LITMIR.BIZ

This compact anthology contains many of the best works of 59 poets writing in English—from the complex rhyme schemes of Elizabethan poet Edmund Spenser and lovely sonnets of the preeminent English poet and playwright William Shakespeare to William Blake's visionary works and John Keats' profound insights into the nature of beauty, art, and mortality.Here also are beloved poems by Christopher Marlowe, John Donne, William Wordsworth, Robert Browning, Christina Rossetti, Robert Louis Stevenson, Rudyard Kipling, Robert Burns, William Butler Yeats, Rupert Brooke, T. S. Eliot, W. H. Auden, Dylan Thomas, and 43 other great English, Irish, and Scottish writers. In addition to a concise introduction, this volume provides brief commentaries on the poets represented. The result is a carefully selected anthology that will be studied and treasured by students and poetry lovers alike.

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Considered the greatest Roman poet, Vergil spent over a decade working on this monumental epic poem, which has been a source of literary inspiration and poetic grandeur for more than 2,000 years. Its twelve books tell the heroic story of Aeneas, a Trojan who escaped the burning ruins of Troy to found a new city in the west. This city, Lavinium, was the parent city of Rome.Drawn by divine destiny after the fall of Troy, Aeneas sailed westward toward the land of the Tiber. After many adventures, he and his men were shipwrecked on the shores of Carthage, where Aeneas and Queen Dido fell in love. Reminded of his duty, however, Aeneas sailed on. After visiting his father in the underworld, Aeneas saw the future of the Roman people and their exploits in peace and war. Eventually he arrived in Italy, where he and his men struggled valiantly to secure a foothold for the founding of Rome.Vast in scope, crowded with exciting adventure and heroic deeds, the Aeneid was Vergil's imagined account of Roman beginnings and a tribute to the history, character and achievements of the Roman people. On the other hand, its depth, vision and empathy with human suffering make the poem relevant to the general human condition. Now this enduring multileveled masterpiece is available in this republication of a standard unabridged translation, the most inexpensive complete version available.

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Unjustly deposed by his younger brother, the rightful duke retreats to the Forest of Arden and forms a utopia with his loyal followers while his daughter remains at court as a companion to her cousin. When forbidden romance enters their lives, the girls assume disguises and flee to the forest, where they encounter a magical world of friendly outlaws and wise fools. Both a lighthearted comedy and a deeper exploration of social and literary issues, this play features a memorable cast of characters and some of Shakespeare's finest poetry.

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Comedy, tragedy, and history — this anthology presents a trio of Shakespeare's most frequently studied and performed works. Each represents one of the playwright's primary genres, and together they run the gamut of the Elizabethan theater experience, from lighthearted romance to star-crossed passion to ruthless ambition: A Midsummer Night's Dream, a celebration of the imaginative powers of love, replete with mischievous fairies, mistaken identities, and magical transformationsRomeo and Juliet, a gripping drama in which young love is thwarted by a bitter feud and a tragic twist of fateRichard III, a portrait of a cunning and ambitious villain who seduces, betrays, and murders his way to the throneAll plays are complete and unabridged and feature informative footnotes.

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Edith Wharton (1862–1937) wrote carefully structured fiction that probed the psychological and social elements guiding the behavior of her characters. Her portrayals of upper-class New Yorkers were unrivaled. The Age of Innocence, for which Wharton won the Pulitzer Prize in 1920, is one of her most memorable novels.At the heart of the story are three people whose entangled lives are deeply affected by the tyrannical and rigid requirements of high society. Newland Archer, a restrained young attorney, is engaged to the lovely May Welland but falls in love with May's beautiful and unconventional cousin, Countess Ellen Olenska. Despite his fear of a dull marriage to May, Archer goes through with the ceremony — persuaded by his own sense of honor, family, and societal pressures. He continues to see Ellen after the marriage, but his dreams of living a passionate life ultimately cease.The novel's lucid and penetrating prose style, vivid characterization, and its rendering of the social history of an era have long made it a favorite with readers and critics alike.

