Featuring work by James Fenton, Martha Gellhorn, Germaine Greer, John le Carre and many more, this book covers some of the signal events of our time: the fall of Saigon, the end of apartheid in South Africa and the aftermath of the American invasion of Iraq.

A wise, absorbing, and surprising introduction to poetry written in English, from one of England's leading poets

James Fenton is that rare scholar not ashamed to admit that he mostly reads for pleasure (Charles Simic, The New York Review of Books). In this eminently readable guide to his abiding passion, he has distilled the essense of a library's--and a lifetime's--worth of delight.

The pleasures of his own verse can be found in abundance here: economy, a natural ease, and most of all, surprise. What is English poetry? Fenton argues that it includes any recited words in English that marshall rhythm for their meaning--among them prisoners's work songs, Broadway show tunes, and the cries of street vendors captured in verse. From these beginnings, Fenton describes the rudiments of--and, most important, the inspiration for--the musical verse we find in books, and concludes with an illuminating discussion of operas and songs. Fenton illustrates his comments with verse from all over the English-speaking world.

Catholic in his taste, shrewd in his distinctions, and charmingly frank, Fenton is an ideal guide to everything to do with poetry, from the temperament of poets to their accomplishment, in all its variety. In all his writing, prose or verse, Fenton has always had the virtue of saying, in a way that seems effortless, precisely what lies at the heart of the matter. In this vein, An Introduction to English Poetry is one of his highest accomplishments.

James Fenton is the right man in the wrong place in dangerous times. This journalist, poet, and critic is almost always at the center of a revolution. Fenton was one of the last journalists in Saigon, and his reporting from the abandoned American embassy, where the looting had just begun, is unlike any Vietnam coverage you've ever read. Some people gave me suspicious looks; I was after all the only one there with a white face--so I began to do a little looting myself . . . .Two things I could not take were reproduction of an 1873 map of Hanoi and a framed quotation by Lawrence of Arabia, which read 'Better to let them do it imperfectly than do it perfectly yourself, for it is their country, their way, and your time is short.'

Reporting from war-ravaged Cambodia, Fenton lived for a while in a monastery, where the monks, certain he was a CIA agent, were fixated with his bout of constipation. In The Snap Revolution, Fenton chronicles Corazon Aquino's assumption of power in the Philippines, from a vantage point so close I could even tell you what perfume Imelda Marcos was wearing. Fenton's most recent posting is Korea, where he reports, in his inimitable fashion, on the recent riots and election in that complex country on the brink of civil convulsion. All the Wrong Places is a visceral and unforgettable view from the Pacific Rim.

An engaging mix of the serious and the playful, and Fenton writes with a lightness of touch perfectly suited to the subject. --Alexander Urquhart, The Times Literary Supplement

Forget structure. Forget trees, shrubs, and perennials. As James Fenton writes, This is not a book about huge projects. It is about thinking your way toward the essential flower garden, by the most traditional of routes: planting some seeds and seeing how they grow.

In this light hearted, instructive, original game of lists, Fenton selects one hundred plants he would choose to grow from seed. Flowers for color, size, and exotic interest; herbs and meadow flowers; climbing vines, tropical species--Fenton describes readily available varieties, and tells how to acquire and grow them.

Here is a happy, stylish, unpretentious, and thought-provoking gardening book that will beguile and inspire both novice and expert alike.

Listen to what they did.
Don't listen to what they said.
What was written in blood
Has been set up in lead.
--from Blood and Lead

The leading poet of his generation, James Fenton has over the course of his career built a body of work breathtaking in its range and sensibility. From the passionate political poems that launched him into fame to the intimate illuminations of love--and loss of love--in his later work, Fenton's poetry has always been marked by formal daring, wit, and an abiding empathy for the victims of war and political oppression. With selections from all of his published work since The Memory of War, the entire text of his libretto The Love Bomb, and new, previously uncollected poems, Selected Poems is an imaginative and formal tour de force.

