Poetry

From the second decade of his twenty years as literary editor of Quadrant, Les Murray here presents a selection of the best verse he published between 2001 and 2010. It is a prodigious body of work: 487 poems by 169 authors.

"For many years it was assumed that poetry came from England. Research now clearly demonstrates, however, that a great many of the world's most famous poets were actually Australians." Possibly the most important anthology ever published. The definitive collection featuring key works by such famous Australian poets as Gavin M... read more

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In The Best Australian Poems 2012, the illustrious poet John Tranter selects the most exceptional Australian poetry of the past year. Tranter casts a discerning eye over the "fragments of dream-work" that reside in poems to create a collection of exquisite beauty and wonder, featuring renowned poets alongside new voices. Prev... read more

Taller When Prone is Les Murray's first volume of new poems since 2006's The Biplane Houses. With characteristic grace and dexterity, these poems combine a mastery of form with a matchless ear for the Australian vernacular. Many evoke rural life - its rhythms and rituals, the natural world, the landscape and the people who have shaped it.

The collection exhibits both Murray's unfailing grace as a writer and his ability to write in any voice, style and genre. The suite of works include, story poems, word-plays, history to myth-making and more. The subjects range from Asperger's Syndrome to Germaine Greer to Japanese sword blades.

The first full collection of the work of one of Australia's most prominent 20th-century poets. Since the publication of her first book in 1944, Rosemary Dobson has built a reputation as one of Australia's most important poets. This volume collects and celebrates the work of her long and distinguished career, bringing together... read more

In this daring new collection, Australia's preeminent environmental poet confronts the legacy of Thoreau's Walden. With Walden as his inspiration, John Kinsella moved with his family back to rural Australia, where he wrote the poems in this original collection exploring the nature of our responsibility and connection to the l... read more

My Brother's Book is Maurice Sendak's last complete work and one that he considered the most important. A moving homage to his brother, Jack, in which Sendak's poignant verse is paired with exquisite artwork. Fifty years after the Caldecott Award-winning Where the Wild Things Are was published, comes Maurice Sendak's homage t... read more

Leonard Cohen made his name as a poet before he came to worldwide attention as a singer and songwriter. Book of Longing was twenty years in the making and written in Montreal, Mumbai and during his retreat in Mt Baldy. These poems show the full range of one of the most influential and enigmatic writers of his generation.

Poetry, we are often told these days, is obsolete. Yet there are two situations in particular that awaken the dormant yearning for 'memorable speech', as one popular definition of poetry describes it. One is a wedding and the other is a funeral. This collection, edited by acclaimed poet Jamie Grant, provides the words to mark... read more

Robert Browning (1812-1889) represents the intellectual and argumentative strand in English poetry in contrast to the more ornate style of Spenser and Tennyson. His poetry demonstrates how a poet must be a sharp perceptive observer of the complexity of the human condition. Perhaps his most moving poetry was written to express... read more

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An exciting new collection from one of Australia's most daring poets. The world tomorrow is haunted only by what doesn't happen now. A new volume from Cronin is much-anticipated and The World Last Night is rich, polished and delightful. It has a confidence and grace about it and moves from wit to whimsy, encompassing profundi... read more

This collection contains the poetic works of Walt Whitman. These poems reflect the vitality of a new nation and the vastness of its lands. They combine autobiographical, sociological and religious themes but did not conform to previous genres.

William Blake was an engraver, painter and visionary mystic as well as one of the most revolutionary poets. This volume contains many of his writings, including:

"I feel that I have spent half my career with one or another Pelican Shakespeare in my back pocket. Convenience, however, is the least important aspect of the new Pelican Shakespeare series. Here is an elegant and clear text for either the study or the rehearsal room, notes where you need them and the distinguished scholarshi... read more

Fried's poetry holds some of the most tender lines of poetry in any language. The universal theme of humanity and the various issues that perplex the human race are central to the reading of his poetry. A stoic who could find humour and an optimistic message in every aspect of human life, Fried's depth of vision and humility ... read more

In order to rescue his beloved Lyudmila, who has been abducted by the evil wizard Chernomor, the warrior Ruslan faces an epic and perilous quest, encoutering a multitude of fantastic and terrifying characters along the way. The basis for Glinka's famous opera of the same name, Ruslan and Lyudmila - Pushkin's second longest p... read more

Throughout the centuries, poets have been inspired by mothers - their joys and sorrows, their loyalty and love, and the many trials and triumphs they experience as they watch their children grow. This exquisitely illustrated anthology contains inspiring and moving poetry for mothers by some of the best-loved writers in the En... read more

As a young man, Proust wrote both poetry and prose. Even after he embarked on his masterful "In Search of Lost Time" at the age of thirty-eight, he never stopped writing poetry. His verse is often playful, filled with affection and satire, and is peppered with witty barbs at friends and people in his social circle of aristocr... read more