Patrick is still in love with his separated wife. Returning with their son after a trip to an amusement park, he begs, one last time, to reconcile with her. When she refuses, he is driven to thoughtless desperation: a bottle of sleeping pills, a bottle of whisky. And in his dying dream, he revisits that theme park of childish desire.There he finds the landscape - still garish and indulgent - has evolved. The attractions are religion, money and sex. The characters - costumed and act...

New York Times bestseller "An incomplete but highly compelling retelling . . . An action-packed, doom-haunted saga, full of vivid natural description."—New York Times Book ReviewThe Fall of Arthur recounts in alliterative verse the last campaign of King Arthur, who, even as he stands at the threshold of Mirkwood, is summoned back to Britain by news of the treachery of Mordred. Already weakened in spirit by Guinevere’s infidelity with the ...

The great war epic of Western literature, in a stunning translation by acclaimed classicist Robert FaglesA Penguin ClassicDating to the ninth century B.C., Homer’s timeless poem still vividly conveys the horror and heroism of men and gods wrestling with towering emotions and battling amidst devastation and destruction, as it moves inexorably to the wrenching, tragic conclusion of the Trojan War. Renowned classicist Bernard Knox observes in ...

The Bhagavad Gita presents a synthesis of the Brahmanical concept of Dharma, theistic bhakti, the yogic ideals of liberation through jnana, and Samkhya philosophy. Numerous commentaries have been written on the Bhagavad Gita with widely differing views on the essentials. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi penned this extensive commentary on the Gita, and called the sacred text "The Gospel of Selfless Action."

In "Don Juan," Lord Byron employs a satirical narrative style, blending humor and eloquence to critique societal norms of his time. The poem defies traditional poetic structure, being written in a series of cantos that weave together adventures of its eponymous hero, who is portrayed not as a seducer but rather as an unwitting victim of life'Äôs absurdities. Byron's masterful use of iambic pentameter alongside a variety of metrics serves to enhance the playful yet poignant exploration of l...

C.S. Morrissey’s brilliant translations bring a modern, lyrical sensibility to Theogony and Works and Days, Hesiod’s two great poems that paved the way for subsequent achievements in Greek philosophy. Theogony tells of the first generations of the gods and recollects how Zeus established his cosmic reign of justice. Works and Days examines the two-fold role of competition in life, what Hesiod calls “the bad strife” and “the good strife” and how they affe...

The Complete Poetry gathers the full range of Robert Browning's verse, from early experimental works to the great dramatic monologues that secured his place in Victorian literature. Restless, intellectual, and psychologically acute, Browning's poetry turns inward upon motive, conscience, faith, ambition, and artistic creation. Poems such as "My Last Duchess," "Andrea del Sarto," and "Fra Lippo Lippi" reveal his mastery of voice: speakers disclose themselves not through confession but throu...

The Lay of the Cidby R. Selden Rose and Leonard Bacon Cid"El Cantar del Mio Cid is the oldest preserved Spanish epic poem (epopeya). The Spanish medievalist Ramon Menendez Pidal included the "Cantar de Mio Cid" in the popular tradition he termed the mester de juglaria. Mester de juglaria refers to the medieval tradition according to which popular poems were passed down from generation to generation, being changed in the process. These poems were meant to be performed in publ...

Selected verse from the Iliad and the Odyssey, edited by David Hopkins.

A sci-fi fantasy full of dreams and nightmares put to poetry.

When Taliessin through Logres was published in 1938, it received widespread critical acclaim. Alongside its partner companion The Region of the Summer Stars, it stands as one of the most profound and challenging works in Williams' body of work--and one of the most important to understanding him fully. In this new edition, both Taliessin through Logres and The Region of the Summer Stars are found together, with a new introduction by Williams scholar Sørina Higgins.Taliessin through ...

"Fighting for Victory," in a way, serves as a second volume to "Impressionable Youth," in that its contents are similar and were written around the same time.