English Poetry

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER For fans of Rupi Kaur and Cleo Wade, this first collection of poetry from the viral TikTok poet Josie Balka evokes themes of nostalgia, love, envy, and hope, speaking to the universal longings that live deep in our souls. I’ve never seen anyone at a public...

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Grammy Award–nominated, platinum-selling musician Halsey is heralded as one of the most compelling voices of their generation. In I Would Leave Me If I Could, they reveal never-before-seen poetry of longing, love, and the nuances of bipolar disorder. In this debut...

DI Jade Tanner's new Complex Crimes Unit is finding its feet. DS Mo Uddin is settling into his new Scottish home, Dr Petra McBride has stopped receiving anonymous calls, and Jade is working to support her son over the loss of his dad. But then a mysterious crime is added to their workload. The body of a young man is discovered at the top of Dunsinane Hill, with soil from Birnam Wood in his pockets. The two sites are sixteen miles apart, so this is no fluke. Petra and Jade immediately spot the Macbeth reference.

Dick Davis—“our pre-eminent translator from the Persian” (The Washington Post)—has revised and expanded his acclaimed translation of Ferdowsi’s masterpiece, adding more than 100 pages of newly translated text. Davis’s elegant combination of prose and verse allows the poetry of the Shahnameh to sing its own tales directly, interspersed sparingly with clearly marked explanations to ease along modern audiences.

Set in New York City in the ’90s, Angela Shanté’s poems and stories paint a mosaic of childhood that is shaped by the past and reverberates into the present. As Shanté navigates the city through memory, this timeless book illuminates the places where Black girls are nurtured or boxed in, through stories and poems about expectations, exploitation, love, loss, and self-realization.

Embark on a soul-stirring journey into the heart of love with "Rumi Eternal Love Poems: Essential Verses Of Romance, Love And Compassion." This book invites you to immerse yourself in the timeless wisdom and profound beauty of Rumi's poetry, where every verse is a testament to the power of love and compassion. In this book, you'll discover a curated collection of Rumi's most essential love poems, carefully selected to capture the essence of romance, passion, and spiritual connection.

Every emotion of our hearts is reflected in the Psalms with words that express our deepest and strongest feelings. Sighing is turned to singing and trouble into triumph. The Psalms provide comfort and joy, leading us to the place where worship flows. When discouraged or downcast, we can take new strength from reading them.

Leland Ryken provides a clear pathway to understanding the "Great Works" through this engaging series of short guidebooks. Beginning with "why the classics matter" and "the nature and function of literature," listeners will find a helpful path to understanding and analyzing influential works in the Western canon. Evaluating the included selection of poetry from a distinctly Christian perspective, this guide to the devotional poetry of Donne, Herbert, and Milton includes commentary on the work, including Scriptural allusions, and provides prompts for reflection and discussion.

When Emily Wilson’s translation of The Odyssey appeared in 2017―rendering the ancient poem in contemporary language that was “fresh, unpretentious and lean” (Madeline Miller, Washington Post)―critics lauded it as “a revelation” (Susan Chira, New York Times) and “a cultural landmark” (Charlotte Higgins, Guardian) that would forever change how Homer is read in English. Now Wilson has returned with an equally revelatory translation of Homer’s other great epic―the most revered war poem of all time.

Doing Time: For the prison writers whose work is included in this anthology, it means more than "serving a sentence"; it means staying alive and sane, preserving dignity, reinventing oneself, and somehow retaining one's humanity. For the last quarter century the prestigious writers' organization PEN has sponsored a contest for writers behind bars to help prisoners face these challenges. The contest honors the best short stories, plays, essays, and poems among hundreds submitted annually by men and women nationwide.

Published in their entirety, Sylvia Plath's journals provide an intimate portrait of the writer who was to produce in the last seven months of her life some of the most extraordinary poems of the 20th century. Faithfully transcribed from the 23 journals and journal fragments owned by Smith College, The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath includes two journals that Plath's husband, Ted Hughes, unsealed just before his death in 1998.

“Mary Oliver would probably never admit to anything so grandiose as an effort to connect the conscious mind and the heart (that’s what she says poetry can do), but that is exactly what she accomplishes in this stunning little handbook.”—Los Angeles Times From the beloved, legendary poet...

Laura Amy Schlitz wrote the Newbery Medal winner Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! for the students at the school where she is a librarian. The 22 monologues introduce readers to everyone in a medieval village, from the town half-wit, to Nelly the Sniggler, to the Lord's daughter.

""A gorgeous collection. . . . These poems unplug from TV and social media and the outrage of the moment and turn our attention to the immediate and the everlasting, human intimacy and the power and mystery of nature."" —Tampa Bay Times In this intimate collection, Barbara Kingsolver, beloved...

The Iliad is one of the most enduring creations of Western Civilization and was originally written to be recited or chanted to the accompaniment of various instruments. Properly performed, this work today is just as meaningful, just as powerful, and just as entertaining as it was in the ninth century BC, and it casts its spell upon modern listeners with the same raw intensity as it did upon the people of ancient times.

Though it is for the sparkling epic, Aeneid, that the Roman poet Virgil is best known, it was these two poems, The Eclogues and Georgics, which first established his reputation.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER The personal and poignant debut poetry collection from the award-winning singer, songwriter, and producer revolves around the emotions, struggles, and experiences of finding your voice and confidence as a woman. “I’ve realized that some feelings can’t be turned...

From the award-winning translator of The Iliad and The Odyssey comes a brilliant new translation of Virgil's great epic Fleeing the ashes of Troy, Aeneas, Achilles’ mighty foe in the Iliad, begins an incredible journey to fulfill his destiny as the founder of Rome. His voyage will take him...

Go 'Grrrr' with the Gruffalo, sing along with the Smartest Giant, help Monkey search for his mum and see if the little old lady can make some room in her house! The Gruffalo and Other Stories is brilliantly performed by well-known actors Imelda Staunton, Jim Carter and Steven Pacey, as well as by the author herself, Julia Donaldson. Each story also has a song and sound effects.

As exhilarating today as they were at the time of being written, Homer's epic poems transport the listener on a courageous and daring journey at the heart of one of the most infamous wars in history. Discover the heroism and compassion of soldiers at the close of the Trojan War in The Iliad, as well as the devastating aftermath of the conflict in The Odyssey. Exploring themes such as bravery, mortality and homecoming, both works are a unique insight into ancient Greek culture.