"A very modern biography of John Donne-the poet of love, sex, and death-by bestselling children's book author and superstar academic Katherine Rundell"-- Sometime religious outsider and social disaster, sometime celebrity preacher and establishment darling, John Donne was incapable of being just one thing. In his myriad lives he was a scholar of law, a sea adventurer, a priest, an MP - and perhaps the greatest love poet in the history of the English...

"A captivating biography that celebrates the audacious, inspiring life and works of John Milton, revealing how he speaks to our times. John Milton is unrivalled--for the music of his verse and the breadth of his learning. In this brisk, topical, and inspiring biography, Stephen B. Dobranski brushes the scholarly dust from the portrait of the artist to reveal Milton's essential humanity and his unwavering commitment to ideals--freedom of religion and...

"This biography of English literary great John Milton covers his blindness, his government job, and his unhappy marriage but also discusses the nature of creativity, identity, and freedom of expression. The author illustrates how Milton's work has served as a lodestar for subsequent generations of poets and writers--from Blake and Whitman, to Woolf and Nabokov--and revolutionaries such as the US Founding Fathers. By establishing John Milton in this...

King David sings his psalms. A world away, King Henry plots. And courtier Thomas Wyatt sees them both, his beloved falcon Lukkes on his arm. David wants Bathsheba. Henry too must have what he wants. He wants Ann, a divorce, a son. He looks up at his tapestry of David and sees a mighty predecessor who defended his faith and took what he liked. But he leaves it to others to count the costs. Among those counting is the poet Wyatt, who sees a different...