Yehuda Halevi, who wrote both secular and devotional poems, is considered one of the finest poets in post-biblical Hebrew literature. Suffused with warmth, moving easily between the mundane and the otherworldly, and, above all, delicately elegiac, th...

Whether sharing his anxieties about his writing, consoling bereaved friends, complaining about the meanness of a patron or defending himself against malicious gossip, John Donne reveals himself in his letters with a directness that can be found nowhe...

This selection from the most productive Christian pen of the nineteenth century is also an introduction to one of its most compelling and troubled minds. John Henry Newman (1801-1891) was a dominant figure in both the Anglican and the Roman Catholic...

"In Just Think of It", his first collection for over twenty years, Gavin Bantock proves that he has not grown tame. His many years in Japan have enriched his perspective when writing about life in Britain; he is also an acute observer of Japanese lif...

The "rough climate" of the title reflects the encroaching unease that many people feel about the circumstances of their lives. In his seventh collection (and his first for seven years) E.A. Markham draws attention to the euphemisms and other abuses o...

In 1911 some of D. H. Lawrence's poems and his story "Odour of Chrysanthemums" found their way, without his knowledge, to the desk of the editor of the English Review, Ford Madox Hueffer (later Ford). Ford was astonished and invited Lawrence to meet...

Caroline Bird first appears to be a traditional storyteller. But the stories she tells (or conceals) are suspended in a language charged with metaphor, and most of them are built upon foundations which are strangely familiar: fairy tale, fantasy and...

The poems in "Flying Fish" wrestle with our fascination with the sea, our helplessness in the face of love and loss, our fear of age and all that lies beyond. In them we glimpse "the otherlife" of things caught out of their own element. From the flyi...

Does history tell stories? from "Concerning History" Yes, if the poet listens carefully. Elizabeth Jennings listens carefully, through spiritual, emotional and mental turbulence. She has created an abidingly popular body of poetry, using traditional...

Nazim Hikmet's poetry combines passion and simplicity with sophistication, producing work of enduring significance. He was both a superb narrative and lyric poet; his immense and continuing popularity in Turkey testifies to his common touch. This ext...