- Table View
- List View
I cannot be good until you say it
by Sanah AhsanThe much-anticipated debut collection by the winner of the Outspoken Performance Poetry Prize: a tender meditation on queerness and Islam'Dissolving whatever boundaries would wall us off from love, Ahsan finds a way to let it all be holy' Victoria Adukwei-Bulley'When I speak of the word "sacred", Sanah Ahsan's I cannot be good until you say it will forever instantly spring to mind ... A masterpiece - an honour to have read this book, I am forever changed after reading its beauty' Nikita Gill'Innovative and deeply compassionate ... multilingual verse suffused with a vital musicality and a palpable tenderness, Ahsan calls poetry into prayer and evokes a faith safe enough to be mothered by' Mary Jean Chan'Dexterous, varied, erotic, filled with rage, worships and wonder ... I am electrified' Pádraig Ó Tuama'Tensions of psychological drama, together with an induced sense of yearning.. what an artful and inspired set of poems' Anthony Anaxagorou'Liberation is at the nucleus of every page of Sanah Ahsan's rousing debut ... Ahsan is doing liberation work, offering readers a prayer, a song, a hand to hold amidst the amidst' Kaveh Akbar'A remarkable and transformative collection' Keith Jarrett'A daring debut collection, which guides us through the complexities of just being' Yomi Sode'Alive with a want and restlessness that remakes the "You" of desire - and faith - again and again' Will Harris'A heart punching debut collection' Raymond Antrobus______________________________________________Intricately weaving Quranic verse, psychology, and the hip-hop soundtrack of their childhood, Sanah's poems reach for divinity in the body; an archive that refuses erasure.These poems traverse unruly emotional and physical landscapes, Whiteness, islamophobia, homophobia, intergenerational suffering, and the politics of therapeutic processes. In these pages, belief and unbelief, goodness and badness, the material and spiritual are intertwined, reclaiming queer love and desire as holy.How are we incarcerated by others' gazes? Who gets to be good in a society built upon hierarchy? How might we embrace each other's madnesses? Sanah Ahsan asks questions that travel to the heart of our humanness, bending the lines between psychologist and client to show us the sacred nature of our wounds. These poems kneel to the messiness of being alive, building altars to complication and presence. Refusing binaries of gender or religious doctrine, I cannot be good until you say it finds what is to be revered in the grey spaces of morality, advancing imagination and self-compassion as sites of communion.This debut collection is a call to prayer, fearlessly complicating what is good, and what is god.
Lobster: and other things I’m learning to love: 'energising, fearless and joyful' Sara Pascoe
by Hollie McNishA brand-new collection from the award-winning poet, the companion piece to the Sunday Times bestselling Slug'Funny, so smart and refreshingly honest' SARAH MILLICAN'Hollie McNish's words always sweep me away' GIOVANNA FLETCHERThis book is written out of both hate and love for the worldAs people, we are capable of both love and hate; amazement and disgust; fun and misery. So why do we live in a world that is constantly telling us to hate, both ourselves and others? We are told to be repulsed by our own bodies, bodies that let us laugh and sweat and eat toast; to be ashamed of pleasure; to be embarrassed by fun. In this collection, Hollie McNish brings her inimitable style to the question of what have been taught to hate, and if we might learn to love again.'Never have we needed her more' STYLIST'I've loved her work for years' JO BRAND'She writes with honesty, conviction, humour and love' KAE TEMPEST
Troy: Our Greatest Story Retold (Stephen Fry’s Greek Myths #3)
by Stephen FryAN EPIC BATTLE THAT LASTED TEN YEARS. A LEGENDARY STORY THAT HAS SURVIVED THOUSANDS.'An inimitable retelling of the siege of Troy . . . Fry's narrative, artfully humorous and rich in detail, breathes life and contemporary relevance into these ancient tales' OBSERVER'Stephen Fry has done it again. Well written and super storytelling' 5***** READER REVIEW________'Troy. The most marvellous kingdom in all the world. The Jewel of the Aegean. Glittering Ilion, the city that rose and fell not once but twice . . .'When Helen, the beautiful Greek queen, is kidnapped by the Trojan prince Paris, the most legendary war of all time begins.Watch in awe as a thousand ships are launched against the great city of Troy.Feel the fury of the battleground as the Trojans stand resolutely against Greek might for an entire decade.And witness the epic climax - the wooden horse, delivered to the city of Troy in a masterclass of deception by the Greeks . . .In Stephen Fry's exceptional retelling of our greatest story, TROY will transport you to the depths of ancient Greece and beyond.