Over the course of his short life John Keats (1795-1821) honed a raw talent into a brilliant poetic maturity By the end of his brief career he had written poems of such beauty imagination & generosity of spirit that he had
- unwittingly
- fulfilled his wish that he should be among the English poets after my death' This wide-ranging selection of Keats's poetry contains youthful verse such as his earliest known poem Imitation of Spenser'; poems from his celebrated collection of 1820
- including Lamia' Isabella' The Eve of St Agnes' Ode to a Nightingale' & Hyperion'
- & later celebrated works such as La Belle Dame sans Merci' Also included are many poems considered by Keats to be lesser work but which illustrate his more earthy playful side & superb ear for everyday language



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This new selection of Rossetti's poems brings together works by one of the most significant nineteenth-century English poets It



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' Lorca brought an understanding of the paradox that was Spain
- sensuality chafing under a rigid moral code individual desire
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Alexander Pope (1688-1744) is regarded as the most important poet of the early eighteenth century An invalid from infancy Pope devoted his energies towards literature & achieved remarkable success with his first published work at the age of 21 A succession of brilliant poems followed including An Essay on Criticism (1711) Windsor Forest (1713) & his masterpiece The Rape of the Lock (1712) A second period of great poetry was begun in 1728 with the appearance of the first Dunciad All these works which exhibit Pope's astonishing human insight his wide sympathies & powers of social observation (displayed to greatest effect in his talent for satire) feature in this selection In his introduction
- an eloquent defence of Pope's poetic practice
- Pat Rogers argues that we must abandon our Romantic conception of poetry as a record of fleeting & subjective states if we are to understand Pope fully Instead we must see him as an accomplished practitioner of the poetry of ideas & of satirical reflection on human society This collection is chosen from the Oxford Authors critical edition of Pope's major works ABOUT THE SERIES For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features including expert introductions by leading authorities helpful notes to clarify the text up-to-date bibliographies for further study & much more

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Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834) was one of the most versatile minds in European intellectual history & a shaping influence in the development of English poetry As a radical young poet in the years following the French Revolution Coleridge collaborated with Wordsworth in Lyrical Ballads (1798) & was by turns dramatist political journalist lecturer & religious thinker This edition

Includes:: his two most famous poems Kubla Khan & The Rime of the Ancient Mariner as well as such blank-verse 'conversation' poems as The Eolian Harp This Lime Tree Bower My Prison & Frost at Midnight Not least of the attractions of Heather Jackson's selection is the earlier version of the Rime which she presents in full along with the later better-known version Demonstrating the diversity characteristic of Coleridge's work from early politically-inspired sonnets to an epitaph he composed for himself shortly before his death this substantial collection is supplemented by an introduction & notes ABOUT THE SERIES For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features including expert introductions by leading authorities helpful notes to clarify the text up-to-date bibliographies for further study & much more

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This is the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature This first-ever selection of Alice Munro's stories sums up her genius Her territory is the secrets that cackle beneath the facade of everyday lives the pain & promises loves & fears of apparently ordinary men & women whom she renders extraordinary & unforgettable ...

With an Introduction & Notes by Joe Andrew Professor of Russian Literature Keele University Anton Chekhov is widely regarded as one of the greatest writers of short stories He constructs stories where action & drama are implied rather than described openly & which leave much to the reader's imagination This collection contains some of the most important of his earliest & shortest comic sketches as well as examples of his great mature works Throughout the doctor-turned-writer displays compassion for human suffering & misfortune but is always able to see the comical even farcical aspects of the human condition Chekhov sees & depicts life with unwavering honesty & truthfulness although a clear moral sense can be detected beneath his apparent objectivity ...

'I was jealous of her writing The only writing I have ever been jealous of' Virginia Woolf Virginia Woolf was not the only writer to admire Mansfield's work Thomas Hardy D H Lawrence & Elizabeth Bowen all praised her stories & her early death at the age of thirty-four cut short one of the finest short-story writers in the English language This selection covers the full range of Mansfield's fiction from her early satirical stories to the subtly nuanced comedy of ' The Daughters of the Late Colonel' & the macabre & ominous 'A Married Man's Story' The stories that pay what Mansfield calls 'a debt of love' to New Zealand are as sharply etched as the European stories & she recreates her childhood world with mordant insight Disruption is a constant theme whether the tone is comic tragic nostalgic or domestic echoing Mansfield's disrupted life & the fractured expressions of Modernism This new edition increases the selection from 27 to 33 stories & prints them in the order in which they first appeared in the definitive texts established by Anthony Alpers ABOUT THE SERIES For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features including expert introductions by leading authorities helpful notes to clarify the text up-to-date bibliographies for further study & much more ...

Collecting the most incisive & influential writings of one of Rome's finest orators Cicero's Selected Works is translated with an introduction by Michael Grant in Penguin Classics Lawyer philosopher statesman & defender of Rome's Republic Cicero was a master of eloquence & his pure literary & oratorical style & strict sense of morality have been a powerful influence on European literature & thought for over two thousand years in matters of politics philosophy & faith This selection demonstrates the diversity of his writings &

Includes:: letters to friends & statesmen on Roman life & politics; the vitriolic Second Philippic Against Antony; & his two most famous philosophical treatises On Duties & On Old Age
- a celebration of his own declining years Written at a time of brutal political & social change Cicero's lucid ethical writings formed the foundation of the Western liberal tradition in political & moral thought that continues to this day This translation by Michael Grant conveys the elegance of Cicero's writings His introduction describes their social & political background while maps genealogical charts timelines & a glossary place the works in context Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BC) Roman orator & statesman was born at Arpinium to a wealthy local family Having been educated in Rome by 70 BC he had established himself as a leading barrister & was beginning a successful political career Cicero received honours usually reserved only for the Roman aristocracy & was one of the greatest Roman orators If you enjoyed Selected Works you might like Suetonius' The Twelve Caesars also available in Penguin Classics


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& To be taught to write or to speak
- but what is the use of speaking if you have nothing to say? To be taught to think
- nay

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