The Spirit is too Blunt an Instrument

Anne Stevenson’s philosophical poem asks what it means to be truly alive.

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On Finding a Small Fly Crushed in a Book

Charles Tennyson Turner finds himself unexpectedly moved by a tiny tragedy.

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Mary Monck ruminates on death and life in this touching verse-letter.

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Elizabeth Thomas exposes what it means to be a woman in a man’s world.

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Lose yourself in Robert Browning’s twisted labyrinth.

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Sir Thomas Wyatt is trapped by his own conflicting desires.

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Charles Swinburne says he’ll do anything for love – but does he mean it?

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James Joyce suffers from terrible nightmares.

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Armies of ignorance conquer all in Matthew Arnold’s dark and disturbing vision of the world.

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Rosemary Dobson’s unique backwards-poem reminds us that, however much we might want to, we can’t change the past.

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