of events that make the boy become the man.

Jane Eyre es una niña huérfana que se ha educado en un orfanato, su inteligencia y su afán por aprender consiguen apartarla del mundo de su infancia. Al llegar a los dieciocho años abandona la institución y comienza a trabajar como institutriz, para educar a la hija del señor Rochester. Poco a poco, el amor irá tejiendo su red entre ellos, pero la casa y la vida de Rochester guardan un estremecedor y terrible misterio.

The Bridge of Fire, which appeared in 1907, was Flecker's first published collection of poetry. It contains 35 poems, a number of which were revised and republished in later collections. As with Flecker's other collections, two persistent themes emerge: the poet's fascination with the glories of Grecian antiquity and his premonitions of an early demise. Flecker seemed to be acutely aware that not only would he pass away himself, but also the fading world of British imperialism of which he was a characteristic representative.

James Elroy Flecker, linguist, scholar, critic, poet, and diplomat, like his illustrious poetic peers, Wilfred Owen and Rupert Brooke, did not survive the First World War. All three died young: Owen and Brooke in the line of battle, and Flecker, who never fought due to a long-standing respiratory illness, in a sanatorium in Switzerland in 1915. Flecker's poems are generally short: none of his original verse works exceeds 1200 words in length. Flecker revised his poems regularly, refining their spare but telling verbiage and achieving simplicity and directness.

Sebastian Barry's writing career has been as long and varied as it has extraordinary. Intimate, revealing and generous of heart, these three lectures—written and delivered as part of his three-year tenure as the laureate for Irish fiction—reflect on his life and career so far, and some of the formative moments and people he's met along the way.

Much of Tennyson's poetry is elegiac in nature, featuring characters who have been disempowered by isolation, age, or lack of opportunity. One of the most famous examples of this is the dramatic soliloquy, "Ulysses". "Columbus", written many years later, is also a dramatic narrative. In both cases, the narrators are elderly mariners, who have a long history of daring forays into remote regions, and who are eager to venture forth again but are hampered by lack of opportunity and the effects of aging.

Written when Vita became homesick for her beautiful home in Kent, it had six print runs within three years of its publication in 1926. Vita has always been popular for her gardening, her lifestyle, and bohemian companions like Virginia Woolf and the Bloomsbury group. Her nostalgia for farming and the beauty of the seasons is described with an artist’s eye for detail.