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In her own time, the works of Kate Chopin (1851–1904) shocked readers and critics with their challenge to contemporary mores. Her stories and novels reveal unsparing truths about the interior lives of women, some of whom experienced profound disillusionment with the rigid yoke of marriage, combined with an unfulfilled longing for self-realization. Celebrated today as a precursor of twentieth-century feminism, Chopin's fiction is considered to be among the masterpieces of American literature.True to the writer's intrepid explorations of taboo subjects and resonating with autobiographical elements, At Fault masterfully portrays a complex love triangle amid the tensions of the rural post-Reconstruction South. Thérèse Lafirme is a young Creole widow in love with a divorced St. Louis businessman, David Hosmer. The moral and religious constraints thrust upon Thérèse prevent her acceptance of Hosmer's wedding proposal, setting the two on a treacherous path that involves Hosmer's former wife, Fanny. Originally published in 1890, the novel is marked by the same fearless examination of society and sexuality that distinguish Chopin's later works.

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Whether forming a pirate gang to search for buried treasure or spending a quiet time at home, sharing his medicine with Aunt Polly's cat, the irrepressible Tom Sawyer evokes the world of boyhood in nineteenth century rural America. In this classic story, Mark Twain re-created a long-ago world of freshly whitewashed fences and Sunday school picnics into which sordid characters and violent incidents sometimes intruded. The tale powerfully appeals to both adult and young imaginations. Readers explore this memorable setting with a slyly humorous born storyteller as their guide. Tom and Huck Finn conceal themselves in the town cemetery, where they witness a grave robbery and a murder. Later, the boys, feeling unappreciated, hide out on a forested island while the townspeople conduct a frantic search and finally mourn them as dead. The friends triumphantly return to town to attend their own funeral, in time for a dramatic trial for the graveyard murder. A three-day ordeal ensues when Tom and his sweetheart, Becky Thatcher, lose their way in the very cave that conceals the murderer. With its hilarious accounts of boyish pranks and its shrewd assessments of human nature, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer has captivated generations of readers of all ages. This inexpensive edition of the classic novel offers a not-to-be-missed opportunity to savor a witty and action-packed account of small-town boyhood in a bygone era.

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Venture back in time to Victorian London to join literature's greatest detective team — the brilliant Sherlock Holmes and his devoted assistant, Dr. Watson — as they investigate a dozen of their best-known cases. Originally published in 1892, this is the first and best collection of stories about the legendary sleuth. It's also the least expensive edition available. Featured tales include several of the author's personal favorites: «A Scandal in Bohemia» — in which a king is blackmailed by a former lover and Holmes matches wits with the only woman to attract his open admiration — plus «The Speckled Band,» «The Red-Headed League,» and «The Five Orange Pips.» Additional mysteries include «The Blue Carbuncle,» «The Engineer’s Thumb,» «The Beryl Coronet,» «The Copper Beeches,» and four others.

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A naive girl from a humble background meets an ambitious city boy, and a torrid romance ensues. Despite her pride, independence, and honesty, Charity Royall feels shadowed by her past–especially in her ardent relationship with the educated and refined Lucius Harney. Can passion overcome the effects of heredity and environment?With its frank treatment of a woman's sexual awakening, Summer created a sensation upon its 1917 publication. Edith Wharton — the author of Ethan Frome and a peerless observer and chronicler of society — completely shattered the standards of conventional love stories with this novel's candor and realism. The Pulitzer Prize-winning author declared Summer a personal favorite among her works, and liked to refer to it as «the Hot Ethan.» Nearly a century later, it remains fresh and relevant.

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One of the most universally loved and admired English novels, Pride and Prejudice was penned as a popular entertainment. But the consummate artistry of Jane Austen (1775–1817) transformed this effervescent tale of rural romance into a witty, shrewdly observed satire of English country life that is now regarded as one of the principal treasures of English language.In a remote Hertfordshire village, far off the good coach roads of George III's England, a country squire of no great means must marry off his five vivacious daughters. At the heart of this all-consuming enterprise are his headstrong second daughter Elizabeth Bennet and her aristocratic suitor Fitzwilliam Darcy — two lovers whose pride must be humbled and prejudices dissolved before the novel can come to its splendid conclusion.

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