5 comments about Teach Yourself Welsh Complete Course Audiopackage.

1. This is working out very well. The books and the CD's work well together. I recommend it for use. The dialogs in the book help tremendously.



2. Welsh is not the easiest language to learn, but it is hepful to be able to sound out place names and converse with people in their own language while on holiday. Within a few days of working with the CDs, I was able to read a little Welsh, and then actually carry on a few simple conversations. The book and the CDs work very well together. I highly recommend them!



3. Welsh is an extremely difficult language to learn. The way Welsh words are spelled is NOT the way they are spoken. If you cannot hear the spoken language, you just cannot learn it well. This course has it all!!
   Very comprehensive and, surprisingly, very inexpensive!! I would highly recommend this course to any serious language student.



4. The Teach Yourself Welsh course is fantastic! I was in doubt a while back when I tried to find a good Welsh program (that wasn't as expensive as Rosetta Stone) and Teach Yourself stands out! The Teach Yourself interface is great and the other Welsh-related books by Teach Yourself work as great additions to your own personalized course. I would highly recommend this to any aspiring Welsh student!
   
   Cymru am Byth!



5. This book is an example of how NOT to teach language. It purports to have small snippets of conversation but they are contrived events with sound effects that annoy rather than enhance. Concepts are not very clearly presented and you will spend more time figuring out what they are trying to tell you than learning anything.
   
   You are far better off going to one of several UK sites (like BBC) where they appear to know how to teach languages.

1 comments about Research Guide for Undergraduate Students (Sixth Edition).

1. Now in a newly updated and expanded sixth edition, the 104 page reference, "A Research Guide For Undergraduate Students: English And American Literature", by co-authors and librarians Nancy L. Baker and Nancy Huling offers a succinct and informative descriptional tour of the typical college library along with easy-to-understand summaries of the print and electronic research tools available to students and faculty. The research aids and reference works range from the 'Literary Resource Center', to the 'Expanded Academic ASAP', to 'Literature Online', to 'Library of Congress Subject Headings', to the 'MLA International Bibliography', to the 'Oxford English Dictionary', to the 'ProQuest Research Library', and dozens of others. "A Research Guide For Undergraduate Students" also provides a wealth of examples taken from the showcased reference materials, explains how to navigate a college library's electronic catalog, how to search for articles and books, the use of primary sources, locating biographic information, quotations, and miscellaneous facts. Of special note is a new chapter focused on dealing with bibliographic citation managers such as 'EndNote'. "A Research Guide For Undergraduate Students" is an invaluable guide, especially for new students and returning students wanting to take maximum advantage of what their college library has to offer them in support of their academic endeavors.

4 comments about Three Dublin Plays: The Shadow of a Gunman, Juno and the Paycock, & The Plough and the Stars.

1. Sean O'Casey was something of an anomaly on the Irish literary scene in the early 20th Century. While his fellow artistes (extra e being intentional) were lofty in their ideals and flowery in their language, writing often in rhyme or blank verse, O'Casey was very much the man of the people. Yeates, Synge and Beckett were concerned with ideals, classical parallells, celtic revival and universality while O'Casey painted the life of the working classes.

   In that regard O'Casey holds a lot in common with Russian writers of the period, and with marxist treatments. But in the Holy Catholic Ireland of his day he was viewed with suspicion by the authorities and with contempt by the artistic aristocracy.

   So it is somewhat fitting that the three plays in this book have more to say about the period than most of the "great" contemporary Irish works of the day. Certainly they have become far more popular and remain accessible to many people both thorough professional and amateur productions.

   For me, O'Casey is at his best when he is in the tenament room with the ordinary people, and this is what makes Juno and the Paycock the most enjoyable of these plays. Layabout workshy men supported on the backs of strong hard women are as universal a theme you can get, but it is a theme made funny and poignant by O'Casey.

   The Plough and the Stars is a milestone portrayal of the events of the Easter Rising on the ordinary people of Dublin, for whom the events were a frightening irrelevance that pulled them out of their daily struggle with hunger into a greater struggle for freedom and nationality. This turning point is captured with sheer brilliance by O'Casey, but it is left up to the theater producer to maximise it, and I have seen good and really horrendous productions of this work.

   All three are excellent plays. Important works, not only in an Irish context, but giving voices to the disadvantaged in any society.




2. The history of Ireland is replete with `times of troubles', no question about that. The particular ` time of troubles' that the master Anglo- Irish socialist playwright Sean O'Casey takes on in these three classic and best known of his plays is the time from the Easter Uprising in 1916 to the time of the lesser known Civil War battles between Free Staters and die-hard Republicans in 1921-22. Needless to say they were all classified as tragedies by O'Casey.
   
