A unique collection of advice for life Baltasar Gracian's The Pocket Oracle & Art of Prudence is a philosophical gem & perhaps the first 'self-help' book ever written This Penguin Classics edition is translated from the Spanish with an introduction by Jeremy Robbins Written over 350 years ago The Pocket Oracle & Art of Prudence is a subtle collection of 300 witty & thought-provoking aphorisms From the art of being lucky to the healthy use of caution these elegant maxims were created as a guide to life with further suggestions given on cultivating good taste knowing how to refuse the foolishness of complaining & the wisdom of controlling one's passions Baltasar Gracian intended these ingenious pragmatic aphorisms to challenge the mind & recognised that few would be capable of applying them In Jeremy Robbins's introduction to his penetrating new translation he examines Gracian's place in Spanish literature & his previous works Robbins also looks at the themes contexts & contradictions of The Pocket Oracle as well as the brevity & subtlety of Gracian's cool-headed aphorisms This edition also contains a chronology suggested further reading & notes Baltasar Gracian (1601-1658) was born in Belmonte Aragon & entered the Society of Jesus in 1619 Teaching in Jesuit colleges across the Kingdom of Aragon he was also at one time confessor to the viceroy of Aragon & chaplain to the Spanish army But it is as one of the great Spanish stylists & moralists that he is best known He wrote a series of short moral tracts marked by their elliptical epigrammatic style as well as a three volume allegorical novel The Critic (1651-57) Published in 1647 The Pocket Oracle & Art of Prudence influenced the vogue for the form in France & was quickly translated into the major European languages If you enjoyed The Pocket Oracle & Art of Prudence you might like La Rochefoucauld's Maxims also available in Penguin Classics ...

The Pocket Oxford Classical Greek Dictionary is an elementary level dictionary ideal for learners of Classical Greek at school & university level It covers over 20000 Greek words & phrases in clear user-friendly translations & over 4000 English words in common usage The dictionary also offers help with Greek to English sentence construction & prose composition & provides tables of irregular verbs Additional information

Includes:: detailed lists of numerals & proper names a guide to pronunciation & a map of Greece

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JRR Tolkien's fantasy story about the adventures of a bewitched toy dog written before The Hobbit While on holiday in 1925 four-year-old Michael Tolkien lost his beloved toy dog on the beach at Filey in Yorkshire To console him his father JRRTolkien improvised a story about Rover a real dog who is magically transformed into a toy & is forced to seek out the wizard who wronged him in order to be returned to normal This charming tale peopled by a s&-sorcerer & a terrible dragon by the king of the sea & the Man-in-the-Moon was Tolkien's first full-length children's book written before The Hobbit Now nearly 90 years later the adventures of Rover
- or for reasons that become clear in the story Roverandom'
- are published in this delightful pocket hardback edition Rich in wit & wordplay Roverandom is edited & introduced by Tolkien experts Christina Scull & Wayne G Hammond &

Includes:: Tolkien's own delightful illustrations



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With an Introduction by Tim Cook Shakespeare's sonnets have an intensity of both feeling & meaning unmatched in English sonnet form They divide into two parts; the first 126 sonnets are addressed to a fair youth for whom the poet has an obsessive love & the second chronicles his love for the notorious ' Dark Lady' In addition to the sonnets this volume

Includes:: Shakespeare's two lengthy narrative poems on classical themes The Rape of Lucrece which looks forward to the dark imagery of Macbeth & Venus & Adonis which mixes ribaldry & tragedy in unique Shakespearean manner The Phoenix & the Turtle is a beautiful metaphysical & allegorical short elegy & takes its place with Shakespeare's better-known poetry

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The first critical edition of the complete poems of Basil Bunting published on the fiftieth anniversary of his masterpiece Briggflatts Basil Bunting is one of the most important British poets of the twentieth century admired early on by Ezra Pound & Louis Zukofsky & acknowledged since the 1930s as a major figure in the Modernist movement Faber published a selection of his early work in Pound's Active Anthology (1933) but Bunting's reputation was not confirmed until decades later with the publication of his masterpiece Briggflatts by Fulcrum Press in 1966 Bunting's work was published throughout most of his life in editions from Oxford University Press Bloodaxe Books New Directions & various small presses This is the first critical edition of the complete poems & offers an accurate text with variants from all printed sources Don Share annotates Bunting's often complex & allusive verse with much illuminating"ation from his prose writings interviews & correspondence He also examines Bunting's sources (including Persian literature & classical mythology) & explores the Northumbrian roots of Bunting's poetic vocabulary & use of dialect This important work of literary scholarship offers for the first time an edition commensurate with the achievement of this neglected Modernist master ...

For students of Middle English Andrew & Waldron's The Poems of the Pearl Manuscript has been the key edition of the four Pearl poems (the best-known of which is Gawain & the Green Knight) for 30 years Now with the changing needs of today's student in mind the editors have undertaken the most comprehensive revision of the book since its inception The revised edition

Includes:: a new introduction providing historical literary & cultural contexts for the poems It also incorporates a revised & updated bibliography minor changes to the text & glossary & significant revision & updating of the explanatory notes In addition the authors have provided for the first time a complete prose translation of the four poems for students to use as a working tool Access to a digital copy of this translation conceived as a complement & companion to the new edition is included with this book

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With an Introduction & Notes by Owen Knowles University of Hull In his draft Preface Wilfred Owen

Includes::

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From the multi-award winning Bob Graham comes a romantic hopeful & exquisitely-illustrated story perfect for giving as a gift to the one that you love It's 1830 in County Kerry Ireland & a gold ring is thrown into the wind by a young woman on a black horse & as the seasons pass & then the years the little treasure finds itself on the most astonishing journey finally settling at the bottom of a deep sea Will the ring inscribed with "love never dies" ever fulfil its destiny & find the finger of a woman truly loved? ...

The apparent suicide of his policeman brother sets Denver crime reporter Jack Mc Evoy on edge Surprise at the circumstances of his brother's death prompts Jack to look into a whole series of police suicides & puts him on the trail of a cop killer whose victims are selected all too carefully Not only that but they all leave suicide notes drawn from the poems of writer Edgar Allan Poe in their wake More frightening still the killer appears to know that Jack is getting nearer & nearer An investigation that looks like the story of a lifetime might also be Jack's ticket to a lonely end ...

From the Newbery Medal-winning author a poignant story about two children a poet & a dog & how they help one another survive loss & recapture love Teddy is a gifted dog Raised in a cabin by a poet named Sylvan he grew up listening to sonnets read aloud & the comforting clicking of a keyboard Although Teddy understands words Sylvan always told him there are only two kinds of people in the world who can hear Teddy speak poets & children Then one day Teddy learns that Sylvan was right When Teddy finds Nickel & Flora trapped in a snowstorm he tells them that he will bring them home
- & they understand him The children are afraid of the howling wind but not of Teddy's words They follow him to a cabin in the woods where the dog used to live with Sylvan only now his owner is gone As they hole up in the cabin for shelter Teddy is flooded with memories of Sylvan What will Teddy do when his new friends go home? Can they help one another find what they have lost?
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