Other books that might interest you

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  The Poetry of Aphra Behn

  Aphra Behn

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  Aphra Behn was a prolific and well-established poet and playwright but facts about her life remain scant and difficult to confirm. What can safely be said is that Aphra Behn is regarded as a key English playwright and a major figure in Restoration theatre.  Her poetry is now far more appreciated and seen as a breakthrough for women of the 17th Century and beyond.  
   
  Aphra was baptised on 14th December 1640 and grew up with the gathering tensions leading to the English Civil War, a time of much division and difficulty as the King, Parliament, and their respective forces, came closer and then finally into open conflict. 
   
  By 1664 her marriage was over, less than a year after it began. She now used Mrs Behn as her professional name and moved towards pursuing a more sustainable and substantial career, working for the King's Company and the Duke's Company players as a scribe. Her first play ‘The Forc’d Marriage’, was staged in 1670, and thereafter many followed, including her later comic works, which were more commercially successful.  She wrote 19 plays in all and contributed to many others as well as several works of prose. 
   
  Along with her literary career there are claims she was a spy, that she travelled abroad, possibly as far as Surinam.  She also claimed to have met a slave leader in Africa and based her story ‘Oroonoko’ on his life.  Other accounts suggest that during her life she was also known as Ann Behn, Agent One-Sixty and Astrea. Her financial troubles seem to have also incurred her a brief stay in a debtors' prison. Whatever the truth, both her life and work seem rich, textured and full of adventure. 
   
  From the mid 1680’s Aphra’s health began to decline.  This was exacerbated by her continual state of debt and descent into poverty although she was often fond of saying that she had led a ‘life dedicated to pleasure and poetry.’ 
    
  Aphra Behn died on 16th April 1689. She is buried in the East Cloister of Westminster Abbey and the inscription on her tombstone reads: "Here lies a Proof that Wit can never be Defence enough against Mortality."  
  1 - The Poetry of Aphra Behn - An Introduction 
  2 - The Disappointment by Aphra Behn 
  3 - On a Juniper Tree, Cut Down to Make Busks by Aphra Behn 
  4 - The Willing Mistress by Aphra Behn 
  5 - To Lysander by Aphra Behn 
  6 - Love Armed by Aphra Behn 
  7 - On Desire by Aphra Behn 
  8 - The Counsel by Aphra Behn 
  9 - Love's Witness by Aphra Behn 
  10 - The Invitation by Aphra Behn 
  11 - To Mrs B by Aphra Behn 
  12 - On Her Loving Two Equally by Aphra Behn 
  13 - The Dream by Aphra Behn 
  14 - Song by Aphra Behn 
  15 - A Ballad on Mr J H to Amoret, Asking Why I Was So Sad by Aphra Behn 
  16 - The Return by Aphra Behn 
  17 - Oh How the Hand the Lover Ought to Prize by Aphra Behn 
  18 - The Dog in the Manger by Aphra Behn 
  19 - Angellica's Lament by Aphra Behn 
  20 - A Congratulatory Poem by Aphra Behn 
  21 - A Letter to a Brother of the Pen in Tribulation by Aphra Behn 
  22 - Epitaph on the Tombstone of a Child, the Last of Seven That Died Before by Aphra Behn 
  23 - A Thousand Martyrs aka The Libertine by Aphra Behn 
  24 - On the Death of the Late Earl of Rochester by Aphra Behn

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  Fables for the Frivolous

  Guy Wetmore Carryl

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  Come and experience this delightfully humorous collection of satirical fables that playfully subvert traditional moral lessons, entitled "Fables for the Frivolous" by Guy Wetmore Carryl. Each fable presents a witty and whimsical tale featuring talking animals, mythical creatures, and foolish humans, all navigating absurd situations with clever wordplay and unexpected twists. If you or your child (but especially you) need a collection of stories that poke fun at human foibles and societal conventions while offering a lighthearted perspective on life's absurdities, then this is the book for you!

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  ballast

  Quenton Baker

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  A poetic sequence using the 1841 slave revolt aboard the brig Creole as a lens through which to view the vitality of Black lives and the afterlife of slavery.In 1841, the only successful, large-scale revolt of American-born enslaved people erupted on the ship Creole. 135 people escaped chattel slavery that day. The event was recounted in US Senate documents, including letters exchanged between US and British consulates in The Bahamas and depositions from the white crew on the ship. There is no known record or testimony from the 135 people who escaped. Their story has been lost to time and indifference. Quenton Baker’s ballast is an attempt at incomplete redress.With imagination, deep empathy, and skilled and compelling lyricism, Baker took a black marker to those Senate documents and culled a poetic recount of the Creole revolt. Layers of ink connect readers to Baker’s poetic process: (re)phrasing the narrative of the state through a dexterous process of hands-on redactions.ballast is a relentless, wrenching, and gorgeously written book, a defiant reclamation of one of the most important but overlooked events in US history, and an essential contribution to contemporary poetry.

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  Girl from the North Country (NHB...

  Conor McPherson, Bob Dylan

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  Duluth, Minnesota. 1934. A community living on a knife-edge. Lost and lonely people huddle together in the local guesthouse.
  The owner, Nick, owes more money than he can ever repay, his wife Elizabeth is losing her mind and their daughter Marianne is carrying a child no one will account for.
  So, when a preacher selling bibles and a boxer looking for a comeback turn up in the middle of the night, things spiral beyond the point of no return...
  In Girl from the North Country, Conor McPherson beautifully weaves the iconic songbook of Bob Dylan into a show full of hope, heartbreak and soul. It premiered at The Old Vic, London, in July 2017, in a production directed by Conor McPherson.

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  As You Like It

  William Shakespeare, Edith Nesbit

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  As You Like It follows its heroine, Rosalind, as she flees persecution in her uncle's court, accompanied by her cousin Celia to find safety and, eventually, love in the Forest of Arden. 
  This edition is an adaptation of Shakespeare's eponymous comedy, narrated in plain modern English, capturing the very essence and key elements of the original Shakespeare's drama. Read in English, unabridged.

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  The Cow

  Sophia Behal

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  This title is part of an educational poetry series  -Farm Animals- and can be enjoyed by kids and grownups. Kids will meet the cow on the fram and throughout the narration they will learn about the farm animal cow in a playful way. 
  This is a special sound-production with animal farm sounds and music by www.PoetsUnplugged.com, your free poetry podcast.

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