________'A fun romp through the world's greatest story. Fry's knowledge of the world - ancient and modern - bursts through' Daily Telegraph'An excellent retelling . . . told with compassion and wit' 5***** Reader Review'Hugely successful, graceful' The Times'If you want to read about TROY, this book is a must over any other' 5***** Reader Review'Fluent, crisp, nuanced, begins with a bang' The Times Literary Supplement'The characters . . . are brilliantly brought to life' 5***** Reader ReviewPRAISE FOR STEPHEN FRY'S GREEK SERIES:'A romp through the lives of ancient Greek gods. Fry is at his story-telling best . . . the gods will be pleased' Times'A head-spinning marathon of legends' Guardian'An Olympian feat. The gods seem to be smiling on Fry - his myths are definitely a hit' Evening Standard'An odyssey through Greek mythology. Brilliant . . . all hail Stephen Fry' Daily Mail'A rollicking good read' Independent
Mythos: The Greek Myths Retold (Stephen Fry’s Greek Myths #1)
by Stephen FrySTEP INTO ANOTHER WORLD - OF MAGIC, MAYHEM, MONSTERS AND MANIACAL GODS - IN STEPHEN FRY'S MOMENTOUS SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER, MYTHOS'A romp through the lives of ancient Greek gods. Fry is at his story-telling best . . . the gods will be pleased' TimesDiscover Stephen Fry's magnificent retelling of the greatest myths and legends ever told . . .___________No one loves and quarrels, desires and deceives as boldly or brilliantly as Greek gods and goddesses.In Stephen Fry's vivid retelling, we gaze in wonder as wise Athena is born from the cracking open of the great head of Zeus and follow doomed Persephone into the dark and lonely realm of the Underworld. We shiver in fear when Pandora opens her jar of evil torments and watch with joy as the legendary love affair between Eros and Psyche unfolds.Mythos captures these extraordinary myths for our modern age - in all their dazzling and deeply human relevance.If you're enthralled by the magic of Greek mythology you'll love Fry's latest book TROY, an exceptional retelling of our greatest story . . .___________NOW THE INSPIRATION FOR THE MYTHOS SUITE, STEPHEN FRY AND DEBBIE WISEMAN'S MUSICAL PRODUCTION OF FRY'S THRILLING RETELLINGS'A head-spinning marathon of legends' Guardian'An Olympian feat. The gods seem to be smiling on Fry - his myths are definitely a hit' Evening Standard'An odyssey through Greek mythology. Brilliant . . . all hail Stephen Fry' Daily Mail'A rollicking good read' IndependentSHORTLISTED FOR A NATIONAL BOOK AWARD
The Composition of Sense in Gertrude Stein's Landscape Writing (American Literature Readings in the 21st Century)
by Linda VorisThis book offers a bold critical method for reading Gertrude Stein’s work on its own terms by forgoing conventional explanation and adopting Stein’s radical approach to meaning and knowledge. Inspired by the immanence of landscape, both of Provence where she travelled in the 1920s and the spatial relations of landscape painting, Stein presents a new model of meaning whereby making sense is an activity distributed in a text and across successive texts. From love poetry, to plays and portraiture, Linda Voris offers close readings of Stein’s most anthologized and less known writing in a case study of a new method of interpretation. By practicing Stein’s innovative means of making sense, Voris reveals the excitement of her discoveries and the startling implications for knowledge, identity, and intimacy.
Poems for Love: A New Anthology (Macmillan Collector's Library #150)
by Joanna Trollope and Gaby MorganA complex and truly timeless emotion, love – whether passion or heartbreak, infatuation or flirtation – has provoked some of the greatest names in literature to write verses of outstanding beauty.Part of the Macmillan Collector’s Library; a series of stunning, cloth-bound, pocket-sized classics with gold foiled edges and ribbon markers. These beautiful books make perfect gifts or a treat for any book lover. This edition features an introduction by bestselling author and Romantic Novelist Association prize-winner Joanna Trollope.There has always been love, and we have been writing poetry about it for over 4,000 years. From John Donne and William Shakespeare to Emily Dickinson and Christina Rossetti, the very best classic love poetry is collected in this elegant anthology, Poems for Love. That we still read and enjoy these heartfelt poems today is a testament both to their individual genius and to the enduring power of love.
