First published in 1972. The imagery of field sports - of hawking, hunting, shooting and fishing - and the associated imagery of warfare are a striking feature in Shakespeare's plays. The Living Image examines the nature of this imagery, considering it first in the light of the practices and techniques of Elizabethan field sports and weaponry and then its broader metaphoric significance in relation to the themes of the plays. The contemporary associations of the imagery - the inferences of female sexuality and waywardness from hawking imagery, for example, and the ideals of nobility and courage attached to images of hunting and war are all discussed.

First published in 1937. This study argues that the plays of Shakespeare must be studied by comparison with each other and not as separate entities; that they must be related to one another, to the poems and to the Sonnets; that each individual play acquires a deeper significance from its setting in the corpus. Muir and O'Loughlin's critical analysis takes place against the personality of Shakespeare, asserting that that despite all their diversities a single mind and a single hand dominate them and that they are the outcome of one man's critical and emotional reactions to life.

First published in 1952. An invaluable introduction to Shakespeare, this book places Shakespeare's work and criticism against the background of Elizabethan life in its historical, social, political, religious, linguistic and literary aspects. Contents include: The Problem of Interpretation; Shakespeare at Work; Man and Society; Man and the Universe; The Inner Life.

The opening chapter traces the history of the term 'problem plays' as applied to Shakespeare and defines it more clearly and precisely than has been done in the past. Julius Caesar, Measure for Measure, Antony and Cleopatra are then discussed in separate chapters, not only as problem plays but from various points of view: such matters as themes, structural pattern, character-problems, the play's relation to its sources as well as to other plays in the canon, are all touched upon.

First published in 1979. How do the elements of swearing and perjury work in Shakespeare's plays? What effect did Shakespeare intend when he wrote them? How did they contribute to the delineation of character? These questions are investigated by combining a history of ideas approach with close textual analysis. The book begins by bringing together material from a wide range of contemporary sources in order to create a sense of popular awareness of oaths in Queen Elizabeth's time. Out of this emerges a scale of the relative strength of various oaths, an awareness of the ways in which people regarded perjury, and an appreciation of the attempts to prohibit profanity. Shakespeare's work is then examined against this background.

First published in 1957. This edition re-issues the second edition of 1965. Recognized as one of the leading books in its field, The English History Play in the Age of Shakespeare presents the most comprehensive account available of the English historical drama from its beginning to the closing of the theatres in 1642 and relates this development to Renaissance historiography and Elizabethan political theory.

First published in 1961. Critiquing the critics, and examining the vocabulary of twentieth century criticism of the Shakespearean tragedies, John Holloway's book covers Hamlet, Othello, Macbeth, King Lear, Antony and Cleopatra, Coriolanus, Timon of Athens and the themes of Shakespearean Tragedy and the idea of human sacrifice and the concepts of myth and ritual in literature.

In this volume, Lesley Lee Francis, granddaughter of Robert Frost, brings to life the Frost family's idyllic early years. Through their own words, we enter the daily lives of Robert, known as RF to his family and friends, his wife, Elinor, and their four children, Lesley, Carol, Irma, and Marjorie. The result is a meticulously researched and beautifully written evocation of a fleeting chapter in the life of a literary family. Taught at home by their father and mother, the Frost children received a remarkable education. Reared on poetry, nurtured on the world of the imagination, and instructed in the art of direct observation, the children produced an exceptional body of writing and artwork in the years between 1905 and 1915. Drawing upon previously unexamined journals, notebooks, letters, and the little magazine entitled "The Bouquet" produced by the Frost children and their friends, Francis shows how the genius of Frost was enriched by his interactions with his children. Francis depicts her grandfather as a generous, devoted, and playful man with a striking ability to communicate with his children and grandchildren. She traces the family's adventures from their farm years in New Hampshire through their nearly three years in England. This enchanting evocation of the Frost family's life together makes more poignant the unforeseen personal tragedies that would befall its members in later years.

