Literary studies: poetry and poets

‘An embrace of a book’ Florence Welch

‘Poetry was my place, my little clearing in the forest, where I could quietly put everything I was holding. I’m not sure what gave me the courage to open up that space to you, but here I am, doing it.’

This is a book about a poet, about a poem, about a city, and about a world at a point of change. More than a work of literary criticism or literary biography, it is a record of why and how we create and respond to great poetry.

Rich and strange from the tip of its title to its deep-sunk bones’ Robert Macfarlane

From the author of Leviathan, or, The Whale, comes a composite portrait of the subtle, beautiful, inspired and demented ways in which we have come to terms with our watery planet.

‘The best poet in America’ Jean Genet

‘He brought everybody down to earth, even the angels’ Leonard Cohen

The definitive collection from a writer whose transgressive legacy and raw, funny, acutely observant writing has left an enduring mark

‘The best poet in America’ Jean Genet

‘He brought everybody down to earth, even the angels’ Leonard Cohen

The definitive collection from a writer whose transgressive legacy and raw, funny, acutely observant writing has left an enduring mark

‘This book includes some of the greatest of our poetry. I hope that it adds up to a new way of thinking about who we have been, and who we are now.’

‘One of the very best collections of pop songs written in the style of William Shakespeare that I’ve read so far this year!’ ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic

‘Ever wonder what Taylor Swift and Beyoncé would sound like in iambic pentameter? We hadn’t either, but now we can’t get enough’ TIME

‘Amazing’ Buzzfeed

Penelope Fitzgerald’s fascinating portrait of the tragic poet and her life at the heart of the Bloomsbury set.

Penelope Fitzgerald’s fascinating portrait of the tragic poet and her life at the heart of the Bloomsbury set.

A Spike Milligan opus, containing everything from classics to hidden gems, with a foreword by Eddie Izzard.