English Poetry Literature

Twenty Poems of Love and a Song of Despair is a collection of romantic poems by 1971 Noble laureate of literature, Chilean poet Pablo Neruda, first published in 1924 by Editorial Nascimiento. Neruda was 19 at the time the book was published, and this was Neruda's second published work after Crepusculario, but Twenty Poems of Love and a Song of Despair is regarded as the work who made him a name as a poet.

Reha feels torn between two worlds: school, where she’s the only Indian American student, and home, with her family’s traditions and holidays. But Reha’s parents don’t understand why she’s conflicted - they only notice when Reha doesn’t meet their strict expectations. Reha feels disconnected from her mother, or Amma, although their names are linked - Reha means “star” and Punam means “moon” - but they are a universe apart. Then Reha finds out that her Amma is sick.

Paradise Lost is considered to be the best epic poem in the English language, as John Milton seeks to "justify the ways of God to men" through relating the story of Satan's rebellion in Heaven, the deception and fall of Man, and the presaged event of Redemption through Jesus, the Son of God...the "Second Adam."

With searing intelligence and great sensitivity, the poems of Kelly Caldwell—many addressed to Cass Donish, her partner in the years before her suicide at thirty-one, swim through a complex matrix of transformations: mental illness, divorce, gender transition, and self-discovery. But they wrestle, too, with the poet’s painful relationships with her family of Christian missionaries, who refused to affirm her identity.

Wild Embers explores the fire that lies within every soul, weaving words around ideas of feeling at home in your own skin, allowing yourself to heal, and learning to embrace your uniqueness with love from the universe. Featuring rewritten fairy-tale heroines, goddess wisdom, and poetry that burns with revolution, this collection is an explosion of femininity, empowerment, and personal growth.

Nima wishes she were someone else. She doesn’t feel understood by her mother, who grew up in a different land. She doesn’t feel accepted in her suburban town; yet somehow, she isn't different enough to belong elsewhere. Her best friend, Haitham, is the only person with whom she can truly be herself. Until she can't, and suddenly her only refuge is gone.

Homer is one of the most important figures in ancient Greek literature, believed to have lived in the 8th century BC. He is most famous for his epic poems, the Iliad and the Odyssey, which are considered to be the founding works of Western literature. The Iliad tells the story of the Trojan War, focusing on the hero Achilles, while the Odyssey recounts the adventures of the Greek hero Odysseus as he attempts to return home after the war. Both works are celebrated for their vivid storytelling, complex characters, and profound exploration of human nature.

Edward Alexander Crowley was born on 12th October 1875 to wealthy parents in Royal Leamington Spa in Warwickshire. Life for Crowley was to abandon his parents’ Christian faith and instead to inject himself into Western esotericism. In 1898, he joined the esoteric Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and was trained in ceremonial magic before studying both Hindu and Buddhist practices in India. His literary works were both prolific and covered many topics. In the early part of his career he published many poetry books, even plays, before his darker and more forceful works.

With a dynamic spirit, these great English poets made a conscious return to nostalgia and spiritual depth. Each chose a different path, but they are united in a love of moods, impressions, scenes, stories, sights and sounds. In this collection of more than forty poems are some of the finest and most memorable works in the English language.

Captive, Madeline Dyer's first poetry collection, is based on the therapy writings she produced when she was experiencing psychosis and OCD due to autoimmune basal ganglia encephalitis, a rare type of brain inflammation caused by the immune system attacking the brain. While her communication skills and cognitive abilities diminished due to the effects of the inflammation, she was able to share her thoughts and emotions via the written word

“What Breaks Us” by Megan Davis is a cathartic collection of poetry that channels pain and angst into strength for healing and self-discovery. This poetry collection is a candid reflection on heartache, loss, and the difficult work of self-examination to uncover unhealed wounds. With topics ranging from love to spirituality, grief to psychology, Davis’s poetry is an outpouring of emotion that balances the deeply personal with the universality of the human experience.

The Narrow Road to the Interior and Hojoki are two of the best-loved works of their kind; famous for their beautiful, delicate verse and subtle insight into the human condition. It has been said of The Narrow Road that 'it was as if the very soul of Japan had itself written it'. It takes the form of a travel diary, and traces the poet's journey from Edo (modern-day Tokyo) to the northern interior.

Raised in South Carolina and New York, Woodson always felt halfway home in each place. In vivid poems, she shares what it was like to grow up as an African American in the 1960s and 1970s, living with the remnants of Jim Crow and her growing awareness of the Civil Rights movement. Touching and powerful, each poem is both accessible and emotionally charged, each line a glimpse into a child's soul as she searches for her place in the world.

After a painting triggers strange memories, Ben Martin comes to Paradise, Pennsylvania, in search of answers. Although Annie and this enchanting outsider are from different worlds, she wonders why Ben's kindness seems so familiar and his presence so calming to her - and to the troubled husband of her best friend.

The poet Kabir, a selection from whose songs is here for the first time offered to English audiences, is one of the most interesting personalities in the history of Indian mysticism.

This collection of short poems from Newbery Award-winning author Paul Fleischman delightfully celebrates the essence of birds. The companion to Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices, its poems feature two voices speaking sometimes together and sometimes in turn. Experience the magic and magnificence of the immortal phoenix. Enjoy the fluttering elation of finches at dawn and the swiftness of swallows at dusk. And empathize with the loneliness of the pigeon in the Cincinnati Zoo.

This is the story of a dark night of the soul, of traversing the depths of despair, and of rebirth. It shows the reality of hitting rock bottom. Not by a self-reported narrative written after the fact, but through unfiltered poetic expression written in real time during breakdown and recovery. The poems within this collection were written over a 24-month period and are presented in chronological order. They show the inner tumult and turmoil of a man desperately trying, and failing, to hold together the crumbling status quo of his prior existence.

We are proud to continue our project of publishing Deluxe Audio Editions of the poems of Gary Snyder, read by him. When first published in 2004, it was the poet's first new collection of poems in 20 years. Perhaps his most personal, autobiographical collection, it begins with the young poet ascending Mt. St. Helens in 1945, a climb accidentally timed with the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. He was 15 years old.

A collection of Rudyard Kipling's finest poetry read by David Philo, Christopher Hassall, Emma Topping and Rudyard Kipling himself.

The iconic love story of the Middle East, by a 12th-century Persian poet who has been compared to Shakespeare for his subtlety, inventiveness, and dramatic force, Layli and Majnun tells of star-crossed lovers whose union is tragically thwarted by their families and whose passion continues to ripple out across the centuries. Theirs is a love that lasts a lifetime, and in Nezami's immortal telling, erotic longing blends with spiritual self-denial in an allegory of Sufi aspiration, as the amenities of civilization give way to the elemental wilderness.