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Poet Jamie Grant has scoured the bookshelves for 100 of the very best Australian poems. They range from the early nineteenth century of Francis McNamara and Charles Harpur, through the later years of CJ Dennis and Henry Lawson, right up to the present day of Gig Ryan, David Malouf, Stephen McInerney and Kate Jennings. The preoccupations of the different periods are given a full airing – convicts and stockriders, the challenges of drought and war, the rivalry between Melbourne and Sydney, the divide between the city and the bush, and the different approaches of the generations. Smaller issues also have an airing: love, barbecues, giraffes, sky-writing and pumpkins so big they don't seem real. This is a key anthology for understanding the Australian national character. Editor: Jamie Grant. Hardback. (224 pages)  Level: Gymnasiet etc.

A cheap volume but great poetry! Here are some of the most loved poems in the English language (dating from the Middle Ages to the 20th century), chosen not merely for their popularity, but for their literary quality as well. Editor: Philip Smith. (101 pages) Level: Gymnasiet etc.

Marvell: To His Coy Mistress
Wordsworth: I wandered Lonely as a Cloud
Shelley: Ode to the West Wind
Poe: The Raven
Tennyson: The Charge of the Light brigade
Dickinson: This Is My Letter to the World
Yeats: When You Are Old
Frost: The Road Not Taken
Thomas: Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night
... and many others

100 Scottish Poems brings together the best and best-loved of Scottish poetry. From anonymous medieval ballads to the work of Sir Walter Scott and Edwin Morgan. The cream of the nation's poetry is represented in this anthology. It includes the Top 20 of the nation's favourite poems, chosen by BBC Scotland listeners. Scotland's most famous poets are represented – Robert Burns, Hugh MacDiarmid, Sorley MacLean, Muriel Spark, Iain Crichton Smith, Liz Lochhead, plus many more. Editor: Stewart Conn. (176 pages) Level: Gymnasiet etc.

30% Discount until the 1st of September!

This three CD set includes twenty-eight poets from Gertrude Stein to Amiri Baraka. The 20th century was a time of enormous energy and variety in American poetry, embracing such famous names as T S Eliot, e e cummings, William Carlos Williams, Ezra Pound, Robinson Jeffers, Langston Hughes, Anne Sexton and Sylvia Plath. Each of the poets is heard reading from their own work. The recordings are mostly taken from previously unpublished BBC broadcasts. (Running time: 3 hours approx.)

The full list of poets is: Gertrude Stein, Robert Frost, Wallace Stevens, William Carlos Williams, Ezra Pound, Robinson Jeffers, TS Eliot, Conrad Aiken, Archibald MacLeish, EE Cummings, Langston Hughes, Ogden Nash, Theodore Roethke, Randall Jarrell, John Berryman, Robert Lowell, Robert Duncan, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Charles Bukowski, Allen Ginsberg, John Ashbery, Anne Sexton, Adrienne Rich, Gregory Corso, Sylvia Plath, Amiri Baraka.

Being Human is a world poetry anthology offering a broad, international selection of 'real poems for unreal times'. There are hundreds of thoughtful and passionate poems about living in the modern world; poems that touch the heart, stir the mind and fire the spirit; poems about being human, about love and loss, fear and longing, hurt and wonder. There are many great poems from the 20th century as well as many recent poems of imaginative power from the first decade of the 21st century. This book is also unusual in reflecting the concerns of readers from all walks of life. Editor: Neil Astley. (512 pages)
Level: Gymnasium etc.

This selection covers 55 years of Indian poetry in English. It is the first anthology to represent not just the major poets of the past half-century — but also the different kinds of poetry written by the great range of younger poets who live in many countries as well as in India. It is a groundbreaking global anthology of 70 poets writing in a common language responding to shared traditions, different cultures and contrasting lives in the changing modern world. The starting-point is Nissim Ezekiel who published his first collection in London in 1952. It pays homage to major influences, including Ezekiel, Dom Moraes and Arun Kolatkar, who died within months of each other in 2004. It rediscovers forgotten figures such as Lawrence Bantleman and Gopal Honnalgere, and it serves as an introduction to the poets of the future. The book also shows that many Indian poets were mining the rich vein of Indian English long before novelists like Rushdie and Upamanyu Chatterjee started using it in their fiction. While some of the poets may have little in common in terms of culture (a number of them have never lived in India), this anthology shows how they are all bound by the intimate histories of a shared English language. Editor: Jeet Thayil. (422 pages)
Level: Gymnasiet

30% Discount until the 1st of September!

