Showing titles in Themes & Styles

The great Indian Buddhist master Nagarjuna wrote his celebrated poem Letter to a Friend as a gift of advice to a South Indian king, and it has since become a monument in the Indian shastra tradition. Despite its short length (only 123 verses), it covers the entire Mahayana path, combining a practical approach to daily conduct with a theoretical exposition of the different stages leading to enlightenment. It has thus been an ideal source for many of Tibet’s greatest scholars seeking a scriptural authority to enhance their own descriptions of the Buddhist path.

The Collected Works of Kahlil Gibran: Deluxe Edition is a rich anthology that gathers the timeless poetry, prose, and philosophical essays of Lebanese-American writer Kahlil Gibran, whose work explores love, spirituality, wisdom, and the human experience with lyrical depth and insight.

Embrace a unique journey as The Wandering Paddy shares his thoughts and experiences on the challenges we all face, on mental health, and on the invaluable life lessons he has learned along the way in this distinctive collection. The Book of Truths will inspire you to appreciate the beauty and...

Falstaff is both a comic and tragic central protagonist in Shakespeare's three Henry plays. He is companion to Prince Hal (the future Henry V), who loves him, goads him, teases him, indulges his vast appetites, and commits all sorts of mischief with him. Award-winning author and esteemed professor Harold Bloom examines Falstaff with the deepest compassion and sympathy and also with unerring wisdom. He uses the relationship between Falstaff and Hal to explore the devastation of severed bonds and the heartbreak of betrayal.  

Through her transcendent imagery, distinct punctuation, experimental slant rhyme, and wordplay, Emily Dickinson set herself apart from every other poet of her time. These essential works - thematically divided into poems on life, nature, love, and time and eternity - reveal a keen, humorous observer whose art, like the artist herself, defied tradition.

In the summer of 2020, Cole Arthur Riley was desperate for a spirituality she could trust. Amidst ongoing national racial violence, the isolation of the pandemic, and a surge of anti-Black rhetoric in many Christian spaces, she began dreaming of a harbour for a more human, more liberating expression of faith. She went on to create Black Liturgies, a digital project that connects spiritual practice with Black emotion, memory, and the Black body. In this book, she deepens the work of that project.

In his first attempt at the epic form, Ngũgĩ tells the story of the founding of the Gĩkũyũ people of Kenya, from a strongly feminist perspective. A verse narrative, blending folklore, mythology, adventure, and allegory, The Perfect Nine chronicles the efforts the Gĩkũyũ founders make to find partners for their ten beautiful daughters - called “The Perfect Nine” - and the challenges they set for the 99 suitors who seek their hands in marriage. The epic has all the elements of adventure, with suspense, danger, humor, and sacrifice.

A poem is a powerful tool… The words within this collection will guide you gently to a deeper connection with your truth. Did you know reading poetry out loud can reduce stress and bring calm? Poetry helps you find the words for your thoughts and feelings—it mirrors your truth and lights your way back to your soul.

From actress Haley Lu Richardson—a raw, beautiful, and playful debut collection of poetry about the chaos of being a twenty-something girl in this world. i always wanted to be a pop star so i could catharize my woes, heartbreak and general experience of life in whatever vulnerable, valiant, or...

Embracing the Life of Growth and Transformation “Each of us carries some wisdom waiting to be discovered at the center of our experience, and everything we meet, if faced and held, reveals a part of that wisdom,” teaches Mark Nepo. Flames That Light the Heart brings you into the company of...

First published in 1855, when Whitman was 37, Leaves of Grass announced a new voice and style in American letters. It attempted to reach out to the common person with an optimistic epic that took the nation as its subject and encouraged readers to connect with nature and unite in a harmonious society where race and class are transcended.

‘Powerful, capacious and profound’ OCEAN VUONG ‘A book you won’t soon forget’ ILYA KAMINSKY ‘Astonishing’ TERRANCE HAYES LONGLISTED FOR THE 2025 DYLAN THOMAS PRIZE FROM THE WINNER OF THE 2025 PULITZER PRIZE FOR COMMENTARY A deeply powerful collection of poems about life in Gaza by...

A new version of The Epic of Gilgamesh by Sebastian Lockwood. This is the story of Gilgamesh, King of Kings, who brought back knowledge from before the flood - who loved and lost his companion Enkidu and had to find out why we die. The Epic of Gilgamesh was written on clay tablets over 4,000 years ago, in what is today Baghdad Iraq - the Biblical Garden of Eden between the Tigris and the Euphrates. Lockwood gives a passionate reading from a text that faithfully follows the original.

It is the year 778. The mighty French army, led by Emperor Charlemagne, confronts Saracen forces in the bloody Battle of Roncevaux Pass. In the course of this thrilling epic poem we follow the emperor’s hot-headed nephew Roland into battle. We are privy to the deal struck between the Saracen king Marsilie and Roland’s conniving stepfather Guene.

Including 'The Hill We Climb', the stirring poem read at the inauguration of the 46th president of the United States, Joe Biden, this collection of the same name reveals an energising and unforgettable new voice in poetry.

Jenny Lewis relocates Gilgamesh to its earlier, oral roots in a Sumerian society where men and women were more equal, the reigning deity of Gilgamesh’s city, Uruk, was female (Inanna), only women were allowed to brew beer and keep taverns and women had their own language - emesal. With this shift of emphasis, Lewis captures the powerful allure of the world’s oldest poem and gives it a fresh dynamic while creating a fast-paced narrative for a new generation of listeners.

Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, winner of the Goldsmiths Prize, The Roehampton Poetry Prize and the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction. 'A beautiful, vigorous and achingly melancholy hymn to the common man that is as unexpected as it is daring' John Banville, Guardian A noir...

The spectrum of all of human life, as portrayed in the poem, will unfold with breathtaking variety, drama, thought, and beauty: In the middle of the journey of our life / I found myself in a dark wood, where the straight path was lost. The process of listening to Dante’s Comedy is a journey into not just literature but into the mysteries of human nature and its capacity for unhappiness and happiness, folly and wisdom, rejection and wonder over the miracles of creation and existence.

Songs that blow the mind.

Edward Lear's much-loved comic poem, featuring the most elegant fowl in literature and his beautiful feline friend, read by Jenny Agutter.