A breathtaking new collection of translations of poems by Rumi, one of the world's most loved mystical teachers and bestselling poets. Beautifully packaged and illustrated with paintings and Persian calligraphy, this is an ideal gift. Jalal-uddin Rumi was born in what is now Afghanistan in 1207. His poetry has inspired generations of spiritual seekers, both from his own Sufi school and well beyond. His poems speak to the seeker and the lover in all of us. He is one of the world's most revered poets and spiritual teachers, and is currently the bestselling poet in America. Rumi is one of the greatest mystic poets of all time. His unique message of love speaks directly to the heart and transcends the boundaries of language and time. These poems, carefully selected from the Divan of Shams (Rumi's collection of 3,000 poems), speak powerfully to the seeker and lover in all of us. These beautiful, new translations from the original Persian, by the authors of Rumi: Whispers of the Beloved, are arranged thematically and lead us through the intricacies of love, longing and the quest for truth. Each section is accompanied by Persian calligraphy of several of the poems, as well as stunning, evocative paintings by Azima Melita Kolin, reproduced in full colour, which are inspired by the poems and have been specially commissioned for the book.

Eric Falci's The Value of Poetry offers an evaluation and critique of the literary, cultural, and political value of poetry in the twenty-first century. Falci claims that some of the most vital, significant, and enduring human notions have been voiced and held in poems. Poems marble civilizations: they catch courses of thought, tracks of feeling, and acts of speech and embed these shapes in language that is, in some fashion, poised toward the future. Falci argues that poetry is a vital medium in addressing and understanding some of the most pressing issues of our time. Ranging widely across canonical and contemporary poetry, The Value of Poetry shows how poems matter, and what poetry offers to readers in the contemporary world.

First published in 1971. This collection of essays discusses some of the central works and areas of literature in the Renaissance period of cultural history. Contents include: Spenser and the Allegorists; The Faerie Queene, I and V; The Cave of Mammon; The Banquet of Sense; John Donne; The Patience of Shakespeare; Survival fo the Classic; Shakespeare's Learning; The Mature Comedies; The Final Plays.

Hugh MacDiarmid (born Christopher Murray Grieve) is a huge, and still controversial, figure in modern Scottish literature. Called variously "the most important figure in Scottish life in the twentieth century" and "a symbol of all that's perfectly hideous in Scotland", his poetry is of historic, and national, significance. Alan Riach's SCOTNOTE study guide outlines MacDiarmid's life and work, providing an overview of the poet's beliefs, opinions and influences, for senior school pupils and students at all levels.

The 12th edition of the International Who's Who in Poetry is a unique and comprehensive guide to the leading lights and freshest talent in poetry today. Containing biographies of more than 4,000 contemporary poets world-wide, this essential reference work provides truly international coverage. The well known poets, as well as talented up-and-coming writers are profiled. CONTENTS:* Each entry provides full career history and publication details * The career profile section is supplemented by lists of Poets Laureate of the United Kingdom and USA, Oxford University professors of poetry, poet winners of the Nobel Prize for Literature, winners of the Pulitzer Prize for American Poetry and of the King's/Queen's Gold medal and other poetry prizes * A summary of poetic forms and rhyme schemes * Lists over 8,000 important and influential authors and poets of the last 3,000 years * An international appendices section lists prizes and past prize-winners, organizations, magazines and publishers.

Longlisted for the 2014 Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction (now the Bailie Gifford) 'A thrilling and complex book, enlarges our view of Homer ... There's something that hits the mark on every page' Claire Tomalin, Books of the Year, New Statesman Where does Homer come from? And why does Homer matter? His epic poems of war and suffering can still speak to us of the role of destiny in life, of cruelty, of humanity and its frailty, but why they do is a mystery. How can we be so intimate with something so distant? 'The Mighty Dead' is a magical journey of discovery across wide stretches of the past, sewn together by some of the oldest stories we have - the great ancient poems of Homer and their metaphors of life and trouble. In this provocative and enthralling book, Adam Nicolson explains why Homer still matters and how these vital, epic verses - with their focus on the eternal questions about the individual versus the community, honour and service, love and war - tell us how we became who we are.

