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This critical magnum opus, unprecedented in Shakespeare studies for its scope and daring, is nothing less than an attempt to show the Complete Works - dramatic and poetic - as a single, tightly integrated, evolving organism.
The Iron Wolf, the Iron WolfStands on the world with jagged fur. The rusty Moon rolls through the sky. The iron river cannot stir. The iron wind leaks out a cryAnimals of air, land and sea are brilliantly imagined in this perfect introduction for young readers to the work of Ted Hughes.
First published in 1984, this book of prose-linked animal poems won both the Guardian Children's Fiction Award and the Signal Poetry Award. This new, illustated edition remains 'a very beautiful book: God and his son go to visit mankind and ask a few simple questions . . . the poems are pure enchantment' (The School Librarian).
A very ordinary boy. Nobody noticed him, he was just like everyone else. But Fred knew he was different. He just didn't know quite how different. And when he did.... Well, what then?
Originally the medieval bestiary or book of animals set out to establish safe distinctions - between them and us - but Hughes's poetry works always in a contrary direction: showing what man and beast have in common, the reservoir from which we all draw. Alice Oswald's selection is arranged chronologically, with an eye to different books and styles, but equally to those poems that embody animals, rather than just describe them. Some poems are here because, although not strictly speaking animal, they become so in the process of writing; and in keeping with the bestiary tradition there are plenty of imaginary animals - all concentratedly coming about their business.The resulting selection is subtly responsive to a central aspect of Hughes's achievement, while offering room to some wonderful overlooked poems, and to 'those that have the wildest tunes.'
'Other folks get so well known,And nobody knows about my own,'Have you met my sister Jane? She's a great big crow! My Grandpa is an owler and Grandma knits jerseys for wasps! And my other Granny is an octopus...Meet Aunt Flo, Brother Bert and more extraordinary family members in Ted Hughes' irresistible Meet My Folks, his first book for children, illustrated beautifully by George Adamson.
Some poems will be more of a challenge than others, but all will be treasured once they have become part of the memory bank. This edition is part of a series of anthologies edited by poets such as Don Paterson and Simon Armitage and features an attractive new design to complement an anthology of classic poems.
'The Calder valley, west of Halifax, was the last ditch of Elmet, the last British Celtic kingdom to fall tothe Angles. For centuries it was considered a more or less uninhabitable wilderness, a notorious refuge forcriminals, a hide-out for refugees. Then in the early 1800s it became the cradle for the Industrial Revolution intextiles, and the upper Calder became "e;the hardest-worked river in England"e;. Throughout my lifetime, since1930, I have watched the mills of the region and their attendant chapels die. Within the last fifteen years the endhas come. They are now virtually dead, and the population of the valley and the hillsides, so rooted for so long,is changing rapidly.' Ted Hughes, Preface to Remains of Elmet (1979)Ted Hughes's remarkable 'pennine sequence' celebrates the area where he spent his early childhood. It mixessocial, political, religious and historical matter - a tapestry rich in the personal and poetic investment of alandscape that both creates and is inured to its people, whose moors 'Are a stage for the performance of heaven./ Any audience is incidental.' Remains of Elmet is one of Hughes's most personal and enduring achievements.
Ffangs lives with the other vampires on Vampire Island, but he is different from the rest - he can't stand the sight of blood!When he arrives in London, everyone is too frightened to listen when he explains that he only wants to be human. And soon he finds himself alone in Buckingham Palace to face Thomas the Vampire Hunter . . .
This collection of eleven evocative, accessible and funny stories for children of 5+ tells how a particular animal came to be as it is now. The Whale grew up in God's vegetable patch but was banished to sea when he became too large and crushed all His carrots; the Polar Bear was lured to the North Pole by the other animals who were jealous that she always won the annual beauty contest; the Hare has asked the moon to marry him but can never stretch his ears high enough to hear her reply; the Bee must sip honey all day long to sweeten the bitter demon that runs through his veins . . . each story is a delight for reading alone or aloud.
"In a series of chapters built round poems by a number of writers including himself . He makes the whole venture seem enjoyable, and somehow urgent . ' Times Literary Supplement
Mankind must put a stop to the dreadful destruction by the Iron Man and set a trap for him, but he cannot be kept down. Then, when a terrible monster from outer space threatens to lay waste to the planet, it is the Iron Man who finds a way to save the world.
The Oresteia comprises three of the greatest plays of all time: Agamemnon, The Cheophori and The Eumenides.
An adaptation by the Poet Laureate of Racine's play of the same name. Phedre burns with passion for Hippolytus, her stepson. His father, Theseus, is made to believe that it is Hippolytus who is lusting after Phedre, and begs Neptune to kill his son, which he does before discovering the truth.
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