Dalzell presents three of the major didactic poems in the classical canon: the De rerum natura of Lucretius, the Georgics of Virgil, and the Ars amatoria of Ovid, considering what tools are available for their understanding.

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The first selected poems from one of the most inventive poets writing today.

Poems of Awakening is an anthology in which poets speak about experiences of living joyfully in the moment and sensing themselves as part of what Walt Whitman calls a vast similitude which interlocks all". The book includes both ancient and modern works by Kabir, Hafiz, Shih-Te, Anna Swir, Walt Whitman, e.e. cummings, Wendell Berry, H.D., Mary Oliver, May Sarton, Li-Young Lee, Jane Hirshfield, Thich Nhat Hanh, Naomi Shihab Nye and many others.The sections of the book are organized to reflect a spiritual journey:I: My Body EffervescesII: A Deep QuietStillness and LightIII: Now I Become MyselfIV: Healing and RenewalV: May My Heart Always Be Open VI: How A Beautiful Day is SpentVII: The All-Surrounding GracePraise for Poems of Awakening: In todays world, we all need many sources of inspiration, and Betsy Smalls Poems of Awakening is a deep one. The poems, and the feelings they evoke, appeal to the best part of ourselves. Highly recommended for yoga practitioners and anyone who aspires to continue to live with an open, joyousheart in the midst of challenges. Judith Hanson Lasater, Ph.D, PT, yoga teacher since 1971 and author of eight books including Yogabody: Anatomy, Kinesiology"Poems of Awakening is a carefully chosen collection of inspiring poetry from all over the globe. These poemshelp me remember what is true and real."Danna Faulds, poet and dedicated practitioner of Kripalu Yoga, and author of four books of yoga poetry: Go In and In; One Soul; Prayers to the Infinite; andFrom Root to Bloom As a Senior Kripalu Yoga Teacher I teach that one must first set the tone for each yoga class and findingjust the right reading or poem can at times be a task. Betsy Smalls, Poems of Awakening takes the stress out of finding the right poem for a class or any occasion. Her innovative ?Çÿlinked sets guide the reader to the sense of spirit they are seeking. This is a beautiful work compiled by an effervescent yogini. Maya Breuer, Director, Santosha School of Yoga, In the Kripalu Tradition As a practitioner and teacher of yoga and meditation, it is exactly the kind of book Ive been lookingfor. Leza Lowitz, author of Yoga Poems, Lines to Unfold By Betsy Smalls prodigious collection of poems is a treasure. . . The poems touch the heart, invite self-examinationand welcome profound emotional response. Betsy has organized her anthology in sets of poems that reflect her own spiritual journey, summoning the reader to travel a poetic path of deep awareness and personal growth. Peggy Osna Heller, MSW, Ph.D., poetry therapist and author of Word Arts Collage: A Poetry Therapy Memoir What a joy it is to find so many beautiful, moving, edifying poems in one place! Al Zolynas, poet and editor of The Poetry of Mens Lives Poems of Awakening is a gift to yourself and all those you love and serve. Amy Weintraub, authorof Yoga for Depression and founder of the LifeForce Yoga Healing Institute

The concept of Purgatory in Middle English didactic writings is explored through examination of visions of the afterlife, sermons, homiletic treatises, and lyrics. Purgatory has been the focus of much literary and historical attention since Jacques Le Goff's important Naissance du Purgatoire(1981), but this is the first book-length study to trace its development, reception and influence in Middle English literature.Following a survey of the doctrine of Purgatory and its cultural reception, the book explores the two major Middle English genres in which it is discussed, visions of the afterlife, and didactic andhomiletic treatises on death. In a detailed examination of these, along with sermons and lyrics, the author argues that such writings tend to be structured around the dualism of salvation and damnation, heaven and hell, with no intermediary alternative; at the same time the efficacy of intercession in the alleviation of suffering is repeatedly stressed. The book goes on to suggest that the influence of Purgatory was to provide a more pragmatic and optimistic attitude towards death and the afterlife, as reflected in such poems as the Vernon lyrics. TAKAMI MATSUDAis Associate Professor in the Department of English and American Literature at Keio University.

Poet, philosopher, and sensitive misanthrope, a spectacular fly in the ointment of the refined eleventh-century Andalusian-Jewish elite, Solomon Ibn Gabirol comes down to us as one of the most complicated intellectual figures in the history of post-biblical Judaism. Unlike his worldly predecessor Shmuel HaNagid, the first important poet of the period, Ibn Gabirol was a reclusive, mystically inclined figure whose modern-sounding medieval poems range from sublime descriptions of the heavenly spheres to poisonous jabs at court life and its pretenders. His verse, which demonstrates complete mastery of the classicizing avant-garde poetics of the day, grafted an Arabic aesthetic onto a biblical vocabulary and Jewish setting, taking Hebrew poetry to a level of metaphysical sophistication and devotional power it has not achieved since. Peter Cole's selection includes poems from nearly all of Ibn Gabirol's secular and liturgical lyric genres, as well as a complete translation of the poet's long masterwork, "Kingdom's Crown." Cole's rich, inventive introduction places the poetry in historical context and charts its influence through the centuries. Extensive annotations accompany the poems. This companion volume to Peter Cole's critically acclaimed Selected Poems of Shmuel HaNagid presents the first comprehensive selection of Ibn Gabirol's verse to be published in English and brings to life an astonishing body of poetry by one of the greatest Jewish writers of all time.