T. H. Parry-Williams (Writers of Wales)
by R. Gerallt JonesA study of the poet and writer T.H Parry-Williams in the 'Writers of Wales' series.
Hijas del horror : Rocío Silva Santisteban y Regina José Galindo : mujer, testimonio y violencia en la poesía y la performance
by Bethsabé Huamán Andía
Ghosts and the Overplus: Reading Poetry in the Twenty-First Century (Poets On Poetry)
by Christina PughGhosts and the Overplus is a celebration of lyric poetry in the twenty-first century and how lyric poetry incorporates the voices of our age as well as the poetic “ghosts” from the past. Acclaimed poet and award-winning teacher Christina Pugh is fascinated by how poems continually look backward into literary history. Her essays find new resonance in poets ranging from Emily Dickinson to Gwendolyn Brooks to the poetry of the present. Some of these essays also consider the way that poetry interacts with the visual arts, dance, and the decision to live life as a nonconformist. This wide-ranging collection showcases the critical discussions around poetry that took place in America over the first two decades of our current millennium. Essay topics include poetic forms continually in migration, such as the sonnet; poetic borrowings across visual art and dance; and the idiosyncrasies of poets who lived their lives against the grain of literary celebrity and trend. What unites all of these essays is a drive to dig more deeply into the poetic word and act: to go beyond surface reading in order to reside longer with poems. In essays both discursive and personal, Pugh shows that poetry asks us to think differently—in a way that gathers feeling into the realm of thought, thereby opening the mysteries that reside in us and in the world around us.
Songs of an Eastern Humanist
by Edward Said"Considering the emphasis in Said's critical work on space and place and the political importance of geography, it is less surprising to see the luxuriant evocation of a specific topography of dusty roads, grottos, plump figtrees, desert flowers, muddy clods, and the 'beckoning hands of lambent hills'. Most revealing of all, perhaps, is the poems' tendency to see the world through musical form. Musical imagery is everywhere, testifying to how much of Said's mind in an introspective mood was immersed in the sounds, forms, and fables of Western classical music."—Timothy Brennan, from the book's Introduction Edward Said was renowned for the breadth, erudition, and humanity of his scholarly and political writing. His ground-breaking studies of literature and culture threw a dazzling new light on the ways in which non-Western peoples have been misrepresented over the course of the centuries, and he was among the world's most prominent voices in denouncing the modern-day injustices of Western foreign policy. This volume collects all of his never-before-published poems, offering insight into the personality of the author of Orientalism, The World, the Text and the Critic, and Culture & Imperialism "to a degree hidden in those works themselves". The nineteen works collected in Songs of an Eastern Humanist canvass a variety of poetic forms, but they are all shot through with Said's capacious intellect and passionate sensibility. They are also remarkable achievements of poetic craft. Said's poetry alternates with unerring judgment between wit and pathos, between sublimely elevated and disarmingly quotidian registers. His individual lines of verse are exquisitely constructed and richly elusive, while his poems as a whole are at once sweeping in their vision and keenly evocative of sensory experience. Their publication amounts to a major literary event, marking twenty years since the great public intellectual's passing.
All of Us: The Collected Poems (Vintage Contemporaries Ser.)
by Raymond CarverRaymond Carver, who became a master-storyteller of his generation and was hailed in Europe as 'the American Chekhov', wrote of himself: "I began as a poet. My first publication was a poem. So I suppose on my tombstone I'd be very pleased if they put 'Poet and short-story writer - and occasional essayist', in that order." This complete edition allows readers to experience the range and overwhelming power of Carver's poetry for the first time. It brings together in the order of their American publication the poems of Fires (1985), Where Water Comes Together with Other Water (1986), Ultramarine (1988), A New Path to the Waterfall (1989) and No Heroics, Please (1991). For readers who know Carver's middle period only through his selected poems, In a Marine Light (1988), it includes the windfall of 51 poems not previously published in Britain. All of Us is edited by Professor William L. Stull of the University of Hartford, and introduced with an essay on Raymond Carver's methods of composition by his widow, the poet Tess Gallagher.
