Essential Poetry

In this story the child is invited on a journey to a magical place. The narrator welcomes the child on a voyage that is complete with the theme of inclusion throughout. It is a place where peace and harmony reign supreme. “The Inclusive All” offers a standing invitation to the child. The child will learn that they can actively engage with literature that is also entertaining. This is story for all times of day because it is characterized by the freedom of joy and happiness.

This collection of John Milton's finest poetry offers an ideal overview of his work. It is read by several of Britain's foremost classical actors, including Anton Lesser, Samantha Bond and Derek Jacobi. Milton's uncompromising views set him firmly on the side of Cromwell, putting his life in danger when the Stuart monarchy was restored.

William Shakespeare, the "Bard of Avon", is the most famous of all English writers. Though he lived and died over 400 years ago, his works remain loved and treasured to this day. Even after all this time, they have lost none of their power nor their beauty: His stories still excite, his words still move, and his characters still seem real and deep and true.

Engaging closely with the violence, oppression, and injustice that she witnessed in her lifetime, Muriel Rukeyser was one of the seminal poets of the mid-twentieth century. Closely informed by issues relating to equality, social justice, feminism, and Judaism, her impassioned poetry was often seen as a mode of social protest, but it was also heralded for its deep emotional impact. The Essential Muriel Rukeyser represents the curation of Rukeyser’s most enduring and urgent work, gathered in one volume that spans the many decades of her life and career.

Celebrating James Tate’s work as it transcends convention, time, and everything that tells us, “No, you can’t do that,” Hell, I Love Everybody gives us the poet at his best, his most intimate, hopeful, inventive, and brilliant. John Ashbery called Tate the “poet of possibilities,” and this collection records forays into possibilities for American poetry’s future. With a foreword by Terrance Hayes, it is sure to give listeners new and old a lasting collection of favorites.

The tragic poem, dominated by the themes of lust, crime, and revenge, tells the story of soldiers Tarquin and Collatine, and Collatine's wife Lucrece. It is believed to have been written in 1594. It is set just prior to the establishment of the Roman Republic. It is a poem with some similarity to Shakespeare's tragic revenge play, Titus Andronicus, and features aspects of other great Shakespearian works.