   What qualified O'Casey to do much more than provide yeoman's cultural service to this period? Well, for one he helped organize the famous James Connolly-led Irish Citizen's Army that took part in the heroic Easter Uprising in 1916. For another, O'Casey was a true son of the Dublin tenements where the action of the three plays takes place. He KNEW the `shawlie' environment and the language of despair, duplicity and treachery that is the lot of the desperately poor. Finally, as an Anglo- Irishman he had that very fine ear for the English language that we have come to cherish from the long line of Irish poets and playwrights who have graced our culture. That said, please read about this period in Irish history but also please read these plays if you want to put that history in proper perspective- in short, to understand why the hell the British had to then go from Ireland. Below are capsule summaries of the three plays.
   
   Juno and the Paycock- the Boyles, the central characters in this play, have benefited from the creation of the Free State but at a cost, namely the incapacity of their son. Their daughter has seemingly better prospects, but that will remain to be seen. The device that holds this play together is the hope of good fortune that allegedly is coming under the terms of a relative of Captain Boyle's will. The ebb and flow of events around that fortune drives the drama as does the fickleness of the tenement crowd who gather to `benefit' from it. There is also a very lively and, from this distance, seemingly stereotyped camaraderie between the Captain and his `boyo' Joxer.
   
   The Shadow of a Gunman- the gun has always played, and continues to play, an important part in the Irish liberation struggle. That premise was no different in 1920 than it is today. Whether the gun alone, in the absence of a socialist political program, can create the Workers Republic that O'Casey strove for is a separate question. What is interesting here is what happens, literally, when by mistake and misdirection, a couple of free-floating Irish males of indeterminate character and politics are assumed to be gunmen but are not. It is not giving anything in the play away to state that the real heroine of this action is a woman, Minnie, who in her own patriotic republican way takes the situation as good coin. The Minnies of this world may not lead the revolution but you sure as hell cannot have one without them (and their preparedness to sacrifice).
   
   The Plough and the Stars- There was a time when to even say the words plough and stars brought a little tear to this reviewer's eye. Well he is a big boy now but the question posed here between duty to the liberation struggle in 1916 and its consequences on the one hand and, for lack of a better word, romance and family life on the other is still one to be reckoned with. That it had such tragic consequences for the young tenement couple Jack and Nora only underlines the problem of love and war in real life, as on the stage.



3. What sets O'casey apart from his contemporaries is his abilty to utilize common people and their experiences to capture the tenor of the times. Without making his plays overtly about politics he is the most political of playwrights from his era. A remarkable gift for allowing his audience to see larger truths through the lives of ordinary Dubliners just looking to get by.
   These 3 selections are all great representations of an immense talent.



4. I chose to read this book because of a critical essay I am currently writing on Sean O'Casey. The plays in this book are in my opinon some of his greatest. Anyone who is wanting to learn about Ireland during this time should really read these. Even though he was a Protestant, he lived the life as well as wrote about the life of a Catholic patriot.
   
   Erin Go Brach

5 comments about All The Fun's In How You Say A Thing: An Explanation Of Meter & Versification.

1. If you check out the cities of the other reviewers, you will notice they are all from around or near LA. That is because they were all, very likely, students of Steele at CAl State LA.

   I wonder if their individual reviews of this book helped them get a better grade in his poetry course?

   While Steele is a good poet (see his poetry books), he has made a name for himself in academia by self-righteously asserting that poetry must be written a certain way to be truly poetic. He does not merely frown on free verse; he rejects it.

   Steele likens free verse to playing tennis without a net. HIs point seems to be that once the rules of a game are broken, something has been lost in the joy of playing or watching it. However, tennis without a net is called paddle ball, and unless you're a New English prig straight out of the pages of Yankee magazine, it's a heck of a lot of fun.




2. I would definitely not recommend this book to beginners. Don't get me wrong, it's probably the best book on prosody out there, but it can be difficult reading. The book is loaded with information, and Steele's knowledge on the subject comes through. But it isn't the book I'd start with. But if you have a general idea of form and meter, then there is no better book to strengthen and teach you. Part One, on iambic verse, should be read by any serious poet. The only problem I found with the book is that Steele uses a lot of Old English, Middle English, and foreign language examples, where I think something we all can sound out would have been a better choice. Still, for anyone who is serious about poetry, this is a book that should be read and studied.



