A sharply satirical attack on unevenly applied 19th-century laws to enforce religious observance still bites today
A sharply satirical attack on unevenly applied 19th-century laws to enforce religious observance still bites today
Rich or Poor, or Saint and Sinner
The poor man’s sins are glaring;
In the face of ghostly warning
He is caught in the fact
Words of stern moral advice to a besotted young man are delivered with a brisk and even sunny touch
From an almost whimsical beginning, these verses on wishing to overcome mortality grow lyrical and deeply moving
An atheist’s complaint at the scant room made by the church for his personal commemoration of the dead
The radical young poet’s backhanded tribute to the older writer is a stern judgment on his lapsed political idealism
This haunting poem depicts an elusive, dangerous figure of overwhelming destructive power
The worlds of the haves and the have-nots clash, in a toxic friendship between two women brought together by a school reunion