This three CD compilation includes recordings of some of the greatest British poets of the 20th century. Thirty poets are included, each reading from their own work, often with their own spoken introductions. The selection includes historic recordings by Tennyson and Robert Browning; poets laureate John Masefield, Cecil Day Lewis, John Betjeman and Ted Hughes; unforgettable voices, such as Edith Sitwell and Dylan Thomas; and rare recordings by Philip Larkin and Edwin Morgan. The majority of these recordings are taken from BBC broadcasts and are published for the first time. (Running time: 3 hours approx.)

The full list of poets is: Alfred Tennyson, Robert Browning, Laurence Binyon, Walter de la Mare, John Masefield, Edith Sitwell, Hugh MacDiarmid, Robert Graves, David Jones, Basil Bunting, Stevie Smith, Cecil Day Lewis, John Betjeman, WH Auden, Louis MacNeice, Stephen Spender, Sorley MacLean, RS Thomas, George Barker, Dylan Thomas, David Gascoyne, John Heath-Stubbs, WS Graham, Edwin Morgan, George Mackay-Brown, Kingsley Amis, Philip Larkin, Ian Hamilton Finlay, Thom Gunn, Ted Hughes.

Classic American poetry read by Garrick Hagon, Lisa Ross and William Hootkins
Contents: The Author To Her Book; Upon A Spider Catching A Fly; Navajo Mountain Song; The Indian Student; The Wild Honeysuckle; The Star-Spangled Banner; The Prairies; The Snow-Storm; Telling The Bees; The Song Of Hiawatha From The Wooing - At The Doorway Of His Wigwam; My Lost Youth; A Dream Within A Dream; Annabel Lee; To Helen; The Raven; Old Ironsides; The Indians Retort; Sic Vita; Pray To What Earth Does This Sweet Cold Belong; The Battle Hymn Of The Republic; The Martyr; Out Of The Cradle Endlessly Rocking; Science And Poetry; Frankie And Johnny; An Upper Chamber In A Darkened House; A Narrow Fellow In The Grass; My Life Closed Twice Before Its Close; I Taste A Liquor Never Brewed; Because I Could Not Stop For Death; I Like To See It Lap The Miles; The Wind Begun To Rock The Grass; Bury Me In A Free Land; The Stirrup-Cup; The New Colossus; I Sometimes Think I'd Rather Crow; A Newspaper Is A Collection Of Half - Injustices; Do Not Weep, Maiden, For War Is Kind; Sympathy; A Lesson In A Picture; Miniver Cheevy; The Road Not Taken; Stopping By The Woods On A Snowy Evening; The Death Of The Hired Man; Meeting - House Hill; Chicago; They All Want To Play Hamlet; The Flower-Fed Buffaloes; The Emperor Of Ice-Cream; Peter Quince At The Clavier; Wild Peaches; Pretty Words; Hurt Hawks; Rendezvous; What My Lips Have Kissed, And Where, And Why; De Profundis; Resumee; General Review Of The Sex Situation; Anyone Lived In A Pretty How Town; Somewhere I Have Never Travelled, Gladly Beyond; American Names; Theme For English B; Trumpet Player: 52nd Street; You Bet Travel Is Broadening; September, The First Day Of School; How Poems Are Made — A Discredited View.

