Oxford University Press

Richly exploited comic situations, effervescent wit, and intricate plots combine to make Sheridan's work among the best of all English comedy. This edition includes his most famous plays, The Rivals, The School for Scandal, and The Critic, as well as two lesser known musical plays, The Duenna and A Trip to Scarborough. A detailed introduction and notes on Sheridan's playhouses and critical inheritance make this an invaluable edition for study and performance alike.

During Shakespeare's lifetime, Henry IV was his most popular play. Today, Sir John Falstaff still towers above Shakespeare's other comic inventions. This edition considers the play in the context of various critical approaches, offers a history of the play in performance from Shakespeare's time to ours, and provides useful information on its historical background. Readers will also find detailed commentary on individual words and phrases, and selections from Shakespeare's sources.

A play of darkness originally conceived for daylight performance at the Globe, Macbeth is a tour de force of theatrical illusion from the supernatural to mere delusion. In this fully annotated edition, Brooke investigates the great appeal of the play's use of illusion, relating its changing theatrical fortunes to changes within society and in theatrical conditions. Offering a fresh reconsideration of textual problems, the book makes a major contribution to our understanding of the play within aesthetic history.

This authoritative edition was first published in the acclaimed Oxford Authors series under the general editorship of Frank Kermode. It brings together a unique combination of Yeats's poetry and prose — all the major poems, complemented by plays, critical writings, and letters — to give the essence of his work and thinking. W. B. Yeats was born in 1865, only 38 years after the death of William Blake, and died in 1939, the contemporary of Ezra Pound and James Joyce. His career crossed two centuries, and this volume represents the full range of his achievement, from the Romantic early poems of Crossways and the symbolist masterpiece The Wind Among the Reeds to his last poems. Myth and folk-tale influence both his poems and his plays, represented here by Cathleen ni Houlihan and Deirdre among others. The importance of the spirit world to his life and work is evident in his critical essays and occult writings, and the anthology also contains political speeches, autobiographical writings, and a selection of his letters. This one-volume collection of poems and prose offers a unique perspective on the connectedness of Yeats's literary output, showing how his aesthetic, spiritual, and political development was reflected in everything he wrote.

Winnie the Witch lives in a black house. She has black chairs and black stairs, black floors and black doors. The trouble is that Winnie's cat, Wilbur, is also black. After sitting on him and tripping over him, Winnie decides to turn Wilbur into a green cat. But then he goes out into the long grass! Winnie is going to need a little magic to make sure she can always see Wilbur... A beautifully crafted story with a colourful final twist, this big book is ideal for sharing with a group.

'Verlaine, possessed by the madnesses of love, brimming over with desires and prayers, the rebel railing against the complacent platitudes of society, of love, of language'. Jean Rousselot Verlaine ranks alongside Baudelaire, Mallarme, and Rimbaud as one of the most outstanding poets of late nineteenth-century France whose work is associated with the early Symbolists, the Decadents, and the Parnassiens. Remarkable not only for his delicacy and exquisitely crafted verse, Verlaine is also the poet of strong emotions and appetites, with an unrivalled gift for the sheer music of poetry, and an inventive approach to its technique. This bilingual edition provides the most comprehensive selection of his poetry yet, offering some 170 poems in lively and fresh translations and providing a lucid introduction which illuminates Verlaine's poetic form within the context of French Impressionism and the poetry of sensation.

'Lorca brought an understanding of the paradox that was Spain — sensuality chafing under a rigid moral code, individual desire at war with tradition'. Manuel Duran Federico Garcia Lorca is perhaps the most celebrated of all twentieth-century Spanish writers, known not only for his plays but also for several collections of poems published both in his short lifetime and after. Lorca's poetry is steeped in the land, climate, and folklore of his native Andalusia, though he writes memorably of New York and Cuba too. Often in modernist idiom, and full of startling imagery, he evokes a world of intense feelings, silent suffering, and dangerous love. This selection balances poems from Lorca's early collections with his better-known work to give a clear vision of his poetic development. Martin Sorrell's accomplished translations are complemented by D. Gareth Walters's shrewd Introduction, with its distinctive focus on the achievements of the poet.