3. I am currently a student in an undergraduate creative writing program, and I love (and write) free verse. A previous reviewer criticizes Steele for his "rejection" of free verse; this reason is the basis of his/her low rating of the book. Timothy Steele doesn't have a deep admiration of free verse. He even calls it secondary to the main accentual-syllabic tradition. Although I agree with the previous reviewer about Steele's view of free verse, I do not, however, think this book is lessened by Steele's view.

   Steele makes it known from the beginning that the majority of the book will be devoted to iambic verse. I bought this book for an intensive study of form and meter, and the book did not let me down. Not only does Steele cover the principles of scansion and metrical variation, Steele takes the reader into the history of our verse and how it has developed over time. He also explores the development of the English language, rhyme, stanza, elision, and grammar's relation to meter. He doesn't even stop there. He covers much more territory; and, by the end of this book, I feel that I have a firm grasp on formal poetic technique.

   The only criticism I have is that Steele does have a tendency to overkill some very basic concepts (the discussion of enjambment goes on page after page, the elision chapter went on for quite a while... it could have been more concise).

   If you are looking for a book to give you a thorough, clear, and engaging explanation of formal poetic technique, this is a very helpful book. I can truthfully say after reading it I am more confident of my understanding of meter and versification and that I am also more confident of my skills as a free-verse poet. I highly recommend this book.




4. Steele here, unlike in *Missing Measures*, is not engaging in a polemic, but is rather engaging in one of the most thoughtful explorations of accentual-syllabic prosody that I have read. His descriptions of the iambic pentameter line and the variations of that line, relative stress, and indeed the diversity of uses to which "traditional" verse can be put are revelatory and even inspiring. It isn't your old da-DA-da-DA-da-DA-da-DA-da-DA.



5. Over the past several years, I have had the opportunity to read a variety of handbooks and guides to poetry and by far and away this is the single most comprehensive, educational and well-written work on English prosody currently available. It supercedes the old standbys: Fussell, Beum & Shapiro, Oliver, Baer and Hollander.
   
   The book discusses and explains all prosodic systems: accentual-alliterative, accentual-syllabic, syllabic, quantitative and free-verse. Its focus, quite naturally, is on accentual-syllabic systems, particularly the iambic line. Steele's discussion of trochaic, anapestic, dactyllic and amphibrachic lines are insightful. In addition to prosody, scansion and metrical substitution, Steele covers syntax, enjambment, elision, rhyme and stanza forms as well.
   
   Throughout, Steele gives numerous illustrative examples from English poetry throughout its history, from Beowulf to Chaucer on up to modern, living writers.
   
   If a reader or writer of formal verse has room on the shelf for only one such handbook, this is the one to purchase.

1 comments about 100 Great Poets of the English Language (Penguin Academics Series) (Penguin Academics).

1. Of course, I am speaking in my title of the pure anthology, a collection without explanatory or exploratory texts. And that is all this is: a collection of poems by 100 poets. But do not misread "all this is": "a collection" is all this book _needs_ be, and it is that quite exemplarily.
   
   Now, no poetry anthology that is not 5000+ pages in length is going to leave you without any sense of "Oh, they really should have included such-and-such," and this anthology is not exempt. Of course, there are poems and poets that I think would work better than others included toward expanding representation and variation without thinning out the collection. And there are some contemporary poets that Gioia includes that I see little reason behind beside their being popular to someone. And there are contemporary (or late 20th century) poets not included that I believe would have done the anthology well as examples of the art. But as a broad anthology, this exceeds my expectations. Most of the major names are included, and there is enough offered to give a decent sampling of their artistic identities. As well, there is enough breadth to offer examples that would contribute to most any discussion about poetry and poetics. It would be an easy thing to teach poetry simply by opening this book, and exploring what you find.
   
   As someone who has become rather despondant about the abundance of poorly conceived and executed anthologies out there, this one has pleased me (and is pleasing me) to no end. A well put together collection, and worthy of any classroom -- not to mention an excellent sampling of poetry for any curious reader.

5 comments about Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats.

1. Read the book if you want to better understand the acts of the play CATs



2. Great book for any cat lover
   
   author of "Hobo Finds A Home"



3. I had read this book before and loved it, but when I met Boris, a real, live version of Rum Tum Tugger, I had to buy a copy to show his owner.
   It is amazing how little had to be done to turn these poems into a great musical comedy. I am, of course, talking about Cats. Most of the poems went directly into the show without any change whatever in their wording, and only three songs were added. Let's give full credit to Mr. Webber, It took a musical genius to do that, and one of the added songs, Memories, could stand alone as a masterpiece in any company, but most of the delight of the show comes from the wonderful feline characters created in this book.
   Jennyanydots, Old Deuteronomy, Gus the theatre cat, Spindleshanks, Bustipher Brown, McCavity, Mr. Mistofflees, Mungo Jerry, and Rumpleteaser all moved effortlessly from page to stage with no changes. That has to be some sort of record. If you loved Cats (the show) you need to read this book. If you love cats (the critters) you'll want to read this book. If you like poetry, you should read this book. If you like dogs, read the battle of the Pekes and the Pollicles. (You can skip over the part about the intervention of the great rumpus cat.)
   It was written for his godchildren, but it's a great read for everyone. It's not expensive, so get it to read to your children, but read it for yourself first.



