Poetry & Plays

Penguin Classics relaunch. Virgil's Aeneid, inspired by Homer and inspiration for Dante and Milton, is an immortal poem at the heart of Western life and culture. Virgil took as his...

Basho is one of the greatest Japanese poets and a master of haiku Basho, one of the greatest of Japanese poets and the master of haiku, was also a Buddhist...

W. F. Jackson Knight's prose translation captures the vitality and music of the original, while his introduction discusses Virgil's life and literary career, and his poetic style and vision. Aeneas...

Byron's exotic poem on the love life and adventures of Don Juan Byron's exuberant masterpiece tells of the adventures of Don Juan, beginning with his illicit love affair at the...

Only paperback edition of complete poems available Rossetti is unique among Victorian poets for the sheer range of her subject matter and the variety of her verse form. This collection...

Penguin Classics relaunch. The Faerie Queene was the first epic in English and one of the most influential poems in the language for later poets from Milton to Tennyson. Dedicating...

The greatest literary achievement of Greek civilization, now in a gorgeous new clothbound edition The Iliad is the first and the greatest literary achievement of Greek civilization - an epic...

Virgil's masterpiece and one of the greatest works in all of literature, now in a beautiful clothbound edition Virgil's Aeneid, inspired by Homer and the inspiration for Dante and Milton,...

Beautifully designed, clothbound edition Part of Penguin's beautiful hardback Clothbound Classics series, designed by the award-winning Coralie Bickford-Smith, these delectable and collectible editions are bound in high-quality colourful, tactile cloth...

Beautifully designed, clothbound edition Part of Penguin's beautiful hardback Clothbound Classics series, designed by the award-winning Coralie Bickford-Smith, these delectable and collectible editions are bound in high-quality colourful, tactile cloth...

Michael Hamburger's distinguished translation of a selection of poems by German poet Friedrich Holderlin Friedrich H lderlin (1770-1843) is now recognized as one of Europe's supreme poets. He first found...

In this unique selection popular giants of the Romantic movement - Goethe, Schiller, Schlegel, Heine - are joined by an array of poets who deserve a wider audience in English,...

"My all-time favorite collection of poems . . . Gibran's poetry always roots me in my humanity." --Rupi Kaur, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Milk and Honey, The...

From the award-winning translator ofThe IliadandThe Odysseycomes a brilliant new translation of Virgil's great epic Fleeing the ashes of Troy, Aeneas, Achilles' mighty foe in theIliad, begins an incredible journey...

A collection of the beautiful, surprising poems of Catullus. One of the most versatile of Roman poets, Catullus wrote verse of an almost unparalleled diversity and stylistic agility, from the...

The complete collection of the poetry of Walt Whitman, one of the most influential American voices In 1855 Walt Whitman published Leaves of Grass, the work which defined him as...

One of the great figures of English Romanticism, Coleridge's poems show diversity and imaginative genius One of the major figures of English Romanticism, Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834) created works of...

The great epic of Western literature, translated by the acclaimed classicist Robert Fagles A Penguin Classic Robert Fagles, winner of the PEN/Ralph Manheim Medal for Translation and a 1996 Academy...

Tossed Up by the Beak of a Cormorant is a poetic collaboration between award-winning poet Nandi Chinna and Aboriginal elder Professor Anne Poelina. It explores the politics and the culture...

A major new anthology of Percy Bysshe Shelley's work, edited by Jack Donovan and Cian Duffy Percy Bysshe Shelley was one of the leading English Romantics and is critically regarded...

Drawing together for the first time his poems, letters, essays, songs and photographs, this wide-ranging collection is the essential record of the Beat icon Visionary poet Allen Ginsberg was one...

Legends from the Ancient North brings together some of the magical texts that most influenced Tolkien 'They summoned their friends, readied their horses, and prepared their helmets, shields, swords, coats...

A wonderful edition of Herbert's poetry, edited by his acclaimed biographer John Drury, and including elegant new translations of his Latin verse by Victoria Moul George Herbert wrote, but never...

After INFERNO and PURGATORIO, here is the last cantica (part) of the Divine Comedy, in a new translation by acclaimed translator Robin Kirkpatrick Having plunged to the uttermost depths of...