Kipper and his friend Anna go to their first dance class. Read At Home is the best-selling home reading series designed for young, beginner readers. It features all the popular Oxford Reading Tree characters in exciting stories written for parents to support their child's reading at home. Read At Home First Experiences introduce young children to new situations and are ideal for parent and child to read together. Read At Home First Experiences help parents to: Explore the wider world with their child; Talk about shared feelings and emotions; Build vocabulary through the fun activities RAH Level: Although these books have been created for parents to share with their child, they have been written to Level 4 of Read At Home. Level 4 is for children Building Confidence in Reading — those children who can recognise 30-50 words by sight, can read harder sentences, with less support, and can use sounds to help make words. The story is written with simple but more varied sentence structure and vocabulary with three to four sentences per page.

Kipper and his class go to visit Farmer Gow's farm. They feed the animals, but Sam (one of Kipper's classmates) is a bit nervous until they start collecting the hens' eggs! Read At Home is the best-selling home reading series designed for young, beginner readers. It features all the popular Oxford Reading Tree characters in exciting stories written for parents to support their child's reading at home. Read At Home First Experiences introduce young children to new situations and are ideal for parent and child to read together. Read At Home First Experiences help parents to: Explore the wider world with their child; Talk about shared feelings and emotions; Build vocabulary through the fun activities RAH Level: Although these books have been created for parents to share with their child, they have been written to Level 4 of Read At Home. Level 4 is for children Building Confidence in Reading — those children who can recognise 30-50 words by sight, can read harder sentences, with less support, and can use sounds to help make words. The story is written with simple but more varied sentence structure and vocabulary with three to four sentences per page.Highly successful, high profile author and illustrator team: Roderick Hunt, author of the original Oxford Reading Tree stories, and Annemarie Young, are superb storytellers with over 50 years educational experience between them. Alex Brychta's humorous and detailed illustrations bring the stories alive and are known to and loved by millions of Oxford Reading Tree readers.

Read At Home is the best-selling home reading series designed for young, beginner readers. It features all the popular Oxford Reading Tree characters in exciting stories written for parents to support their child's reading at home. Read At Home First Experiences introduce young children to new situations and are ideal for parent and child to read together. Read At Home First Experiences help parents to: Explore the wider world with their child; Talk about shared feelings and emotions; Build vocabulary through the fun activities RAH Level: Although these books have been created for parents to share with their child, they have been written to Level 4 of Read At Home. Level 4 is for children Building Confidence in Reading — those children who can recognise 30-50 words by sight, can read harder sentences, with less support, and can use sounds to help make words. The story is written with simple but more varied sentence structure and vocabulary with three to four sentences per page.

Read At Home is the best-selling home reading series designed for young, beginner readers. It features all the popular Oxford Reading Tree characters in exciting stories written for parents to support their child's reading at home. Read At Home First Experiences introduce young children to new situations and are ideal for parent and child to read together. Read At Home First Experiences help parents to: Explore the wider world with their child; Talk about shared feelings and emotions; Build vocabulary through the fun activities RAH Level: Although these books have been created for parents to share with their child, they have been written to Level 4 of Read At Home. Level 4 is for children Building Confidence in Reading — those children who can recognise 30-50 words by sight, can read harder sentences, with less support, and can use sounds to help make words. The story is written with simple but more varied sentence structure and vocabulary with three to four sentences per page.

Read At Home is the best-selling home reading series designed for young, beginner readers. It features all the popular Oxford Reading Tree characters in exciting stories written for parents to support their child's reading at home. Read At Home First Experiences introduce young children to new situations and are ideal for parent and child to read together. Read At Home First Experiences help parents to: Explore the wider world with their child; Talk about shared feelings and emotions; Build vocabulary through the fun activities RAH Level: Although these books have been created for parents to share with their child, they have been written to Level 4 of Read At Home. Level 4 is for children Building Confidence in Reading — those children who can recognise 30-50 words by sight, can read harder sentences, with less support, and can use sounds to help make words. The story is written with simple but more varied sentence structure and vocabulary with three to four sentences per page.

Kipper gets an itchy head — he has nits! Meanwhile, Floppy also feels itchy. The family realise he must have fleas...Read At Home is the best-selling home reading series designed for young, beginner readers. It features all the popular Oxford Reading Tree characters in exciting stories written for parents to support their child's reading at home. Read At Home First Experiences introduce young children to new situations and are ideal for parent and child to read together. Read At Home First Experiences help parents to: Explore the wider world with their child; Talk about shared feelings and emotions; Build vocabulary through the fun activities RAH Level: Although these books have been created for parents to share with their child, they have been written to Level 4 of Read At Home. Level 4 is for children Building Confidence in Reading — those children who can recognise 30-50 words by sight, can read harder sentences, with less support, and can use sounds to help make words. The story is written with simple but more varied sentence structure and vocabulary with three to four sentences per page.Highly successful, high profile author and illustrator team: Roderick Hunt, author of the original Oxford Reading Tree stories, and Annemarie Young, are superb storytellers with over 50 years educational experience between them. Alex Brychta's humorous and detailed illustrations bring the stories alive and are known to and loved by millions of Oxford Reading Tree readers.

