T. S. Eliot

Four Elizabethan dramatists -- Christopher Marlowe -- Shakespeare and the stoicism of Seneca -- Hamlet -- Ben Jonson -- Thomas Middleton -- Thomas Heywood -- Cyril Tourneur -- John Ford -- Philip Massinger -- John Marston

This omnibus collection includes all of the author' s early poetry as well as the Four Quartets, Old Possum' s Book of Practical Cats, and the plays Murder in the Cathedral, The Family Reunion, and The Cocktail Party.

This is a unique celebration of that most beautiful and self-possessed of creatures--the cat. More than 50 poems are included, reflecting every feline mood: the comic, the aristocratic, the lazy, the cunning, the fierce, the inscrutable. Lovers of cats and lovers of poetry will be delighted by the wide-ranging nature of the collection by poets such as T.S. Elliot, Ted Hughes, W.B. Yeats, William Wordsworth, Edward Lear and many others. One of the most attractive features of the book is the choice of pictures. A stunning selection of drawings and paintings by such artists and illustrators as Renoir, Manet, Picasso, Hogarth, Cruikshank and Lear add to the charm of the verse, making this a book to be treasured by cat lovers everywhere.

"With his wit, eloquence and shrewd perception of contemporary morals, Samuel Johnson was the most versatile of Augustan writers. His dictionary, dramas and poetry established his reputation, but it was the essays published in The Rambler, The Adventurer and The Idler that demonstrated the range of his talent. Tackling ethical questions such as the importance of self-knowledge, awareness of mortality, the role of the novel, and, in a lighter vein, marriage, sleep and deceit, these brilliant and thought-provoking essays are a mirror of the time in which they were written and a testament to Johnson's stature as the leading man of letters of his age." "This new edition contains a broad selection of essays presenting both the forcefully argued moral pieces of Johnson's middle years and the more light-hearted essays of his later work. The introduction places the works in their historical and literary context, and there is also a chronology of Johnson's life and times."--Jacket.

A critical study which examines the structure and meaning of Eliot's major works and includes numerous quotations from his poems and essays.

A dramatization in free verse and with features derived from ancient and medieval theatre of the killing of Thomas a Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury under King Henry II. Eliot used the device of a chorus, an ancient Greek invention, to express certain concerns and observations, and the killers take their turn to justify their action. When I read this play as a grammar school student in England, I was struck by the way the violence echoed the rise of fascism in Europe when the play was being written. My English master was somewhat mocking in class regarding my views, but later as a college student I read Eliot's own words confirming my experience.

In this essay, Mr. Eliot examines different uses of the word 'culture' and discusses the social, regional and religious conditions which can provide a suitable environment for the development of this particular aspect of civilisation. 'Deserves the serious attention of every readers. ... This is a book notable not only for its sanity but for its deep and sincere feeling. It should be widely read and discussed.' [Books of the Month] From inside title of Faber paper-covered 50p edition with a new introduction.