A fine collection of the greatest French tales about the legend of Arthur Taking the legends surrounding King Arthur and weaving in new psychological elements of personal desire and courtly...

First time in Black Classics 'Nonsense is the breath of my nostrils', wrote Edward Lear (1812-88), and this collection demonstrates the wonderfully varied ways in which he pursued his philosophy...

One of the most interesting and important poets of the seventeenth century. Member of Parliament, tutor to Oliver Cromwell's ward, satirist and friend of John Milton, Andrew Marvell was one...

This is to be the first verse translation of Goethe's poetry in Penguin Classics This is to be the first verse translation of Goethe's poetry in penguin classics and replaces...

Penguin Classics relaunch Keats's first volume of poems, published in 1817, demonstrated both his belief in the consummate power of poetry and his liberal views. While he was criticized by...

Lyrical, heartbreaking and hopeful, the Peckham poet's debut collection exploring the lives of young Black boys, and the architecture that shapes them What is it like to grow up in...

Robin Kirkpatrick's superb translation of the most famous work of Italian literature, in a one-volume edition The Divine Comedy describes Dante's descent into Hell with Virgil as a guide; his...

"I am large, I contain multitudes" A Penguin Classic When Walt Whitman self-published his Leaves of Grass in July 1855, he altered the course of literary history. One of the...

Winner of the 2017 T. S. Eliot Prize Winner of the 2017 Felix Dennis Prize for Best First Collection A Guardian / Daily Telegraph Book of the Year PBS Summer...

The stunning new collection from prize-winning poet Eileen Chong - her most personal and accomplished work yet. Eileen Chong's luminous poetry examines the histories - personal, familial and cultural -...

An innovative collection of poetry and prose from a vibrant new Indigenous voice on the Australian literary scene. Winner of the 2022 Stella Prize. I told you this was a...

The greatest classic of Vietnamese literature in a stunning new verse translation. "This manuscript is ancient, priceless, bamboo-rolled, perfumed with musty spices. Sit comfortably by this good light, that you...

New translation of Dante's masterpiece by acclaimed Robin Kirkpatrick In Purgatorio Dante, having described his journey into Hell, narrates his ascent of Mount Purgatory with Virgil, as he encounters penitents...

A selection of Baudelaire's explicit and unsettling poems The poems of Charles Baudelaire are filled with explicit and unsettling imagery, depicting with intensity every day subjects ignored by French literary...

Ovid's poems on the experience of sexual desire This collection of Ovid's poems deals with the whole spectrum of sexual desire, ranging from deeply emotional declarations of eternal devotion to...

A new edition of Christina Rossetti's poetry This new selection of Rossetti's poems brings together works by one of the most significant nineteenth-century English poets. It includes an illuminating introduction,...

"I have come to have a feeling, almost a superstition, that it is a kind of obligation laid upon me to testify for Rudyard Kipling whenever the opportunity presents itself",...

Poems organised according to genre, to demonstrate the progress and variety Coleridge achieved Living in a revolutionary age, Coleridge's poetry was written in a spirit of moral and emotional inquiry...

The complete collection of Donne's poems, including his famous Holy Sonnets, 'The Flea' and 'The Sun Rising' No poet has been more wilfully contradictory than John Donne, whose works forge...

A beautiful new collection of poetry from one of Britain's best-loved poets From 'Adultery in Isolation' to 'After You. No, After You' to 'Seaside Staycation,' a new collection from one...

The landmark poetry collection that transformed 20th-century Arabic poetry, in a brilliant new translation by Kareem James Abu-Zeid and Ivan Eubanks Written in the early 1960s by Adonis, 'the most...

The most acclaimed volume of poetry by the legendary 'Black, lesbian, mother, warrior, poet' I have been woman for a long time beware my smile I am treacherous with old...

A new collection of Pushkin's great narrative and lyric verse, translated by Antony Wood WINNER OF THE READ RUSSIA PRIZE 2020 Alexander Pushkin established what we know as Russian literature....

The critically acclaimed exploration of mounting racial aggressions in 21st century daily life and in the media In this moving, critical and fiercely intelligent collection of prose poems, Claudia Rankine...