Gran is taking Biff, Chip and Kipper to Paris on the Eurostar. They have travel on 4 different trains to get there EL and Kipper learns to speak French on the way! Read At Home is the best-selling home reading series designed for young, beginner readers. It features all the popular Oxford Reading Tree characters in exciting stories written for parents to support their child's reading at home. Read At Home First Experiences introduce young children to new situations and are ideal for parent and child to read together. Read At Home First Experiences help parents to: Explore the wider world with their child; Talk about shared feelings and emotions; Build vocabulary through the fun activities RAH Level: Although these books have been created for parents to share with their child, they have been written to Level 4 of Read At Home. Level 4 is for children Building Confidence in Reading — those children who can recognise 30-50 words by sight, can read harder sentences, with less support, and can use sounds to help make words. The story is written with simple but more varied sentence structure and vocabulary with three to four sentences per page.Highly successful, high profile author and illustrator team: Roderick Hunt, author of the original Oxford Reading Tree stories, and Annemarie Young, are superb storytellers with over 50 years educational experience between them. Alex Brychta's humorous and detailed illustrations bring the stories alive and are known to and loved by millions of Oxford Reading Tree readers.

School's Out is a classic anthology and has been a best-seller for over 20 years. This new edition features a modern and fun new cover to bring this lively collection to a new generation of readers. Whether it's reports, bullies, teachers, school dinner, homework, or any other aspect of school life — you'll find a poem about it here. Featuring a host of well-known poets such as Brian Patten, Allan Ahlberg, Roger McGough, and many more.

Whether your child is learning English or Polish, Oxford First Polish Words gives your child a head start in learning another language by taking a picture-book journey through a day, with familiar settings, everyday things, and cute little dinosaurs. There is a bird's eye view of getting ready for school in the morning, the journey to school, inside the classroom, a birthday party, and even a trip to the seaside. Over 400 Polish words and their English translations are given next to their illustrations, on every page. There is also an expertly-levelled supplementary section at the back — a picture/word matching game, counting the ladybirds up to twenty, shapes, opposites, weather, time, and a comprehensive index. The David Melling (The Kiss that Missed, Fidget and Quilly) illustrations make this an adorable first bilingual word book.

With headwords in colour, and quirky character illustrations, this dictionary recounts the absorbing and fascinating history of thousands of words. This new edition takes a fresh look at the cool and curious words we use, and tells the stories of where words come from, whether they are to do with food, the supernatural, fashion, invented words, or words from the 80s, 90s, and noughties. Who ate the first sandwich? Where does abracadabra come from? Would you really be spooked by a zombie? John Ayto, top word expert entertains all ages from eight to eighty with this informative and humorous dictionary.

Is the Christian church in Europe doomed to collapse under the weight of globalization, Western secularism, and a flood of Muslim immigrants? Is Europe on the brink of becoming Eurabia? Though many pundits are predicting just such a scenario, God's Continent reveals the flaws in these arguments and offers a much more measured assessment of Europe's religious future. While frankly acknowledging current tensions, Philip Jenkins shows, for instance, that the overheated rhetoric about a Muslim-dominated Europe is based on politically convenient myths: that Europe is being imperiled by floods of Muslim immigrants, exploding Muslim birth-rates, and the demise of European Christianity. He points out that by no means are Muslims the only new immigrants in Europe. Christians from Africa, Asia, and Eastern Europe are also pouring into the Western countries, and bringing with them a vibrant and enthusiastic faith that is helping to transform the face of European Christianity. Jenkins agrees that both Christianity and Islam face real difficulties in surviving within Europe's secular culture. But instead of fading away, both have adapted, and are adapting. Yes, the churches are in decline, but there are also clear indications that Christian loyalty and devotion survive, even as institutions crumble. The third book in an acclaimed trilogy that includes The Next Christendom and The New Faces of Christianity, God's Continent offers a realistic and historically grounded appraisal of the future of Christianity in a rapidly changing Europe.

