The Flea In Verse By You

Beneath the surface we are all connected . . .'An authentically soothing, powerful, thought-provoker.'MATT HAIG'On Connection is medicine for these wounded times.'MAX PORTER'On Connection came to me when I needed it most, and reminded me that the links we have to places, people, words, ourselves, are what keep us alive.'CANDICE CARTY-WILLIAMSThis is a book about connection. About how immersing ourselves in creativity can help us cultivate greater self-awareness and bring us closer to each other.Drawing on two decades of experience as a writer and performer, Kae Tempest champions the role of creativity - in whatever form we choose to practice it - as an act of love, helping us establish a deeper relationship to our true selves, and to others and the world we live in.Honest, hopeful and written with piercing clarity, On Connection is an inspiring personal meditation that will transform the way you see the world.'Persuasive and profound.' OBSERVER'Tempest's prose is crisp and thoughtful.' NEW STATESMAN

"Few poetic forms have found more uses than the sonnet in English, and none is now more recognizable. It is one of the longest-lived of verse forms, and one of the briefest. A mere fourteen lines, fashioned by intricate rhymes, it is, as Dante Gabriel Rossetti called it, "a moment's monument." From the Renaissance to the present, the sonnet has given poets a superb vehicle for private contemplation, introspection, and the expression of passionate feelings and thoughts." "The Art of the Sonnet collects one hundred exemplary sonnets of the English language (and a few sonnets in translation), representing highlights in the history of the sonnet, accompanied by short commentaries on each of the poems. The commentaries by Stephen Burt and David Mikics offer new perspectives and insights, and, taken together, demonstrate the enduring as well as changing nature of the sonnet. The authors serve as guides to some of the most-celebrated sonnets in English as well as less-well-known gems by nineteenth- and twentieth-century poets. Also included is a general introductory essay, in which the authors examine the sonnet form and its long and fascinating history, from its origin in medieval Sicily to its English appropriation in the sixteenth century to sonnet writing today in the United States, the United Kingdom, and other English-speaking parts of the world." --Book Jacket.

In The Art of Poetry, Shira Wolosky provides a dazzling introduction to an art whose emphasis on verbal music, wordplay, and dodging the merely literal makes it at once the most beguiling and most challenging of literary forms. A uniquely comprehensive, step-by-step introduction to poetic form, The Art of Poetry moves progressively from smaller units such as the word, line, and image, to larger features such as verse forms and voice. In fourteen engaging, beautifully written chapters, Wolosky explores in depth how poetry does what it does while offering brilliant readings of some of the finest lyric poetry in the English and American traditions. Both readers new to poetry and poetry veterans will be moved and enlightened as Wolosky interprets work by William Shakespeare, John Donne, William Blake, William Wordsworth, Emily Dickinson, Robert Frost, Sylvia Plath, and others. The book includes a superb two-chapter discussion of the sonnet's form and history, and represents the first poetry guide to introduce gender as a basic element of analysis. In contrast to many existing guides, which focus on selected formal aspects like metrics or present definitions and examples in a handbook format, The Art of Poetry covers the full landscape of poetry's subtle art while showing readers how to comprehend a poetic text in all its dimensions. Other special features include Wolosky's consideration of historical background for the developments she discusses, and the way her book is designed to acquaint or reacquaint readers with the core of the lyric tradition in English. Lively, accessible, and original, The Art of Poetry will be a rich source of inspiration for students, general readers, and those who teach poetry.

Enable students to achieve their best grade in AS/A-level English Literature with this year-round course companion; designed to instil in-depth textual understanding as students read, analyse and revise the AQA A Poetry Anthology throughout the course. This Study and Revise guide: - Increases students' knowledge of the AQA A Poetry Anthology as they progress through the detailed commentary and contextual information written by experienced teachers and examiners - Develops understanding of characterisation, themes, form, structure and language, equipping students with a rich bank of textual examples to enhance their coursework and exam responses - Builds critical and analytical skills through challenging, thought-provoking questions and tasks that encourage students to form their own personal responses to the text - Extends learning and prepares students for higher-level study by introducing critical viewpoints, comparative references to other literary works and suggestions for independent research - Helps students maximise their exam potential using clear explanations of the Assessment Objectives, sample student answers and examiner insights - Improves students' extended writing techniques through targeted advice on planning and structuring a successful essay

