Poetry > S Poetry > R

Advantages: captures voices from the past.
Disadvantages: Kipling has a reputation for being racist.

Kipling has been much criticised for the racist and pro empire elements of his writing. Kipling was born in India in 1865 and later sent to England to be educated. he was stepped in the Empire and in the times, but was not a blind celbrant as some critics have suggested. The lines "East is east and West is West" are most often quoted to back up the theory that Kipling was racist, however it is worth noting that he goes on to point out that when two ...
...As a recorder of the time, Kipling is perhaps most famous for his backroom ballads: poetry using the voices and tales of the comman soldier which do refelct the racist attitudes of the time. He records the disasters, like a fatal attempt at kabul river where many men drowned in the ford, and is often surprisingly realistic. "God help them if they blunderd For their boots 'ud pull them under At the ford of kabul River in the dark" - long boots ... Read review

Advantages: A fascinating man and a simply great poet
Disadvantages: It's almost all love poetry. So if you don't like that...

Robert Graves was not a man to let the past tell its own story. The front of my rather decrepit Penguin edition of his autobiography - and possibly his most famous work - 'Goodbye to All That', describes him as 'the greatest love-poet in English since John Donne'. Praise indeed; and not given lightly. It is interesting to note, however, that Graves began his poetic life as a teenage soldier on the Western Front with his first book, 'Over The Brazier'. ...
...disapproved, on the grounds that it would not give a good impression. Presumably what they meant was that they did not want the Folks at Home to consider too deeply the number of 'schoolboy militants' currently fighting in France.) His war-poetry, it seems, has gone out of fashion, save one or two pieces written in retrospect, which are widely anthologised. But why is it that Graves is recognised almost entirely as a love-poet? Why, when he was a ... Read review

Advantages: Excellent, engaging story
Disadvantages: Sometimes challenging, hard to understand if you haven't read Jane Eyre

...read previously and loved), and Wide Sargasso Sea. I felt uneasy about "add ons" to books. For one thing, it was not written by Charlotte Bronte, so I felt this was just ripping off her idea to make money. How wrong I was. Despite being billed as a prequel to Jane Eyre, I would read Bronte's novel first as otherwise the events and characters in WSS may seem irrelevant and confusing. This book costs £5.99 - £8.99 depending on edition. PLOT The novel ...
...Creole girl - meaning that she is born in the Caribbean but is white. The first part describes Antoinette childhood and pre-Rochester years. Her family has fallen from great wealth and power as slave owners into poverty due to the emancipation of slaves. Her mother, Annette, remarries Mr Mason (thus changing Antoinette's name) but sadly is driven to madness when her ill son dies and her house is burned down. In the second part, reader, she marries ... Read review

Advantages: Most unusual poems at any time of the day
Disadvantages: none that i can think of...

...care for poetry should besiege the publisher for Sophie Hannah book..she is one of the brightest young female poet of the decade.... She writes witty, poignant poems about love and relationships.' The poems are high spirited and unusual..a sample... "Why does she take unnecessary trips? She lives just opposite a row of shops She went to Crewe to buy a bag of chips She went to Birmingham to buy lamb chops ................................... ...
...'The End of Love' The end of love should be a big event. It should involve the hiring of a hall. Why the hell not? It happens to us all. Why should it pass without acknowledgement? Quite original in context..Shrewd and accurate observer of the world around her and of her own like, she is often very funny....writes with generous wit... "My dentist knows I need another filling. My boss knows I work late. My cat knows that I'll share a turkey ... Read review

Advantages: Powerful and gripping storyline, Great contributions of all characters
Disadvantages: None that I have found

Written by Arthur Miller in the early 1950s during the time of the McCarthyism when the government blacklisted accused communists. Miller was also summoned in court and he wrote this play as a parable and links the Salem witch-hunt and the McCarthy trials which took place nearly 250 years apart. A very powerful play and an excellent one to study for GCSE English Literature for its revoloutionary work in the theatre and its portrayal of the human ...
...man's struggle to find and do what is right by him. With just 4 Acts and 5 important characters, this truly is a masterpiece. Proctor, a hard-working family man finds in the middle of lying and confessing to witchcraft, both of which go against his newly developed religious beliefs. ... Read review