Catalog Search Results
Author
Formats
Description
A cycle of twelve narrative poems, "Idylls of the King" is Alfred Tennyson's classic 19th century retelling of Arthurian legend. Linked by their common focus, these poems relate the stories of King Arthur's ascent to power, quest to create a perfect kingdom, and his eventual defeat. Included in this epic work are the stories of Arthur's love for Guinevere, their marriage, and her betrayal. Much of the work is also devoted to the exploits of the knights...
Author
Formats
Description
First performed in 1895, "An Ideal Husband" is Oscar Wilde's classic and much-loved comedic drama. The play tells the story of an up-and-coming politician, Sir Robert Chiltern, who tries to hide his secret past from his judgmental wife and the blackmail scheme he is forced to participate in to keep that secret quiet. Lady Chiltern has a very particular idea of what makes the "ideal husband" which leaves her with little tolerance for Sir Robert's all...
Author
Formats
Description
First performed in 1905 and published in 1907, "Major Barbara" is a dramatic play by the famed Irish playwright and activist George Bernard Shaw. The story centers around its title character who, as an officer in the Salvation Army, becomes disenchanted by the increasing social problems that she sees and the willingness of her organization to accept money from armament manufacturers. Barbara is disillusioned about the good work the Salvation Army...
Author
Description
Originally published in Shakespeare's "First Folio" in 1623, "All's Well That Ends Well" is a fascinating play that defies classification, an unusual work that blends the comic with the tragic. The play tells the story of Helena, a penniless worker at the Palace of Rousillion, and her cunning adventures to wed Bertram, the prosperous son of the count. Bertram goes to Paris to attend the King of France and Helena follows and uses her cunning and charm...
Author
Formats
Description
One of George Bernard Shaw's most performed and studied plays, "Arms and the Man" is a classic example of Shaw's comedic wit. First produced in 1894, the play is set during the Serbo-Bulgarian war and tells the story of Raina Petkoff, a young Bulgarian woman, who is engaged to Sergius, a soldier away at war whom she idolizes. While both her father and fiancé are away fighting, Raina, at home with her mother, has a very innocent and romantic idea...
6) Cymbeline
Author
Formats
Description
Performed as early as 1611 and published in the "First Folio" in 1623, Shakespeare's "Cymbeline" weaves an elaborate tale of palatial envy and power in Ancient Britain. Cymbeline, King of Britain, commands that his lovely young daughter Imogen marry Cloten, the violent and callous son of the current Queen by her former husband. With her heart already promised to the poor yet heroic Posthumus, Imogen refuses. Disgusted at the prospect of his daughter...
7) King John
Author
Formats
Description
First published in the "First Folio" in 1623 and likely written in the 1590s, "King John" is one of William Shakespeare's best historical plays. It centers on the events of King John's reign of England during the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries. King John, son of Henry I of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine, inherits the throne after the death of his older brother, King Richard I. John's claim to the throne is challenged by the King of...
Author
Description
One of Shakespeare's early comedies and most ornately intellectual plays, "Love's Labour's Lost" is a mental adventure in hilarity and wit. First published in 1598, the play is filled with lexical puns, literary allusions, and shifting poetic forms, a rich example of the Bard's linguistic mastery. The play opens with King Phillip of Naverre announcing that the men of his court will devote the coming years to ascetic studies and to reduce distractions,...
9) Coriolanus
Author
Formats
Description
One of the last tragedies written by William Shakespeare, "Coriolanus" is the story of the legendary 5th century BC Roman general Caius Martius, later given the honorary name Coriolanus. Based largely on the biographical accounts of Plutarch and Livy, the play opens amongst riots over grain in which Coriolanus' contempt for the plebeians of Rome is exhibited. The general is drawn away from the riots to battle with the Volscian army. Following the...
10) The Sonnets
Author
Formats
Description
First published in 1609, "The Sonnets" of William Shakespeare are a collection of 154 loosely connected 14 line poems. Considered by many to be among some of the greatest love poetry ever written much debate surrounds the context of the poetry. It has been suggested that the work may be semi-autobiographical but no real evidence firmly supports this notion. The themes of the poems contained within this volume are varied and include such subjects as...
