Poetry

With her virtuoso translation, classicist and bestselling author Caroline Alexander brings to life Homer’s timeless epic of the Trojan War Composed around 730 B.C., Homer’s Iliad recounts the events of a few momentous weeks in the protracted ten-year war between the invading Achaeans, or Greeks, and the Trojans in their besieged city of I

Anger be now your song, immortal one, Akhilleus' anger, doomed and ruinous, that caused the Akhaians loss on bitter loss and crowded brave souls into the undergloom, leaving so many dead men-carrion for dogs and birds; and the will of Zeus was done. -Lines 1-6 Since it was first published more than twenty-five years ago, Robert Fitzger

This book contains Alexander Pope’s seminal interpretation of the original Homeric poem, published serially from 1715 to 1720. Hailed by Samuel Johnson as “a performance which no age or nation could hope to equal,” this is a classic text that has moulded centuries of British and American culture through its beautiful and timeless poetry. This edition provides a perfect ren

From Stephen Mitchell, the renowned translator whose Iliad was named one of The New Yorker’s Favorite Books of 2011, comes a vivid new translation of the Odyssey, complete with textual notes and an illuminating introductory essay. The hardcover publication of the Odyssey received glowing reviews: The New York Times praised “

Beowulf is the longest surviving poem of Anglo-Saxon England. Beowulf, a young warrior of the Geats, comes to the aid of Hrothgar, king of the Danes, in his time of need. He first fights the hellish Grendel, then struggles with Grendel's no less fearsome mother in her hall beneath the cold waters of the mere. More than fifty years later Beowulf, now kin

The Inferno is by far the most popular and well-known of the books in the Divine Comedy trilogy because of its depiction and understanding of the moral and spiritual pitfalls which still plague us today. This edition is illustrated with astonishing artworks, from Hieronymus Bosch's depictions of a surreal, hellish landscapes and other Renaissance visions of the Last J

In his introduction, the translator says: "I suppose that a very great majority of English-speaking people, if they were asked to name the greatest epic poet of the Christian era in Western Europe, would answer Dante." THE DIVINE COMEDY continues to be widely read today, whether for its religious inspiration or for the sheer power of its verse. The first part of the epic,

When a group of pilgrims bound for Canterbury Cathedral meet on the road, they agree to tell stories to pass the time. Each story reflects a different segment of society, from the pious to the bawdy, and has given countless readers a look into fourteenth-century English life. The stories can be read on their own or as part of the entire work and have been translated from t

English poet John Milton’s 17th century epic poem, “Paradise Lost,” is the work for which he is best known and which would solidify his reputation as one of the greatest poets of all time. A classic retelling of Biblical legend, the poem relates the stories of the war in heaven, the fall of man, and the temptation of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. First depicted in Re

The first volume of The Divine Comedy—Dante begins his downward journey through the seven circles of Hell. Considered to be one of the greatest literary works of all time, Dante's immortal drama of a journey through Hell is the first volume of his Divine Comedy. In the Inferno, Virgil guides Dante the pilgrim-poet through the depths of

A new verse rendering of the great epic of ancient Mesopotamia, one of the oldest works in Western Literature. Ferry makes Gilgamesh available in the kind of energetic and readable translation that Robert Fitzgerald and Richard Lattimore have provided for readers in their translations of Homer and Virgil.

National Book Award Finalist: The most widely read and enduring interpretation of this ancient Babylonian epic.   One of the oldest and most universal stories known in literature, the epic of Gilgamesh presents the grand, timeless themes of love and death, loss and reparations, within the stirring tale of a hero-king and his doomed friend.  

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is an epic Middle English poem written in the 14th century and set in Arthurian England. It tells the story of the Green Knight, a huge green man who interrupts the yuletide festivities at Camelot and makes this challenge to King Arthur and his knights: Strike me with my axe and receive a blow in kind one year from today. Sir Gawain accepts

In this beautiful tenth anniversary edition of her bestselling book, New York Times bestselling author Ann Voskamp invites you to embrace everyday blessings and embark on the transformative journey of chronicling God's gifts and grace. With more than 1.5 million copies sold, Ann shows you how to tap into a pattern of gratitude that continues to change lives.

These ten letters, written by one of the greatest poets of the twentieth century, offer deep and sincere advice to the young poet. They touch on all aspects of life and are valuable to anyone wishing to be a poet and to those who are not. Written with power, style, and conviction these letters will guide and inspire anyone who reads them.

Although Dickinson was a prolific private poet, fewer than a dozen of her nearly eighteen hundred poems were published during her lifetime. The work that was published during her lifetime was usually altered significantly by the publishers to fit the conventional poetic rules of the time. Although most of her acquaintances were probably aware of Dickinson's writing, it was

'Ginsberg could terrify the authorities ... a literary pioneer' - The New York Times Beat movement icon and visionary poet, Allen Ginsberg broke boundaries with his fearless, pyrotechnic verse. The apocalyptic 'Howl' became the subject of an obscenity trial when it was first published in 1956 - its vindication was

A work of staggering poetic beauty that has inspired the likes of John Ruskin, T. S. Eliot, and Robert Bly, The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam was written in eleventh-century Persia and was largely unknown in the West until it was translated into English by Edward FitzGerald in 1859. In FitzGerald's hands, the individual Persian quatrains of the original coalesced into on

Gilgamesh is considered one of the masterpieces of world literature, and although previously there have been competent scholarly translations of it, until now there has not been a version that is a superlative literary text in its own right. Acclaimed translator Stephen Mitchell's lithe, muscular rendering allows us to enter an ancient masterpiece as if for the firs