This study analyses the major poems of the World War I and brings into focus some of the more neglected voices of that conflict. It draws attention also to women poets of the period.

Encompassing both the art song and Lieder traditions, this book includes comprehensive lists of the compositions of 125 major Western composers, the identities of the poets who wrote the lyrics, titles used by respective composers with cross-references from variant titles used by other composers, cross-references from the first lines, the publishers of the individual songs, the location of individual songs within the collected works of individual composers and the date of composition.
With this resource, a reader can find the songs written by a composer, who published a specific song, and which composers might have set a particular poem to music. Bradley's guide offers a user-friendly, contemporary index of information for which scholars previously had to search extensively.

Series Information:
Routledge Literary Sourcebooks

In the Shadows of Divine Perfection provides an examination of Derek Walcott's Omeros (1990) - the St. Lucian poet's longest work, and the piece that secured his Nobel Laureate - that reveals the deep-seated bond between the root narratives of ancient Greece to the cultural products and practices of the contemporary Caribbean. It presents the first detailed reading of Walcott's highly controversial attempt to craft a Caribbean master narrative.
In a detailed analysis of the poem's metrical and structural features, Lance Callahan shows that Omeros's most common figures are ancient Aeolic and Sapphic feet. Also common in Calypso lyrics, these metrical features suggest an ambiguity where some critics have found a faithful homage to the European canon. A similar ambiguity exists in the poem's use of epic machinery and poetic practice - an ambiguity figured most forcefully in the shadow image.
Departing from the detail of syllable stress, toward the broad strokes of the Omeros's relationship to its epic precursors, this book also presents an overview of the poem's ideological orientation and a far-reaching critique of current post-colonial theory. In this book, Callahan engages some of the most vexing problems of authenticity by reading Walcott's work alongside ancient Greek literature and culture.

The "International Who's Who in Poetry 2003" covers current and up-and-coming poets, as well as influential poets through history. Over 4,000 entries profile career histories and publication details, including full biographical information and details of poetic forms. A summary of poetic forms and rhyme schemes is also provided.
This reference lists Poets Laureate of the United Kingdom and of the United States of America, and Oxford University professors of poetry. It also details poets who have won the Nobel Prize for Literature, the Pulitzer Prize, the Kings/Queens Gold Medal and other poetry prizes. This edition includes a new complete historical listing of over 8,000 important and influential authors and poets of the last 2000 years.

Poet Thomas Carper and scholar Derek Attridge join forces in Meter and Meaning to present an illuminating and user-friendly way to explore the rhythms of poetry in English. They begin by showing the value of performing any poem aloud, so that we can sense its unique use of rhythm. From this starting point they suggest an entirely fresh, jargon-free approach to reading poetry. Illustrating their "beat/offbeat" method with a series of exercises, they help readers to appreciate the use of rhythm in poems of all periods and to understand the vital relationship between meter and meaning.
Beginning with the very basics, Meter and Meaning enables a smooth progression to an advanced knowledge of poetic rhythms. It is the essential guide to meter for anyone who wants to study, write, better appreciate, or simply enjoy poetry. Thomas Carper and Derek Attridge make studying meter a pleasure and reading poetry a revelation.

This is the first complete study of China's most popular eighteenth-century poet in any Western language. The work consists of a detailed biography, a study of Yuan's revolutionary reinterpretation of Chinese literary theory, and an analysis of his many contributions to the more original genres of Qing-dynasty (1644-1911) poetry such as narrative, historical, didactic, eccentric, and nature verse. The study is concluded by a generous and representative sampling of Yuan's poetry in translation, the first to do justice to the wide variety and richness of his oeuvre. Although many shorter poems are selected, this is the first translation to include his outstanding longer poetry.
Harmony Garden will completely revise current attitudes in the west concerning classical Chines literature during the eighteenth century, a period that was long viewed as one of decline, but now appears to equal the golden ages of antiquity.

This volume is part of a collection of facsimile reprints integrating a wide range of Dante scholarship in eight thematic volumes. Illuminating the cosmos of Dante and providing the knowledge of a full range of fundamental ideas, issues, events and beliefs that characterized the world view of Dante's age. Dante's work has produced a prodigious body of secondary literature edited here for their exceptional quality and importance.

