Poets and Playwrights
Carl SandburgISBN 1-58415-430-6 • 9781584154303List Price $37.10School/Library Price $25.95Available in JanuaryFrom humble beginnings in a small Midwestern town in 1878, Carl Sandburg grew to be an extraordinary man of letters. Sandburg was well loved for his poetry and biographies, but he was never an ivory tower intellectual, hidden away from the struggles and history of his country. Whether he was marching in Puerto Rico during the Spanish-American War or campaigning for Franklin Delano Roosevelt during World War II, Sandburg lived life fully, and preferably at the center of the action. By the time he died in 1967, Sandburg had written many books of poetry, a novel, a six-volume biography of Abraham Lincoln, children’s books, and many, many speeches. Through it all, and even when he was zestfully attacking his county’s political or religious leadership, Sandburg’s profound love for his country came through. He adored the United States, although he saw its complicated and violent history clearly, as perhaps no other leading writer has. The American people saw the truth and eloquence of his work and showered Sandburg with affection. |
Emily DickinsonISBN 1-58415-429-2 • 9781584154297List Price $37.10School/Library Price $25.95Available in JanuaryGrowing up in Amherst, Massachusetts, young, bright Emily Dickinson was known for her witty writing and excellent baking. As she grew older she wore only white, spent less time with others, and devoted hours to being alone in her bedroom and garden. At her little desk, Emily Dickinson wrote about many topics, including nature, love, and death. In her garden, she grew an amazing collection of flowers. She had a very strong bond with her family and a few people she considered friends, but many others were curious about the shy and talented poet. By the time her life was over, Emily Dickinson had written over 1,700 poems, a surprise even to those closest to her. To this day, Dickinson’s poetry is considered innovative and fascinating, and it is loved by people all over the world. Yet mysteries still remain. What inspired Emily to write? What made her become so private and retreat from the world? Dickinson scholars and fans continue to search for answers. |
Langston HughesISBN 1-58415-431-4 • 9781584154310List Price $37.10School/Library Price $25.95Available in JanuaryLangston Hughes was one of the leading voices in twentieth-century literature. As a writer, he took chances, not minding if what he had to say upset someone. His writing reflected not only his life, but life around him. Whether he attacked the discrimination aimed at African Americans or expounded on communist philosophy, his writing came from who he was. Growing up a lonely little boy, he longed for parents to support him and love him. Instead, they were always leaving him or asking him to be someone other than who he was. His grandmother taught him to be proud of being African American, and he carried this with him throughout his life. He felt disdain for those artists who he felt denied their race. Best known as a poet, Hughes also wrote short stories, novels, plays, lyrics, and nonfiction books for children. One of his favorite things to do was to write poetry that sounded like the blues and jazz music he loved so well. He became a leading voice in the Harlem Renaissance, a 1920s movement of great artistic achievement by African Americans, and remains an inspiration for poets and playwrights in the twenty-first century. |
Tennessee WilliamsISBN 1-58415-427-6 • 9781584154273List Price $37.10School/Library Price $25.95Available in JanuaryThe best of work of Tennessee Williams is both lyrical and brutal. His uncanny insight into individual failing and human frailty allowed him to create characters at once sympathetic and deeply disturbing. In his dramatic worlds, life rarely had happy endings; surviving to fight the next battle was victory enough. His own life mirrored the struggles he depicted in his work. Writing became his outlet and his refuge from bullying schoolmates, an alcoholic father, an overprotective mother, and his emotionally fragile sister, Rose. He wouldn’t openly acknowledge his homosexuality, which deeply informed his work, until well into his adult years. As tormented as he was gifted, neither fame nor success would ever completely chase away his personal demons. “I think writing is continually a pursuit of a very elusive quarry, and you never quite catch it,” he once said. Others would disagree. His willingness to expose, and even celebrate, the darkest corners of the soul infuses Williams’s plays with an emotional depth and clarity that continue to keep them relevant and relatable to readers and theatergoers. |
William ShakespeareISBN 1-58415-426-8 • 9781584154266List Price $37.10School/Library Price $25.95Available in JanuaryMany people regard William Shakespeare as the greatest writer of all time. Every year millions of people all over the world attend performances of his plays. Some of these plays have been made into movies, which attract even more people. His sonnets have wooed lovers for centuries. Nothing in Shakespeare’s early life hinted at how famous he would later become or how he developed his writing talent. He grew up in a small town, dropped out of school early, and went to work. He had to get married when he was just eighteen. He had three children by the time he was twenty-one. Yet within a decade he was one of England’s most successful playwrights. He wrote hit after hit after hit. Some were tragic and ended with corpses littering the stage. Others were comedies that wound up with happy couples getting married. They all expressed a wide variety of human feelings that are just as pertinent today as they were when Shakespeare wrote them. The universal emotions evoked by his work have guaranteed he would be “not of an age, but for all time.” |
Poets and Playwrights: Complete Set (5 titles)ISBN 9781584152842List Price $185.50School/Library Price $129.75 |