English lyric poetry from Wyatt to Donne falls into three consecutive stylistic phases. Tottel's Miscellany presided over the first, making the lyrics of Wyatt and Surrey available for imitation by mid-century poets like Barnabe Googe, George Turberville, and George Gascoigne. The Shepheardes Calender and Sidney's Defense of Poesy ushered in the second, the Elizabethan or &"Golden&" phase of the 1580s and 1590s. In the third phase Donne and Jonson, reacting against the stylistic orientation of the Elizabethan poets, reconceived the status of &"poesy&" and resituated the lyric for a post-Elizabethan audience. Chapter 7 is shared between Donne and Jonson, post-Elizabethan writers who used metonymy to subvert the metaphoric stance of Elizabethan poetry. In a Postscript Hedley takes on the &"metaphysical conceit&" for a final demonstration of the explanatory power of Jakobson's theory of language. Professor Hedley uses the semiotic theory of Roman Jakobson to create stylistic profiles for each of these three phases of early Renaissance poetry. Along with the poetry itself she reexamines contemporary treatises, &"defenses,&" and &"notes of instruction&" to highlight key features of poetic practice. She proposes that early and mid-Tudor poetry is &"metonymic,&" that the collective orientation of the Elizabethan poets is &"metaphoric,&" and that Donne and Jonson bring metonymy to the fore once again. Chapter 1 sets out the essentials of Jakobson's theory. Hedley uses particular poems to show what is involved in claiming that a writer or a piece of writing has metaphoric or a metonymic basis. Chapter 2 explains how the metaphoric bias of Elizabethan poetry was produced, as &"poesy&" became part of England's national identity. This chapter broadens out beyond the lyric to include other modes of writing whose emergence belongs to an Elizabethan &"moment&" in the history of English literature. Beyond chapter 2, each chapter has a double purpose: to create stylistic profile for a single poetic generation and to highlight a particular aspect or feature of the poetry as an index of difference from one generation to the next. In the third chapter Hedley shows how Wyatt and Surrey used deixis metonymically to give their poems particular occasions. Chapter 4 explains how the metonymic bias of the mid-Tudor poets affected their use of metaphor, and highlights Gascoigne's appreciation of a metaphor as a social gambit or an instrument of moral suasion. Chapters 5 and 6 are centered in the Elizabethan period, but with perspectives into earlier and subsequent phases of metonymic writing. In chapter 5, a comprehensive discussion of the sonnet and the sonnet sequence shows how metaphoric writing cooperates with the &"poetic function&" of language. Chapter 6 deals with love poetry, as a social/political activity whose orientation differs radically from one generation of English Petrarchists to the next.

An exquisite collection of the very best writing on love. THE LOVE BOOK presents a new anthology of writing on all aspects of the most important emotion on earth. There’s true love, unrequited love, erotic love, platonic love, thwarted love, comic love, mourned love and just about every other type of love, explored here in poetry, prose, letters and lyrics from the greatest writers in the English language. In one fabulously comprehensive volume, Allie Esiri brings together texts ancient and modern, from William Shakespeare to Sharon Olds, Catullus to Carol Ann Duffy, the bible to Bob Dylan; she offers us sonnets for wooing, lamentations for loss and perfect passages for weddings. Full of classics and all-time favourites, THE LOVE BOOK also includes lesser-known marvels, such as Mozart’s love notes, Sappho’s lesbian odes and a letter from Napoleon. Forget corny greeting cards and chocolate box cliché, this is the literature of love at its finest. Beautifully presented and helpfully divided into themed sections, it’s an indispensable collection for anyone who’s ever had a heart.

The Poetry of Mr Minevar, Book 2 is a collection of easy reading poems that would appeal to anyone interested in History, Literature or Science. The poems aim to be both enjoyable and informative and to appeal to a wide range of age groups. Ideal as a great present for any occasion.