Frank Kermode

King Lear by William Shakespeare On Sitting Down to Read King Lear Once Again by John Keats Student Matinee, Stratford by Margaret Stinson Caporushes by Flora Annie Steel King Lear in Respite Care by Margaret Atwood Nothing Shall Come of Nothing by Mairi MacInnes Wise Enough to Play the Fool by Isaac Asimov Send in the Clowns by Goenawan Mohamad Refrain by Mary Jo Salter Goneril by Karel Capek I Dream of Lear by Jerry W, Ward, Jr, The Blind lxading the Blind by Lisel Mueller A Dog, a Horse, a Rat by A.S. Byatt The Happy Ending Kmg Lear by Nahum Tate Why Lear Must Die by Victor Hugo Cordelia by Anna Jameson Calm After Storm by Frank Yerby Why King Lear Is the Cruellest Play by Frank Kermode

The enthusiastic reception currently being given to the writings of the English mystic is accounted for in these essays outlining the scope and beauty of Donne's poetry.

More than 300 letters spanning five centuries chronicle the affairs of correspondents from Elizabeth I to Groucho Marx, from politicians to poets, and from the famous to the unknown. But whether the writers are educated or barely literate, whether their style is polished and witty or stumbling and artless, these letters display an immediacy and intimacy not shared by any other form of writing. Their subjects range from the mundane to the extraordinary, from gossip about the latest fashion to the horrors of a public execution, and from the tragic to the hilarious. Exchanges of letters between regular correspondents are included, where familiarity and an ongoing saga add to the fascination. Among the most moving letters are those from emigrants to America, Australia, and South Africa, describing the hardships they endured and the resolution with which they faced their new worlds. The editors provide a context for the letters, and unobtrusive notes.

A fully-annotated, two-volume work which presents the major literary achievements of English writers from the medieval period to the twentieth century together with examples of art from each era.