Fenton's work is elegant, highly finished, reticent, witty. Disturbing and deeply affecting, Children in Exile remains an exhilarating and memorable performance.

Quite simply, Fenton's poems are frightening. - The New York Times Book Review

The Scottish Highlands have a strong appeal to the public imagination. Indeed, as a result of the writings of Sir Walter Scott, they are now symbolic of Scotland as a whole: a land of mountains, glens and lochs, of golden eagles and red deer; a land with a rich cultural history of clans and clanship, of kilts and castles, of crofts, crofting, Highland cows and sheep, of music and dance. But does this imagined landscape relate to the actuality? Is it in fact a wild landscape which has escaped the pressures of the modern world, or does such untrammelled wildness only reside in the mind?

The aim of this book is to answer this last question by taking an objective look at the history of the Highland landscape, how it has changed over the centuries and how it is still changing.It challenges the view that the Highlands are a landscape damaged by centuries of overgrazing and human exploitation. Instead it points out that the evidence suggests that the traditional unwooded Highland landscape of open hill and moor is one of the most natural remaining in northwest Europe, showing only minimal signs of human impact over the millennia; apart, that is, from the areas of human settlement.

It is not only reforesting and peatland restoration which is destroying the naturalness of the Highland landscape, but also the continuing encroachment of infrastructure, whether hill tracks, wind turbines, dams, phone masts, ski development, fences, and commercial forestry plantations. Why can we not just let the hills be? After all, this is how they were for thousands of years until landownership entered the Highlands following the Battle of Culloden.

Author hometown: Oban

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it.

This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.

Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

New volume in the Frick Diptych series focuses on a remarkable Renaissance lamp, pairing an essay by Frick director Ian Wardropper with a new poem by James Fenton.

The form of this extraordinary bronze lamp, the most elaborate of several produced by Riccio (Andrea Briosco), is based on a Roman sandal, and its surface is covered with intricate reliefs modelled with a goldsmith's refinement and crisp detail. The subjects evoke the populace of classical art and poetry, including a Nereid and Triton, Pan, harpies and innumerable putti, along with goats, musical instruments, shells, masks and garlands. Inspired by the Roman half-boot, the lamp is designed as a bizarre shoe balanced on a pyramidal base, and, as Ian Wardropper discusses in his essay, it would have provided its owner with much pleasure and intellectual stimulation. Early in its history, the lamp is known to have belonged to a series of distinguished Paduan collectors. Paired with Wardropper's essay is a beautiful poem by James Fenton.

This volume shares proven strategies for Academic English teaching, research, and development in challenging circumstances. Through original first-hand experiences from around the world, the collection reveals how educators in higher education have responded to the specific needs and challenges of teaching second language learners in turbulent times, as seen during the COVID-19 pandemic. Organised thematically, the book covers rapid responses to crises, adapting to teaching online, collaborations and online learning communities, and assessment practices. The volume provides original insights and practical suggestions for a range of practices across English for Academic and Specific Purposes that can address new and unfamiliar circumstances, both now and in future challenging times.

The collection includes a wealth of effective strategies, varied research methodologies, and resources for practice making it an invaluable reference for practitioners, students, and researchers in the field of academic English, ESL/EFL, and online language instruction.

This volume shares proven strategies for Academic English teaching, research, and development in challenging circumstances. Through original first-hand experiences from around the world, the collection reveals how educators in higher education have responded to the specific needs and challenges of teaching second language learners in turbulent times, as seen during the COVID-19 pandemic. Organised thematically, the book covers rapid responses to crises, adapting to teaching online, collaborations and online learning communities, and assessment practices. The volume provides original insights and practical suggestions for a range of practices across English for Academic and Specific Purposes that can address new and unfamiliar circumstances, both now and in future challenging times.

The collection includes a wealth of effective strategies, varied research methodologies, and resources for practice making it an invaluable reference for practitioners, students, and researchers in the field of academic English, ESL/EFL, and online language instruction.

