Poetry : Ancient, Classical & Medieval

These ardent, even obsessed, poems about erotic passion are amongst the best of Latin literature. Written by Propertius, who was born around 50 BC, a contemporary of Ovid, these elegies tell of Propertius' tormented relationship with a woman he calls "Cynthia". more...

Price: $15.95

This study includes much new information on Thomas De Quincey and his critical engagement with Coleridge, Wordsworth, Burke, Kant and others. The author subtly and convincingly brings overlooked dimensions of De Quincey’s politics to the fore, and examines essays often ignored. The impressive reading of the Liverpool circle and the 1803 Diary should lead to reassessments of this period in De Quincey’s development. more...

Price: $75.00

Sacrifice Your Love develops the idea that sacrifice is a mode of enjoyment—that our willingness to sacrifice our desire is actually a way of pursuing it. Fradenburg considers the implications of this idea for various problems important in medieval studies today and beyond. more...

Price: $72.00

What is the relationship between poetry and power? Should poetry be considered a mode of authority or an impotent medium? And why is it that the modern poets most commonly regarded as authoritative are precisely those whose works wrestle with a sense of artistic inadequacy? Such questions lie at the heart of this study, prompting fresh insights into three of the most significant poets of recent decades: Robert Lowell, Geoffrey Hill and Seamus Heaney. Through attentive close reading and the tracing of dominant motifs in each writer’s works, James shows how their responsiveness to matters of political and cultural import lends weight to the idea of poetry as authoritative utterance, as a means for speaking of and to the world in a persuasive, impressive manner. And yet, as James demonstrates, each poet is exercised by an awareness of his own cultural marginality, even by a sense of the limitations and liabilities of language itself. While extending our understanding of the distinctive achievements of Lowell, Hill and Heaney, Shades of Authority also investigates their shared concerns and characteristics. This is the first major critical study to attend in detail to the relations between the three poets. And here, too, questions of authority are fundamental: by exploring the ambivalent regard with which Hill has responded to Lowell's poetic practice and by investigating Heaney's literary debt to both Lowell and Hill, this book aims to provoke further thought as to how the shades of literary exemplars can be at once oppressive and empowering. more...

Price: $85.00

"I feel that I have spent half my career with one or another Pelican Shakespeare in my back pocket. Convenience, however, is the least important aspect of the new Pelican Shakespeare series. Here is an elegant and clear text for either the study or the rehearsal room, notes where you need them and the distinguished scholarship of the general editors, Stephen Orgel and A. R. Braunmuller who understand that these are plays for performance as well as great texts for contemplation." (Patrick Stewart). The distinguished Pelican Shakespeare series, which has sold more than four million copies, is now completely revised and repackaged. Each volume features:. * Authoritative, reliable texts. * High quality introductions and notes. * New, more readable trade trim size. * An essay on the theatrical world of Shakespeare and essays on Shakespeare's life and the selection of texts more...

Price: $7.00