This could be the only poetry anthology you need for your teaching! Poet Laureate Andrew Motion brings together a wide range of poems, exemplifying his belief that, if we let it, poetry has a unique power to enrich our lives as it diversifies them. The poems are arranged in a series of ten themes: Self, Home, Town, Work, Land, Love, Travel, War, Belief and Space. Each section is distinct but seeks out resemblances and echoes elsewhere. From Wallace Stevens to Stevie Smith, Joseph Brodsky, to Jo Shapcott, Bob Dylan to Dylan Thomas, Ben Jonson to Benjamin Zephaniah, this anthology provides the perfect introduction for new students of English poetry and offers surprising connections and revelations to more experienced readers. Editor: Andrew Motion. (432 pages)
Level: Gymnasium etc.

Beat movement icon Allen Ginsberg broke boundaries with his fearless, pyrotechnic verse. This collection brings together the famous poems that made his name as a defining figure of the counterculture. They include the apocalyptic "Howl", which became the subject of an obscenity trial when it was first published in 1956; the moving lament for his dead mother, "Kaddish"; the searing indictment of his homeland, "America"; and the confessional "Mescaline". Dark, ecstatic and rhapsodic, they show why Ginsberg was one of the most influential poets of the twentieth century. Author: Allen Ginsberg. (128 pages)

Drama, set in 1950s San Francisco, based on the obscenity trial faced by Beat poet Allen Ginsberg following the publication of his poem 'Howl'. Psychedelic animation sequences illustrating the poem are interspersed with courtroom scenes in which the opposing lawyers battle over the slippery question of whether or not the poem has sufficient literary merit to redeem its profane content.

• Directed by: Rob Epstein
• Starring: James Franco, Todd Rotondi, Jon Prescott
• Running time: 85 minutes
• Widescreen
• Subtitle options: none
• Extras: Commentaries; Holy! Holy! Holy! The Making of Howl; Allen Ginsberg's reading of Howl" at the Knitting Factory etc.

Over 100 song lyrics by the legendary songwriter:
When his first album made him an unlikely star in the late 1960s, Leonard Cohen was hailed as the new poet of song. His melodies were hauntingly melodic but his lyrics were like no one else's — poignant, romantic, mystical and darkly comic. Already a poet and a novelist, Cohen had found another calling in song. The Songs of Leonard Cohen, Songs from a Room and Songs of Love and Hate were the titles of his first three albums. Eight more would follow over the next 40 years. In this collector's edition, can be found the lyrics to over 100 of those classic songs, many of them now recorded by new generations of singers that include U2, Nick Cave, Rufus Wainwright and Teddy Thompson. (176 pages)
Level: Gymnasiet from 1st year/Library/Depot

This unique package of book + MP3 CD provides a multi-media poetry experience created by the actor John Lithgow. Lithgow has compiled an collection of memorable poetry, accompanied by an MP3 CD with excellent readings. The wide variety of carefully selected verse in this book provides a fine introduction for students who are new to poetry.  Great poems are experienced in a fresh and vivid way. Lithgow offers an insightful and sometime poignant commentary on each selection. His essential criterion for inclusion was that “each poem's light shines more brightly when read aloud”. Blake, Emily Dickinson, Edgar Allen Poe, Marianne Moore and Dylan Thomas are just a few of the names featured on Lithgow's list. Editor: John Lithgow. Hardback. (278 pages)
Level: Gymnasium

In this Very Short Introduction, Michael Ferber explores Romanticism during the period of its incubation, birth, and growth, covering the years roughly from 1760 to 1860. This is the only introduction to Romanticism that incorporates not only the English but the Continental movements, and not only literature but music, art, religion, and philosophy. It sheds light on such subjects as the Sensibility movement, which preceded Romanticism; the rising prestige of the poet as inspired prophet; the suffering and neglect of the poet; the rather different figure of the poetess; Romanticism as a religious trend; Romantic philosophy and science; and Romantic responses to the French Revolution, the Orient, gypsies, and the condition of women. Ferber offers a definition and several general propositions about this movement, as well as a discussion of the word "Romantic" and where it came from.

