Showing results by author "Rupert Brooke" in All Categories

For centuries England has always had a leading and admired reputation for its poets and poetry. In this volume we explore those born in the West Midlands who created such revered, enduring and respected verse.

Although Rupert Brooke is known today as a "war poet", he was never actually engaged in combat: His death was the result of an infection from an insect bite that occurred while he was in transit to commence duty in Turkey. Unlike Wilfred Owen, who had a bitter experience of life in the trenches, Brooke's vision was of the glory rather than the horror of war. Only the first section focuses on issues stemming from the war. Poems in the other sections are generally wistful evocations of places that the poet had visited in his travels and reflections on youthful love.

Rupert Chawner Brooke was born at 5 Hillmorton Road, Rugby, Warwickshire, on 3rd August 1887, the third of four children. Brooke attended preparatory school nearby at Hillbrow and then went on to Rugby School. In 1905, he became friends with St. John Lucas, who thereafter became something of a mentor to him. While travelling in Europe he worked on a thesis, 'John Webster and the Elizabethan Drama', which won him a scholarship to King's College, Cambridge.

As a poetical movement, Georgian poetry is easy to classify. It began naturally enough in 1910, when George V ascended to the throne of England. Edward Marsh, a civil servant, polymath and arts patron, decided that the verse of that time needed to be seen in its own right and from 1912-1922 set out to publish anthologies. Marsh agreed a deal with the poet and bookseller Harold Munro, who had recently opened The Poetry Bookshop in London’s Devonshire Street to publish the books in return for a share of the profits.

English Poetry, Volume 2 – An Introduction. The English language has grown into the Worlds pre-dominant spoken language. It’s estimated there are over one million words with which to do this. Its sources are rich and diverse, absorbing from other cultures and times without hesitation.

“If music be the food of love, play on" was one of Shakespeare’s finest lines. If music is food then poetry is the wine. In this volume of classic love poetry the flavoured capture of words and rhythms makes us think more carefully of words and their value to us. They also surprise us with their structure and meaning, layering in thoughts and emotions that we might otherwise shy away from. Poems are wonderful ways to express what we feel for a very special someone.

A wonderful collection of poetry enhanced by classical music. Including "The Sorcerer's Apprentice," "Danse Macabre" and "Goblin Market."

Recorded shortly before his death in 1958, Academy Award winning actor Robert Donat reads more of his favourite poetry, including works by A. E. Housman, John Keats, William Shakespeare, and Rupert Brooke.

In the midst of bombs and bullets, trenches and trauma, the soldiers of World War I, and those observing the horrors taking place from home, took pen to paper to record their experiences in verse. These poems - considered the greatest written during WWI and some of the greatest poetry of the twentieth century - show the horror of war but also shine a light on the strength of human courage, bravery, and virtue.