Bloodshot Monochrome

Bloodshot Monochrome is a glorious poetic take on all things black, white and read. Reinventing the sonnet, Patience Agbabi shines her euphoric, musical lines on everything from growing up to growing old, from Northern Soul to contract killers, from the retro to the brand new. Whether resurrecting the dead in 'Problem Pages', playing out noir dramas in 'Vicious Circle', or capturing moments of her own life in perfect snapshot, Agbabi's verse is sublimely lyrical and spiked with gleeful humour.

This volume examines the relationship between gender and form in early modern women's writing by exploring women's debts to and appropriations of different literary genres and offering practical suggestions for the teaching of women's texts.

This Companion is aimed at students and poetry enthusiasts wanting to deepen their knowledge of some of the finest modern poets. It provides new approaches to a wide range of influential women's poetry, a chronology and guide to further reading.

If we have established that our approach to the phenomena that are other to us is always a matter of semiosis, and that even in an attempt to naturalize phenomenology, like the one made by Maurice Merleau-Ponty, who points to the corporeity of consciousness as much as an intentionality of the body, it appears that our most negligible movements present our cultural being or habituality (cf. Iris Young, Throwing Like a Girl, 1990, 2005). However, many thinkers have claimed (for example, the novelist D. H. Lawrence or philosopher Luce Iragary) that we know by touch and intuition. The papers collected in this book examine our approach to these issues in an essentially post-theory world, particularly enquiring if twentieth century theory has left us clear directions of where we are supposed to be looking for new ways of understanding and representing the phenomenological. The way the Other exists in the consciousness that, as Hegel said, always pursues its death, becomes especially interesting in the context of the development of Anglo-American studies in the post-postmodern world which sees the West as a changeable cultural (and geographical) concept that incorporates a multiplicity of others. Yet, at the same time, a number of contemporary Anglo-American writers insists on the prolonged effects of colonialism in the modern world, in which outbursts of violence and hatred aimed at the Other prove that the modern world still cannot approach the Other without bigotry.

"Creativity in Language and Literature is a provocative and valuable book. Its breadth of topics, variety of approaches, and self-consciously creative and dialogic nature are especially appropriate and creative ways of approaching the subject of creativity. The scope, variety and original content of this book make it a unique contribution to the field" - Professor David L. Hoover, New York University, USA This unique resource brings together contributions from creative practitioners and academic researchers working across different disciplines. Researchers, literary authors, editors, performers and film makers reflect on their work and collectively explore the art of creativity in language and literature. Creativity in Language and Literature covers a range of texts, genres and practices, such as poetry, hip hop, film, story telling, web chat and pen-friend correspondence. Each part of the book begins with an introduction and the final part includes critical responses to the idea of linguistic creativity, encouraging ongoing dialogue and debate. This richly diverse collection is an ideal text for students and practitioners working at all levels. With contributions by Patience Agbabi, Daniel Allington, R. Amritavalli, Richard D. Brown, Lynne Cameron, Ronald Carter, Guy Cook, Jon Cook, Ruth Finnegan, Angela Goddard, Ben Haggarty, Graeme Harper, G. D. Jayalakshmi, Angel Lin, Janet Maybin, Rukmini Bhaya Nair, Kate Pahl, Mario Petrucci, Rob Pope, Elena Semino, Fiona Sampson, Jane Spiro, Peter Stockwell, Joan Swann, S. Upendran and Michelene Wandor.

The Oxford Handbook of Early Modern Women's Writing in English, 1540-1700 brings together new work by scholars across the globe, from some of the founding figures in early modern women's writing to those early in their careers and defining the field now. It investigates how and where women gained access to education, how they developed their literary voice through varied genres including poetry, drama, and letters, and how women cultivated domestic and technical forms of knowledge from recipes and needlework to medicines and secret codes. Chapters investigate the ways in which women's writing was an integral part of the intellectual culture of the period, engaging with male writers and traditions, while also revealing the ways in which women's lives and writings were often distinctly different, from women prophetesses to queens, widows, and servants. It explores the intersections of women writing in English with those writing in French, Spanish, Latin, and Greek, in Europe and in New England, and argues for an archipelagic understanding of women's writing in Scotland, Wales, Ireland, and England. Finally, it reflects on--and challenges--the methodologies which have developed in, and with, the field: book and manuscript history, editing, digital analysis, premodern critical race studies, network theory, queer theory, and feminist theory. The Oxford Handbook of Early Modern Women's Writing in English, 1540-1700 captures the most innovative work on early modern women's writing in English at present.

Poetry by Heart - based on the hugely successful nationwide schools competition, 200 magical poems to learn by heart 'The poems we learn stay with us for the rest of our lives. They become personal and invaluable, and what's more they are free gifts - there for the taking' Simon Armitage Two years ago former Poet Laureate Andrew Motion had the idea of setting up Poetry by Heart - a nationwide annual competition for secondary schools which asked contestants to learn two or three poems and be judged on their recitations, first at school level, then regional, then in a national final held at London's National Portrait Gallery. It's proved a huge success, with hundreds of schools participating in the first year, and numbers up by 20% in the second. Coinciding with the start of the third year of competition, and published on National Poetry Day whose theme coincidentally in 2014 is Recitation, this Poetry by Heart anthology brings together the pool of poems - 200 altogether - from which contestants make their choices. Specially picked by Motion and his three co-editors, these poems make up a treasure house - of almost-unknown poems and familiar poems from the mainstream; love poems and war poems; funny poems and heartbroken poems; poems that recreate the world we know and poems written on the dark side of the moon. And all chosen with a view to their being recited out loud. From William Wordsworth to Wilfred Owen, Emily Brontë to Elizabeth Bishop this wonderfully enjoyable anthology will be enjoyed by all ages and includes the best poets from the past to the present day. In a groundbreaking feature, the book includes QR codes which allow readers to use their mobile phones to listen to recordings of the poems - many of them specially recorded by the poets themselves. Sir Andrew Motion was Poet Laureate from 1999 till 2009, and is Professor of Creative Writing at Royal Holloway College, London. Jean Sprackland'sTilt won the Costa Poetry award in 2008. She is a Reader in Poetry at Manchester Metropolitan University. Julie Blake is co-Founder and Director of The Full English, an organization based in Bristol which provides support to teachers of English Literature. Mike Dixon is an educational consultant specializing in English in the classroom.

This Companion is the first to explore postcolonial poetry through regional, historical, political, formal, textual and gender approaches.