James Fenton, born in 1931, grew up in north Antrim, in the adjoining townlands of Drumadarragh and Ballinaloob. Educated at Stranmillis College and Queen's University, Belfast, he spent his working life as a teacher and principal in Belfast, and now lives in Glengormley. He is the author of The Hamely Tongue: A personal record of Ulster-Scots in County Antrim (1995; new editions, 2000, 2007, 2014).

The Hamely Tongue gave us a comprehensive record of contemporary Ulster-Scots; now, in the poems and prose of On Slaimish, the writer's native language comes vividly alive. From this vantage point he stands, and takes his stand, 'On the hoovin hairt o Antrim'.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it.

This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.

Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it.

This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.

Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

This Is A New Release Of The Original 1884 Edition.

James Fenton (1820-1901) was born in Ireland and emigrated to Tasmania (then known as Van Diemen's Land) with his family in 1833. He became a pioneer settler in an area on the Forth River and published this history of the island in 1884. The book begins with the discovery of the island in 1642 and concludes with the deaths of some significant public figures in the colony in 1884. The establishment of the colony on the island, and the involvement of convicts in its building, is documented. A chapter on the native aborigines gives a fascinating insight into the attitudes of the colonising people, and a detailed account of the removal of the native Tasmanians to Flinders Island, in an effort to separate them from the colonists. The book also contains portraits of some aboriginal people, as well as a glossary of their language.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it.

This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.

Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

A History of Tasmania: From Its Discovery in 1642 to the Present Time is a comprehensive account of Tasmania's history, written by James Fenton. The book covers the island's discovery by Europeans in the 17th century, its colonization by the British in the 19th century, and its development into a modern state. Fenton explores the social, political, and economic changes that have shaped Tasmania over the centuries, including the impact of convict transportation, the struggle for independence, and the growth of the tourism industry. The book also examines the cultural and environmental aspects of Tasmania's history, including the role of indigenous peoples, the conservation movement, and the impact of industrialization. With its detailed research and engaging writing style, A History of Tasmania is an essential resource for anyone interested in the history of this fascinating island.This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the old original and may contain some imperfections such as library marks and notations. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions, that are true to their original work.

Sharp-eyed critiques and appreciations of the essential poets of our time. James Fenton is unique among contemporary writers in having achieved equal distinction as a poet and -- in his reportage and criticism -- as a master of trenchant prose. What is more, he has shown himself a devoted critic of both American and British modern poetry, an explainer of each tradition to the other and to itself. In these lectures, delivered at Oxford (where he succeeded Seamus Heaney as Professor of Poetry from 1994 to 1999), Fenton moves easily from Philip Larkin's laments for the British Empire, to Heaney's uneasy rebellion against it, to Robert Frost's celebrations of American conquest; from W. H. Auden on Shakespeare's homoeroticism to the vexed feminism of Elizabeth Bishop; from Wilfred Owen's juvenilia to Marianne Moore's youthful agitation for women's suffrage.In these lectures -- many of which appeared in The New York Review of Books -- Fenton makes sense of the last century in poetry, and explores its antecedents and its legacies, with the lucidity, wit, and gusto that have made his criticism famous.

A History of Tasmania: From Its Discovery in 1642 to the Present Time is a comprehensive account of the island's past written by James Fenton. The book begins with the arrival of Dutch explorer Abel Tasman in 1642 and covers the period of European settlement, including the establishment of the British colony in 1803. Fenton explores the impact of colonialism on the island's Indigenous population, as well as the conflicts and tensions that arose between settlers and the government. He also examines the development of Tasmania's economy, including the rise of agriculture, mining, and forestry, and the impact of these industries on the environment. The book also covers the social and cultural history of Tasmania, including the role of religion, education, and the arts. Fenton provides a detailed and engaging account of Tasmania's history, drawing on a wide range of sources to create a vivid and informative narrative. This book is essential reading for anyone interested in the history of Tasmania and its place in the wider context of Australian and colonial history.This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the old original and may contain some imperfections such as library marks and notations. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions, that are true to their original work.