Synopses & Reviews
The Bloomsbury Classic Series has established itself as the preeminent hardcover poetry and literary collection -- books to be cherished, savored, and given on special occasions.
To this series we now add two works by Oscar Wilde to herald the coming centennary of his death in Paris, at the age of 46, in 1900. "Oscar Wilde: Selected Poems" collects 33 of Wilde's finest poems, many of which were first published in 1881 in a book called Poems. Also included is "The Ballad of Reading Jail", written after his friendship with Alfred Douglas, and his imprisonment in 1895 for "homosexual offences". "Oscar Wilde: The Fisherman and His Soul and Other Fairy Tales" collects ten of Wilde's finest fairy tales into one magical volume. Culled from The Happy Prince and The House Of Pomegranates, these stories were first read to Wilde's sons and all are mesmerizing and heart-breaking to the end. True gems, these two Wilde volumes now bring to 12 the number of Bloomsbury Classics that St. Martin's has made available for years to come.
Synopsis
And now good morrow to our waking soules,
Which watch not one another our of feare;
For love, all love of other sights controules,
And makes one little room, an everywhere.
Bloomsbury Poetry Classics are selections from the work of some of our greatest poets. The series is aimed at the general reader rather than the specialist and carries no critical or explanatory apparatus. This can be found elsewhere. In the series the poems introduce themselves, on an uncluttered page and in a format that is both attractive and convenient. The selections have been made by the distinguished poet, critic, and biographer Ian Hamilton.
Synopsis
Bloomsbury Poetry Classics are selections from the work of some of our greatest poets. The series is aimed at the general reader rather than the specialist and carries no critical or explanatory apparatus. This can be found elsewhere. In the series the poems introduce themselves, on an uncluttered page and in a format that is both attractive and convenient. The selections have been make by the distinguished poet, critic, and biographer Ian Hamilton.
About the Author
John Donne was born in 1572 to a Roman Catholic family. After an adventurous youth-he voyaged with Essex and Raleigh and was a "great visitor of ladies"-he was imprisoned in 1601 for contracting an illicit marriage. Donne spent the next fourteen years trying to live down this disgrace. He renounced Catholicism, entered the established church and after much ingenious maneuvering he eventually became Dean of St. Paul's. Donne's poetry, he liked to say, was the mistress of his youth; divinity was the wife of his maturity. In consequence his impassioned and "conceited" verses were not published in his lifetime. He died, a vaunted holy man, in 1631.