A Year of Last Things: From the Booker Prize-winning author of The English Patient
by Michael OndaatjeWith A Year of Last Things, acclaimed novelist Michael Ondaatje returns to poetry, looking back on a life of displacement and discovery'My life always stops for a new book by him' JHUMPA LAHIRI, author of The Namesake'Timeless... Remarkable, incomparable' TERRANCE HAYES, author of So to SpeakBorn in Sri Lanka during the Second World War, Ondaatje was sent as a child to school in London, and later moved to Canada. While he has lived there since, these poems reflect the life of a writer, traveller and watcher of the world – describing himself as a 'mongrel', someone born out of diverse cultures.Here, rediscovering the influence of every border crossed, he moves back and forth in time, from a childhood in Sri Lanka to Molière’s chair during his last stage performance, from icons in Bulgarian churches to the Californian coast and loved Canadian rivers, merging memory with the present, looking back on a life of displacement and discovery, love and loss. As he writes in the opening poem:Reading the lines he loveshe slips them into a pocket,wishes to die with his clothesfull of torn-free stanzasand the telephone numbersof his children in far citiesPoetry – where language is made to work hardest and burns with a gem-like flame - is what Ondaatje has returned to in this intimate history.
Dafydd ap Gwilym (Llên y LLenor)
by R. Geraint GruffyddA critical study of the life and work of Dafydd ap Gwilym, a seminal 14th-century Welsh poet.
Derek Walcott's Encounter with Homer: Landscape, History, and Poetic Voice in Omeros (Classical Presences)
by Rachel D. FriedmanDerek Walcott's Encounter with Homer puts Derek Walcott's epic poem Omeros in conversation with Homer, especially the Odyssey, to show how reading them against each other changes our understanding of the poems of both poets. It explores Walcott's conscious use of the Odyssey and the Homeric persona of Omeros to explore his own deepening relationship with his craft and his identity as a Caribbean poet. Walcott's ability to serve as the vessel of history for his people and their landscapes rests on his transformation into (and self-perception as) Homer's contemporary and equal. Central to the project of Omeros is thus an account of his shift from a diachronic to synchronic relationship with Homer: over the course of the poem his poetic persona, the "Poet", and Homer come to occupy the same temporality and creative space. By locating the poems of Walcott and Homer in a zone of vibrant and unexpected encounter, Rachel Friedman demonstrates how they can be seen as mutually informing texts, each made richer in the presence of the other. The argument follows two intertwined thematic threads. The first focuses on the poems' landscapes and seascapes and the ways in which Omeros reworks the Odyssey's affective geography. While the Odyssey represents the sea as a dangerous space and valorizes life on land, Walcott reverses this trajectory from sea to land, bearing witness to the painful histories carried in the St Lucian soil and relocating homecoming to the space of the Caribbean Sea, a space which accommodates diasporic histories and the imagining of fluid forms of emplacement. The second thread focuses on Walcott's poetic persona: his journey in and out of the poem and his positioning of himself as a "tribal poet" like Homer. Central to the project of Omeros is the Poet's account of the processes by which he becomes the poet who can adequately give voice to the histories of his people and the archipelago they inhabit.
Derek Walcott's Encounter with Homer: Landscape, History, and Poetic Voice in Omeros (Classical Presences)
by Rachel D. FriedmanDerek Walcott's Encounter with Homer puts Derek Walcott's epic poem Omeros in conversation with Homer, especially the Odyssey, to show how reading them against each other changes our understanding of the poems of both poets. It explores Walcott's conscious use of the Odyssey and the Homeric persona of Omeros to explore his own deepening relationship with his craft and his identity as a Caribbean poet. Walcott's ability to serve as the vessel of history for his people and their landscapes rests on his transformation into (and self-perception as) Homer's contemporary and equal. Central to the project of Omeros is thus an account of his shift from a diachronic to synchronic relationship with Homer: over the course of the poem his poetic persona, the "Poet", and Homer come to occupy the same temporality and creative space. By locating the poems of Walcott and Homer in a zone of vibrant and unexpected encounter, Rachel Friedman demonstrates how they can be seen as mutually informing texts, each made richer in the presence of the other. The argument follows two intertwined thematic threads. The first focuses on the poems' landscapes and seascapes and the ways in which Omeros reworks the Odyssey's affective geography. While the Odyssey represents the sea as a dangerous space and valorizes life on land, Walcott reverses this trajectory from sea to land, bearing witness to the painful histories carried in the St Lucian soil and relocating homecoming to the space of the Caribbean Sea, a space which accommodates diasporic histories and the imagining of fluid forms of emplacement. The second thread focuses on Walcott's poetic persona: his journey in and out of the poem and his positioning of himself as a "tribal poet" like Homer. Central to the project of Omeros is the Poet's account of the processes by which he becomes the poet who can adequately give voice to the histories of his people and the archipelago they inhabit.
