|
Showing 1 - 15 of
15 matches in All Departments
First published in 1943, this is a selection of writings from Dr.
Sitwell's private notebooks. It includes essays on prosody, the
role of the poet, the nature of poetry, and includes her full
length work 'A Notebook on William Shakespeare', as well as
discussion of Chaucer, Herrick, Wordsworth, Pope and Byron amongst
others. The section on Shakespeare consists of essays on the
general aspect of the plays - those great hymns to the principle
and the glory of life. There are long essays on King Lear, Macbeth,
Othello, and Hamlet. Miss Sitwell believes, with all humility, that
she has discovered new sources of the inspiration of King Lear,
throwing a new light on the whole play , and giving us new meaning
to the mad scenes, of an unsurpassable grandeur, depth and terror.
There are essays on many of the comedies, and long passages about
the Fools and Clowns, all of which serve to illiminate
Shakespeare's mighty and many-sided genius.
Dame Edith Sitwell died while this autobiography was in the course
of printing. One of the last acts of her life was to approve the
'specimen page' from the printer. She did not live to correct her
proofs and what, if any, changes she might have made is a matter
for conjecture. The book, as she wrote it, must now stand as the
last prose work to come from a great writer of the last century and
a wise, witty and compassionate woman. 'I trust', she wrote, 'that
I have hurt nobody.'Dame Edith was much more than one of the
leading English poets of her lifetime. Long, long before the age of
television introduced the synthetic, professional 'personality',
she was a personality without the inverted commas, and thus became
a familiar figure to a public far wider than the readership of her
poetry, criticism and essays. With her remarkable brothers, she
stood for certain important and lasting I qualities in the artistic
life of the nation-for the war against philistinism, for a
progressive outlook that in its day seemed, and was, rebellious,
and yet for a spirit of continuity and tradition in art that has
become apparent to the layman only in the perspective of time. This
sense of tradition and respect for the past was by no means
incompatible with a degree of eccentricity-which gives "Taken Care
Of" its remarkable and unique flavour.
No hive can tolerate two Queens. In the fatal clash between the
Protestant Queen of England and the Catholic Queen of Scots, many
were determined that 'The death of Mary is the life of Elizabeth'.
In this moving chronicle a modern poet magnificently recaptures the
splendid colour and sordid intrigue of the most spectacular period
of history in Britain.
|
Bath (Paperback)
Edith Sitwell
|
R496
Discovery Miles 4 960
|
Ships in 10 - 15 working days
|
First published in 1932, this is the story of eighteenth century
Bath, where Beau Nash ruled as uncrowned king for so many years,
the fashionable members of English society found a splendid
justification for improving their health and enjoying themselves at
the same time. They took the waters assiduously, gambled
excessively, danced away the evenings at cotillion balls, and spent
the mornings strolling along the Parades in their elegant finery,
and exchanging gossip in the coffee houses. Writers, actors,
artists and politicians shared the city's delights with exalted
members of the peerage; and over them all, the great Beau presided
with avuncular authority. This book, written with all the skill and
visionary commitment of an established poet, recreates the
atmosphere of Bath's famous century superbly, and faithfully
mirrors several of the well-known personalities who graced the
period with their wit, their talent and their eccentricity. Here is
Nash himself, generous to a fault, whose chief claim to fame must
surely be the widespread improvement in English social behaviour
that his strict control initiated; the charming blue-stocking,
Elizabeth Montagu, who hated card games and strove to encourage
literary causeries; the irascible Captain Thicknesse; the ascetic
religious reformer, the Countess of Huntingdon; the famous
"limner", Thomas Gainsborough; Sarah Siddons, who bewitched almost
everyone when she played at the old Orchard Street theatre; the
talented, gentle Ralph Allen, who built Prior Park; that old knave
James Quin, who retired to Bath after a hugely successful career on
the London stage; and several others. Against a meticulously
researched background, they are all convincingly brought to life.
First published in 1948, this book may be described as Dame Edith
Sitwell's personal notebook. It consists of essays on the subject
of the general aspect of the plays-those great hymns to the
principle and the glory of life, in which there are the same
differences in nature, in matter, in light, in darkness, in
movement, that we find in the universe, and in which the characters
are so vast they seem each an element (Water, Hamlet; Air, Romeo
and Juliet; Fire, King Lear) and which yet bear the stamp of our
common humanity, made greater and more universal. There are long
essays on King Lear, Macbeth, Othello and Hamlet. Dame Edith
believes, with all humility, that she has discovered new sources of
the inspiration of King Lear, throwing a new light on the whole
play, and giving new meanings to the mad scenes, of an
unsurpassable grandeur, depth, and terror. There are shorter essays
also on other of the tragedies. The keynotes of many of the plays
are examined (not all the plays are discussed), a phrase is studied
and will be found to hold the whole meaning of the play. There are
essays on many of the comedies, and long passages about the Fools
and Clowns. Connecting levels are traced between the philosophies
of the plays. There are, too, running commentaries on Shakespeare
as that ' common-kissing Titan ', and, since the book is a personal
notebook, the author makes copious quotations from the writings of
Shakespearean scholars who have thrown light on the various aspects
of which she treats, and from works on other subjects which also
serve to illumine his mighty and many-sided genius.
|
You may like...
Top Five
Rosario Dawson, Cedric The Entertainer, …
Blu-ray disc
R38
Discovery Miles 380
|