4. This is a must have for anyone who loves the broadway musical "Cats". Totally delightful!



5. My grandson is participating in a rendition of 'Cats' at his elementary school and I wanted the book to show him how productions like 'Cats' are based on literature. In this case he was thrilled to be able to read the original poems and then see how they are staged for an audience. The product was delivered in perfect condition in a very timely manner. I would recommend this to anyone.

2 comments about The Rumi Collection.

1. I greatly enjoy the poetry of Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi. His poems move me to action -- they put a smile on my face -- bring a sigh to my heart. I have at least half a dozen if not more books by the Mevlana.

   Of all these books, this is perhaps one of my favourites. Many recent authors have taken to reinterpreting the Sufi Master; but I feel that in those works, the original author's message becomes intermixed with the translators'.

   In this translation, the translator has attempted to keep close to the original intent and writing of the Mevlana, yet not getting into difficult English like earlier translations by R.A. Nicholson.

   The result, to me at least, is a more powerful spiritual punch and deeper tug at one's heart-strings.

   If you love the poetry of Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi, this is one book you should add to your collection, so at least you get a better feel of his voice.




2. Rumi was an incredibly prolific 13th century Persian poet and theologian whose writings continue to have world-wide appeal and resonance in our modern world. I was fortunate to receive this lovely book, and immediately began to read.
   
   It was like drinking the coldest, most thirst-quenching water that goes immediately to the heart and soul. It was like diving into a refreshing ocean and finding pearls and sparkling treasures. Devoid of the kind of pretension, arcane language and obscure meaning that dull much poetry, it speaks with directness and immediacy, yet is astonishingly imaginative.
   
   A perfect introductory collection, it is nicely edited, prefaced and largely translated by Rumi expert Kabir Helminski. Other translators are also included, such as Robert Bly, a poet whose work I enjoy and whose translations of the German poet Rilke I respect. It is both packed and compact, and it has a useful ribbon to mark your place. Whether you are a novice or a Rumi-ologist, you are sure to enjoy this book. It also makes lovely gift.

5 comments about The Riverside Milton.

1. I find this edition impossible for classroom use and, after this semester, I will not use it again. I wish the venerable Hughes edition was available and affordable: somebody should reissue it if it is going out of print, as it remains the better textbook.

   Here are my complaints:

   *The prose is riddled with what seem to me to be small typos--I'm not talking about orginal spelling, but about things like "buy" for "but" (p. 937) and so on. There is one of these every 2-3 pages on average, and this is just too many.

   *Some of the notes seem designed not to assist undergraduate readers but to demonstrate the editor's grasp of secondary scholarship. Why else would a note to _Comus_ direct readers to Leah Marcus and NOT also offer succinct remarks about the controversy surrounding Sports and mirth? What good is a note like that to the average undergraduate reader?

   *The notes are so frequently about minor textual issues--the kind of thing that can go in an appendix and that undergrads are unlikely to care about--that students after a while stop looking at them altogether. That does not help anybody.

   *The notes--especially to the prose--do not supply anything like the kind of necessary information that any classroom text should provide. This text does not identify the scriptural passages Milton cites, etc. For example, when Milton refers to a "covnant" in Tenure of Kings and Magistrates and/or The Readie and Easie Way, students need a note about The Solemn League and Covenant, but there is no such thing.




2. Interest in Milton has waned in American universities, and I can't help but think that THE RIVERSIDE MILTON tossed him into an eternity more boring than anything his prose could have ever created.

   I understand that this text is "academic" so its asinine price and density are justified. Yet Flannagan has taken scholasticism to the extreme, sacrificing all for footnotes in a mad zeal to, like the old Welsh poets, show off his research. Thus this book's perfect audience comprises graduate pedants lost in footnote fogs, loving every minute of brilliant insights like, "This comma was omitted in the 1676 Edition." A high disappointment, especially since THE RIVERSIDE CHAUCER is very, very strong. But still, THE RIVERSIDE MILTON'S not a total waste (the introductions are well written and often insightful).

   Other reviewers have already identified the problems with so many footnotes, so I won't rehash. I'll just add my frown amongst many others and continue reading Milton elsewhere.