Plain English is an essential tool for effective communication. Information transmitted in letters, documents, reports, contracts, and forms is clearer and more understandable when presented in straightforward terms. The Oxford Guide to Plain English provides authoritative guidance on how to write plain English using easy-to-follow guidelines which cover straightforward language, sentence length, active and passive verbs, punctuation, grammar, planning, and good organization. This handy guide will be invaluable to writers of all levels. It provides essential guidelines that will allow readers to develop their writing style, grammar, and punctuation. The book also offers help in understanding official jargon and legalese giving the plain English alternatives. This guide gives hundreds of real examples and shows 'before and after' versions of texts of different kinds which will help readers to look critically at their own writing. It is organized in 25 short chapters, which each cover a different aspect of writing. Clearly laid out and easy to use, the Oxford Guide to Plain English is the best guide to writing clear and helpful documents.

The word anarchism tends to conjure up images of aggressive protest against government, and — recently — of angry demonstrations against bodies such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. But is anarchism inevitably linked with violent disorder? Do anarchists adhere to a coherent ideology? What exactly is anarchism? In this Very Short Introduction, Colin Ward considers anarchism from a variety of perspectives: theoretical, historical, and international, and by exploring key anarchist thinkers from Kropotkin to Chomsky. He looks critically at anarchism by evaluating key ideas within it, such as its blanket opposition to incarceration, and policy of no compromise with the apparatus of political decision-making. Among the questions he ponders are: can anarchy ever function effectively as a political force? Is it more organized and reasonable than is currently perceived? Whatever the politics of the reader, Ward's argument ensures that anarchism will be much better understood after reading this book.

Why are some people worriers, and others wanderers? Why do some people seem good at empathising, and others at controlling? We have something deep and consistent within us that determines the choices we make and the situations we bring about. But why should members of the same species differ so markedly in their natures? What is the best personality to have; a bold one or a shy one, an aggressive one or a meek one? And are you stuck with your personality, or can you change it? Daniel Nettle takes the reader on a tour through the science of human personality, introducing the five 'dimensions' on which every personality is based, and using an unusual combination of individual life stories and scientific research. Showing how our personalities stem from our biological makeup, Nettle looks at the latest findings from genetics and brain science, considers the evolutionary origins and consequences of personality variation, and even includes a questionnaire for you to assess your own personality against the five dimensions. There is no optimal personality to have. Rather, every disposition brings both advantages and disadvantages.Life is partly the business of finding a niche where your personal characteristics work for you. Full of human as well as scientific insight, this book will enable you to understand the perils and potentials of your personality to the full.

No matter how good your research and study skills, the ultimate test for the law student is the exam. This book explains how to tackle successfully the sort of problems and essay questions typically found in exam papers. The author clearly guides students through the process of planning and structuring answers, providing advice on what to include, and on what to leave out. The book contains 50 questions and model answers divided into chapters covering all major topics. Each chapter begins with an introduction focusing on important points and ends with suggestions for further reading. Each question is supported by clear commentary indicating exactly what examiners are looking for, followed by an answer plan listing the key points to cover. Online Resource Centre An Online Resource Centre accompanies the book, providing revision and exam advice, links to useful websites, and a glossary to develop students' understanding of subject-specific terms.

Prudence, James, and Christopher Kitson would love to see their sister, Annaple, marry her sweetheart, Francis Vere. To help things along, they tell Francis to be as romantic as he can when choosing a Christmas present for Annaple. When he arrives on Christmas Day with a partridge in a pear tree, Annaple is delighted! But that is only the first day of Christmas and the presents don't stop there. Soon the house fills up with a seemingly endless stream of turtle doves, French hens, swans, dairymaids, and more. As the townspeople gather outside to watch the daily delivery of gifts, will Annaple be charmed or alarmed by the chaos of it all? And will the thirteenth day of Christmas bring the wedding that everyone is hoping for? The Thirteen Days of Christmas was first published in 1972 and this illustrated edition sees a return to its original presentation, making this a wonderful book to give and share at Christmas time.

People value their powers of thinking and most of us are interested in why some people seem to drive a highly tuned Rolls Royce brain while others potter along with a merely serviceable Ford Fiesta. This Very Short Introduction describes what psychologists have discovered about how and why people differ in their thinking powers. The book takes readers from no knowledge about the science of human intelligence to a stage where they are able to make judgements for themselves about some of the key questions about human mental ability differences. Each chapter deals with a central issue that is both scientifically lively and of considerable general interest, and is structured around a diagram which is explained in the course of the chapter. The issues discussed include whether there are several different types of intelligence, whether intelligence differences are caused by genes or the environment, the biological basis of intelligence differences, and whether intelligence declines or increases as we grow older.