The Flame: Poems Notebooks Lyrics Drawings
by Leonard CohenTHE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER WINNER OF THE BOOKS ARE MY BAG READERS AWARD FOR POETRY The Flame is the final work from Leonard Cohen, the revered poet and musician whose fans span generations and whose work is celebrated throughout the world. Featuring poems, excerpts from his private notebooks, lyrics, and hand-drawn self-portraits, The Flame offers an intimate look inside the life and mind of a singular artist. A reckoning with a life lived deeply and passionately, with wit and panache, this collection is a valedictory work.
Starry Night, Blurry Dreams: Visual poetry from the iconic Sally Rooney illustrator
by Henn Kimwelcome to the beautiful universe of Henn Kim who are youwhen you're alone Starry Night, Blurry Dreams is a collection of visual poetry about loneliness, love and existing in our world.a heavy heart is hard to carryhold onWhen words aren't enough to describe our emotions, this book will offer comfort, joy and a friend in the dark. we all have our own beautiful universe 'An intoxicating mix of familiarity and surreality' - Creative Review
Spaced Out: Space poems chosen by Brian Moses and James Carter (Bloomsbury Revelations Ser.)
by James Carter Brian MosesBlast off into space and explore the galaxies with a constellation of illustrated poems about the sun, moon and stars, black holes and worm holes, asteroids and meteorites, and even weird alien life forms. From shape poems and free verse to rhymes, kennings and haikus, Spaced Out will take you on an intergalactic adventure. Join Brian Moses and James Carter and a wealth of new and established poets to discover your inner space cadet!This starry collection is the perfect way to get children interested in poetry.
The Home Child: from the Forward Prize-winning author of Black Country
by Liz Berry*WINNER OF THE WRITERS' PRIZE - BOOK OF THE YEAR*Inspired by a true story, The Home Child is a beautiful novel-in-verse about a child far from home‘Ground-breaking’ Benjamin Zephaniah * ‘Beautifully crafted’ Guardian * ‘Extraordinary’ Hannah LoweIn 1908, Eliza Showell, twelve years old and newly orphaned, boards a ship that will carry her from the slums of the Black Country to rural Nova Scotia. She will never return or see her family again.With nothing to call her own, the wild beauty of her surroundings is the only solace Eliza has – until another Home Child, a boy, arrives at the farm and changes everything.Inspired by the true story of Liz Berry’s great aunt, this spellbinding novel in verse is an exquisite portrait of a girl far from home.‘One of the outstanding books of this year. Although this is a historical tale its resonance is timeless’ Sunday Times‘Deeply moving. A graceful, delicate book, stunning in its emotional depth... I know I'll return to it many times in the future’ Megan Hunter, author of The End We Start From
Ten Green Bottoms: A laugh-out-loud rhyming counting book
by Barry TimmsCount down from ten with the cheeky aliens and do your 'sums with bums' in Ten Green Bottoms – a hilarious storybook for preschoolers, which is a twist on the classic nursery rhyme Ten Green Bottles. Join the green-bottomed aliens and their ‘wind-powered' rocket as they cause all kinds of mischief on Earth. Packed full of silly humour and with lots to spot in busy scenes, this riotous rhyming story by Barry Timms and Mike Byrne is perfect for reading aloud and sharing.With a surprise gatefold ending, a number line to count up to ten and back down again plus a page of simple adding up, first maths skills have never been so much fun!