3. This is the edition that made me fall in love with Milton as a graduate student, and that's high praise indeed.
   
   Most of the criticism of this volume is sound, but we must remember above all that this edition is the best single-volume edition we have, given that Merritt Hughes' edition is now out of print. Moreover, Hughes' notes are now out-of-date; the graduate student will still wish to consult them, but Flannagan's is a worthwhile successor.
   
   Of particular note are the introductions to the texts, which not only frame each work historically but also in terms of its reception and themes -- the introduction to Paradise Lost is particularly masterful. For major works, the introductions include timely bibliographies and are an invaluable resource.
   
   Flannagan's detractors ably point out that his notes mix objective commentary, such as historical references or textual variants, with more interpretive notes. We all may wish that certain notes were added, particularly referencing textual parallels, but what we have here is nonetheless spectacular. One must adopt a critical attitude, however: we are invited, implicitly, to argue with Flannagan -- and we must have enough accumen to distinguish between objective and interpretive notations.
   
   Certainly, undergraduates may find this difficult -- but I've never shied away from challenging texts that I assign, and learning to do so is indeed part of what they ought to be learning. Moreover, while we might quibble about which notes Flannagan ought to add, I don't find his notes on minor textual variants at all distracting -- rather, they are crutial to such a one-volume work. And while some notes are particularly idiosyncratic, I rather like that: if anything, it makes Milton accessible and encourages the idea that readers need to think for themselves and engage in the give-and-take of ideas.
   
   The size of the book is also an advantage: Hughes' was of smaller proportions, and I find Flannagan's an good distribution of text, notes, and white space convenient for notations. Less complete editions of Milton's work lack the overarching connections Flannagan achieves here. Hughes remains a titan, but is out-of-date as well as out-of-print. And the hardbound complete collections of Milton's work, while worth consulting in libraries for scholarship, are neither portable nor intellectually accessible in comparison to Flannagan's introductions and notes.
   
   I agree, however, that a second edition is much needed. The table of contents does not list the titles of the shorter poems, and there are some bizarre elements, including a few times where the page breaks too early, leaving a strange amount of white space on the page. Typos do exist, but probably at a lower rate than most books.
   
   That said, you needn't wait for the long-promised second edition: if you can by any means afford to do so financially, engage Milton today. Though annoying, the missing table of contents can easily be constructed by the reader -- or downloaded online. This first edition might be rough in spots, but that very roughness has a certain charm. All criticism taken into account, this remains a spectacular way of meeting Milton.



4. Stop the complaining that the Hughes edition is out of print. It's back! (Yes, with its dated notes; but the table of contents and the editing more than make up for that.) Go to http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0872206785 to find it here at Amazon. $60.00 new. My version's 30+ years old and I still lovingly consult it.



5. I've read about 1000 pages of this text and feel qualified to judge it dispassionately.
   
   Here's the deal with it. It has great advantages which other Milton anthologies do not (excellent textual scholarship--and most importantly, the original spelling). But it has deep flaws that irk and pain every student who has to use this book.
   
   * One: as one student said, it feels and read like a science book (bad design, in other words: it has no aesthetic appeal).
   * Two: the typescript and layout are just counterintuitive: the footnotes are so hard to read sometimes as they are usually crammed in on each page--the whole book looks crammed and makes the reader feel crammed.
   * Three: but the kicker--the downright absurd footnotes.
   
   Let me explain: _Comus_, for example, has over 1000 footnotes. Flannagan has never heard of making textual notes _end_notes and keeping interpretative, allusional, or historical notes as footnotes. The result? The reader getting stopped twice on every line not knowing whether to keep reading or whether to spend five minutes each time reading all the damn notes! But what really stinks is that you have no idea whether the note will tell you something really important, say about the English Civil War, differing traits Bacchus' "madness," the genealogy of some lot of gods, or a crucial Bible passage--or whether it will just be one of the absolutely endless and useless textual notes.
   
   Want a good example? By far my favorite--in _Comus_, there is a footnote on the word "where." The footnote informs the reader that Milton originally spelt the word "were" in the manuscript, tried to insert the "h" in, but then decided that he might as well rewrite the word, so he crossed it out, and spelt it correctly.
   
   Are you kidding me?! And these inundate the whole book.
   
   Supposedly a new "original spelling" edition of Milton is coming out next Spring, so I'd wait for that one. If you must have this for some reason, use a library copy. You won't want to keep it.

No comments about Enemies of Promise.

No comments about WOMEN'S WORLDS: The McGraw-Hill Anthology of Women's Writing in English Across the Globe.