11) The Waste Land
Author
Formats
Description
The Waste Land is a long poem by T. S. Eliot. It is widely regarded as one of the most important poems of the 20th century and a central text in Modernist poetry. Published in 1922, the 434-line poem first appeared in the United Kingdom in the October issue of The Criterion and in the United States in the November issue of The Dial. It was published in book form in December 1922. Among its famous phrases are "April is the cruelest month", "I will...
Author
Formats
Description
Planning a school or amateur Shakespeare production? The best way to experience the plays is to perform them, but getting started can be a challenge: The complete plays are too long and complex, while scene selections or simplified language are too limited. "The 30-Minute Shakespeare" is a new series of abridgements that tell the "story" of each play from start to finish while keeping the beauty of Shakespeare's language intact. Specific stage directions...
Author
Formats
Description
This collection of poems by famous English Romantic poet William Blake comprises two volumes in one. Self-published by Blake, the first collection entitled "Songs of Innocence", first appeared in 1789. This volume focuses on the pastoral and innocent perfection of childhood. The tone is beautiful and often delicately romantic. However, there is also a dark side to the naivety of childhood. Blake explores the vulnerability of the poor and the young...
Author
Description
In this representative collection of Christina Rossetti's poems we find a vast array of narrative tales, love lyrics, sonnets, hymns, ballads, and sprightly verses for children. Ranked among the finest English poets of the nineteenth century, Christina Rossetti is a widely read, though not widely imitated poet, recognized for her devotional poetry, influenced by the religious conservatism and asceticism of the Church of England. This collection of...
Author
Description
Master of gibberish Lewis Carroll brings his inventive style of writing to life once more in the collection "Jabberwocky and Other Poems." Though most famous for his creation of Wonderland and Alice's fall into the uncanny world of the nonsensical, Carroll used his wordsmithing ability to form inventive rhymes and lexicons in this collection. Words like "bandersnatch," "chortled," "tulgey," and even "Jabberwocky" are inventions of Carroll's mind....
16) Man and Superman
Author
Description
Don Juan is more than just an infamous womaniser. For he has been the 'Don Juan' of Bryon's epic poem, the 'Don Giovanni' of Mozart's opera and the main man in the play 'The Trickster of Seville and the Stone Guest'. George Bernard Shaw added to Don Juan's many identities with his play 'Man and Superman', which is a four-act play based on the Don Juan theme.
It features John Tanner, an eloquent anarchist who is one of two men named in Mr. Whitefield's...
Author
Formats
Description
A searing satire on the British class system, social hypocrisy, and keeping up appearances, 'Lady Windemere's Fan' is one of Wilde's best-loved plays. Such is its popularity that it has been adapted for the silver screen a number of times, most recently in 2018, with Samantha Spiro and 'Absolutely Fabulous' star, Jennifer Saunders.
The play focuses on 21 year-old Lady Windemere, who has become convinced that her husband is embarking on an affair with...
18) Candida
Author
Formats
Description
"Candida" is the story of its title character, a woman who is married to the Reverend Morell. Candida is a woman of many talents and her husband has his wife to thank for much of his success. When a young man by the name of Marchbanks professes his love for Candida, Morell must reexamine his relationship with his wife and ultimately discovers a side to her that he never knew existed. "Candida" is a play written during a time of great empowerment of...
Author
Formats
Description
Mrs. Warren's Profession is a play written by George Bernard Shaw in 1894, and first performed in London in 1902. The title refers to prostitution. The story centres on the relationship between Mrs Kitty Warren and her daughter, Vivie. Mrs. Warren, a former prostitute and current brothel owner, is described as "on the whole, a genial and fairly presentable old blackguard of a woman." Vivie, an intelligent and pragmatic young woman who just graduated...
Author
Formats
Description
Oscar Wilde's "The Importance of Being Earnest" is a timeless comedic masterpiece that combines witty satire, social commentary, and farcical humor in a delightful theatrical concoction.
Set in the elegant drawing rooms of Victorian-era London, the play revolves around the hilarious deceptions of its characters, particularly Algernon Moncrieff and Jack Worthing. These dashing young men each maintain a fictitious persona-Algernon has invented a friend...
In Interlibrary Loan
Didn't find what you need? Items not owned by Flagstaff City Coconino County Public Library can be requested from other Interlibrary Loan libraries to be delivered to your local library for pickup.
Didn't find it?
Can't find what you are looking for? Try our Materials Request Service. Submit Request