This volume is part of the Writers in Britain series which introduces children to great literary figures. This title examines the lives of the romantic poets, taking in Blake, Coleridge, Keats, Shelley, and Wordsworth and considers the time in which they wrote their poetry.

This Routledge Literary Sourcebook offers the ideal introduction to the work of John Keats, a central figure in English Romanticism and one of the most popular poets in the literary canon.
The Sourcebook is arranged in four sections: Contexts, Interpretations, Key Poems and Further Reading. Each combines clear introductory passgaes with relevant reprinted documents. Key features include:
* A chronology of Keats's life and excerpts from his letters
* An overview of the criticism of his work, from early responses to important recent essays
* Excerpts from a range of critical texts, with explanatory headnotes
* Extensively annotated full texts or key passages from Keats's most widely studied poems
* Helpful recommendations for further reading
Cross-referencing throughout the volume highlights the links between texts, contexts and reception, enabling even beginners to make original and informed readings of Keats's epoque-changing work.

Contents:
THE EARLY YEARS

Barker, Arthur. 'Milton's Schoolmasters.' Modern Language Review 32 (1937).

Miller, Leo. 'Milton's Clash with Chappell: A Suggested Reconstruction.' Milton Quarterly 14 (1980).

Hale, John K. 'Milton Plays the Fool: The Christ's College Salting 1628.' Classical and Modern Literature 20 (2000).

Rumrich, John. 'The Erotic Milton.' Texas Studies in Language and Literature 41 (1999).

Hill, John Spencer. 'Poet-Priest: Vocational Tension in Milton's Early Development.' Milton Studies 8 (1975).

Hanford, James Holly. 'Milton in Italy.' Annuale Mediaevale 5 (1964).

Friedman, Donald. 'Galileo and the Art of Seeing.' In Milton in Italy: Contexts, Images, Contradiction, edited by Mario A. Di Cesare (Binghamton, NY: Medieval and Renaissance Texts and Studies, 1991).

THE MATURE YEARS

Miller, Leo. 'John Milton's 'Lost' Sonnet to Mary Powell.' Milton Quarterly 25 (1990).

Sirluck, Ernest. 'Milton's Idle Right Hand.' Journal of English and German Philology 60 (1961).

Corns, Thomas. 'Milton's Quest for Respectability.' Modern Language Research 77 (1982).

Woolrych, Austin. 'Milton and Cromwell: 'A Short but Scandalous Night of Interruption'.' In Achievements of the Left Hand, edited by Michael Lieb and John T. Shawcross (Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1974).

Hughes, Merritt Y. 'Milton as a Revolutionary.' English Literary History 10 (1943).

Hunter, William B. 'Some Speculations on the Nature of Milton's Blindness.' Journal of the History of Medicine 17 (1962).

Baruch, Franklin R. 'Milton's Blindness: The Conscious and Unconscious Patterns of Autobiography.' English Literary History 42 (1975).

Davies, Godfrey. 'Milton in 1660.' Huntington Library Quarterly 18 (1955).

Kermode, Frank. 'Milton in Old Age.' Southern Review 11 (1975).

MILTON'S LITERARY AFTERLIFE

Frank, Marcia. 'Staging Criticism, Staging Milton: John Dryden's The State of Innocence.' The Eighteenth Century 34 (1993).

Bostich, June. 'Miltonic Influence in 'The Rape of the Lock'.' Enlightenment Essays 4 (1973).

Wittreich, Joseph A. 'The Illustrious Dead: Milton's Legacy and Romantic Prophecy.' Milton and the Romantics 4 (1980).

Grundy, Joan. 'Hardy and Milton.' Thomas Hardy Annual 3 (1985).

Jenkins, Hugh. 'Jefferson (Re)Reading Milton.' Milton Quarterly 32 (1998).

Herron, Carolivia. 'Milton and Afro-American Literature.' In Re-Membering Milton, edited by Mary Nyquist and Margaret Ferguson (New York: Methuen, 1987).