The Magic Words
by Joseph FasanoDiscover the joy of expressing what’s inside you, with fill-in-the-blank poems that are sparking a creative movement.We all have stories inside us, whether or not we consider ourselves ‘creative’. And with these 50 simple fill-in-the-blank poems, anyone can write poetry, whatever age or ability. By adding just a few words of your own, you create something beautiful and wholly new that comes from within.Discover the magic of putting your feelings into words and be inspired by sample poems submitted by people of all ages and walks of life. Exploring themes like friendship, love, grief, gratitude, and hope, these inclusive, accessible, and deceptively simple poems express powerful emotional truths, written by you.Discover the joy of expressing what’s inside you, with fill-in-the-blank poems that are sparking a creative movement
The Penguin Book of Greek and Latin Lyric Verse
by Professor Glenn W. Most'Inspired and enlightening ... here is a work of staggering ambition, exceptional accomplishment, and surprisingly pleasant reading ... an excellent gift for anyone interested in classical literature' A. E. Stallings, Telegraph'An extraordinary feat ... Over and over, I was impressed both by Childers's technical abilities and his vivid way of evoking the multiple voices in this rich tradition' Emily Wilson, translator of the Odyssey and the Iliad'An extraordinary achievement, in scope, scale and skill' Richard Jenkyns, author of Classical LiteratureThe poems in this lively, wide-ranging and richly enjoyable anthology are the work of priestesses and warriors; of philosophers and statesmen; of teenage girls, concerned for their birthday celebrations; of drunkards and brawlers; of grumpy old men, and chic young things. Their authors write – or sing – about hopes, fears, loves, losses, triumphs and humiliations. Every one of them lived and died between 1,900 and 2,800 years ago.The Penguin Book of Greek and Latin Lyric Verse is a volume without precedent. It brings together the best of two traditions normally treated in isolation, and in doing so tells a captivating story about how literature and book-culture emerged from an oral society in which memory and learning were transmitted through song. The classical vision of lyric poetry as understood by the greatest ancient poets – Sappho and Horace, Bacchylides and Catullus – mingles and interacts with our expansive modern vision of the lyric as the brief, personal, emotional poetry of a human soul laid bare.Anyone looking for a picture of what ancient poets were up to when they were simply singing to the gods, or to their friends, or otherwise opening little verbal windows into their life and times can find it here. It is a volume full of fire and life: an undertaking of astonishing reach, and an accomplishment magisterial in its scope.
What W. H. Auden Can Do for You (Writers on Writers #5)
by Alexander McCall SmithBestselling novelist Alexander McCall Smith's charming account of how the poet W. H. Auden has helped guide his life—and how he might guide yours, tooWhen facing a moral dilemma, Isabel Dalhousie—Edinburgh philosopher, amateur detective, and title character of a series of novels by best-selling author Alexander McCall Smith—often refers to the great twentieth-century poet W. H. Auden. This is no accident: McCall Smith has long been fascinated by Auden. Indeed, the novelist, best known for his No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series, calls the poet not only the greatest literary discovery of his life but also the best of guides on how to live. In this book, McCall Smith has written a charming personal account about what Auden has done for him—and what he just might do for you.Part self-portrait, part literary appreciation, the book tells how McCall Smith first came across the poet's work in the 1970s, while teaching law in Belfast, a violently divided city where Auden's "September 1, 1939," a poem about the outbreak of World War II, strongly resonated. McCall Smith goes on to reveal how his life has related to and been inspired by other Auden poems ever since. For example, he describes how he has found an invaluable reflection on life's transience in "As I Walked Out One Evening," while "The More Loving One" has provided an instructive meditation on unrequited love. McCall Smith shows how Auden can speak to us throughout life, suggesting how, despite difficulties and change, we can celebrate understanding, acceptance, and love for others.An enchanting story about how art can help us live, this book will appeal to McCall Smith's fans and anyone curious about Auden.
Subjecting Verses: Latin Love Elegy and the Emergence of the Real
by Paul Allen MillerThe elegy flared into existence, commanded the cultural stage for several decades, then went extinct. This book accounts for the swift rise and sudden decline of a genre whose life span was incredibly brief relative to its impact. Examining every major poet from Catullus to Ovid, Subjecting Verses presents the first comprehensive history of Latin erotic elegy since Georg Luck's. Paul Allen Miller harmoniously weds close readings of the poetry with insights from theoreticians as diverse as Jameson, Foucault, Lacan, and Zizek. In welcome contrast to previous, thematic studies of elegy--efforts that have become bogged down in determining whether particular themes and poets were pro- or anti-Augustan--Miller offers a new, "symptomatic" history. He asks two obvious but rarely posed questions: what historical conditions were necessary to produce elegy, and what provoked its decline? Ultimately, he argues that elegiac poetry arose from a fundamental split in the nature of subjectivity that occurred in the late first century--a split symptomatic of the historical changes taking place at the time. Subjecting Verses is a major interpretive feat whose influence will reach across classics and literary studies. Linking the rise of elegy with changes in how Romans imagined themselves within a rapidly changing society, it offers a new model of literary theory that neither reduces the poems to a reflection of their context nor examines them in a vacuum.