New cheaper edition, now with audio CD:

The Great Modern Poets is a great introduction to the twentieth and twenty-first century poets of the English-speaking world and their best poetry. The work of each poet is accompanied by a concise text that provides thematic insight, critical observations, and a biographical/historical context for their work. A beautifully produced, large-format hardback with excellent typography. A resource for the teacher — and a source of inspiration that invites readers to dip into it and reacquaint themselves with the work of our finest poets. Glossary of poetry terms. Hardback. Editor: Michael Schmidt

Contents (book): Thomas Hardy – A. E. Housman – Rudyard Kipling – W. B. Yeats – Charlotte Mew – Robert Frost – Edward Thomas – Wallace Stevens – William Carlos Williams – D. H. Lawrence – Ezra Pound – Robinson Jeffers – Marianne Moore – T. S. Eliot – Hugh MacDiarmid – Edna St Vincent Millay – Wilfred Owen – E. E. Cummings – Robert Graves – Allen Tate – Laura Riding – Langston Hughes – W. H. Auden – A. D. Hope – Elizabeth Bishop – C. H. Sisson – Dylan Thomas – Robert Lowell – W. S. Graham – Keith Douglas – Edwin Morgan – Donald Davie – Philip Larkin – James K. Baxter – Allen Ginsberg – Frank O'Hara – John Ashbery – Thomas Kinsella – Thom Gunn – Adrienne Rich – Ted Hughes – Derek Walcott – Geoffey Hill – Sylvia Plath – Les Murray – Seamus Heaney – Eavan Boland – Jorie Graham – Andrew Motion – Carol Ann Duffy

CD: 80-minute audio CD with original recordings of 29 poems read by their authors (many taken from the book). It includes: W.B Yeats' The Lake Isle of Innisfree; Robert Frost's The Road Not Taken and Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening; Wallace Stevens' Not Ideas About the Thing But the Thing Itself; T.S. Eliot's The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock; John Betjeman's A Shropshire Lad and The Licorice Fields at Pontefract; W.H. Auden's The Shield of Achilles; Dylan Thomas' A Refusal to Mourn...; Ted Hughes' Thrushes; Sylvia Plath's Daddy; Allen Ginsburg's Howl.

Level: Gymnasiet/Library/Depot

Benjamin Zephaniah is a poet who won't stay silent, who doesn't pull any punches, who writes out a sense of urgency and a commitment to social justice. He opens this collection of poems with an outspoken comment on where he's coming from, setting his poetry against the political landscape of Britain. The poetry here addresses the struggles of black Britain more forcefuly than his previous books. Too Black, Too Strong includes poems written while working with Michael Mansfield QC on the Stephen Lawrence case and other high profile political trials.
“'These poems are about how I feel now ... The more I travel, the more I love Britain, and it is because I love the place that I fight for my rights here ... It is probably one of the only places that could take an angry, illiterate, uneducated, ex-hustler, rebellious Rastafarian and give him the opportunity to represent his country ... ”
“I live in two places, Britain and the world, and it is my duty to explore and express the state of justice in both of them...I want the "project" to work. The day will come when we move from the margins and come to the centre; I just want it to be today.”
A highly recommended collection for young people. (87 pages)
Level: C-A

LaVaughn is fifteen and life is getting complicated. Big questions separate her from her friends. Her mother is distracted by a new man. School could slip away from her so easily. When she hears that Jody is moving back into her housing project, she can hardly believe it. They were best friends when they were children, and now he's gorgeous. But why doesn't he return her affection? This book explores gender identity, class, religion, and love with penetrating intelligence. The literary style is superb — the book is written in crystal clear, free verse. Don't be put off by the choice of poetry above prose — one read of the first page will remove any doubts that this cannot be a gripping story. The poetic form and the first-person narrative allow thoughts to mingle with words and actions, so that readers constantly have emotional and physical images thrown at them that let in the questions, doubts and angst of a teenage girl. But make no mistake LaVaughn is a strong, attractive figure. Her optimism for even the most simple things, coupled with her touching honesty about her failings, is uplifting. She manages to live through being 15, having a mother, meeting the demands of school and juggling the opinions of friends — and still retain her happiness and sanity. Author: Virginia Euwer Wolff. (264 pages)
Level: C/B (man kan sagtens finde gode uddrag)

30% Discount until the 1st of September!