Author:Juvenal,Peter Green,Peter Green,Peter Green

Perhaps more than any other writer, Juvenal (c. AD 55-138) captures the splendour, the squalor and the sheer energy of everyday Roman life. In The Sixteen Satires he evokes a fascinating world of whores, fortune-tellers, boozy politicians, slick lawyers, shameless sycophants, ageing flirts and downtrodden teachers. A member of the traditional land-owning class that was rapidly seeing power slip into the hands of outsiders, Juvenal also creates savage portraits of decadent aristocrats - male and female - seeking excitement among the lower orders of actors and gladiators, and of the jumped-up sons of newly-rich former slaves. Constantly comparing the corruption of his own generation with its stern and upright forebears, Juvenal's powers of irony and invective make his work a stunningly satirical and bitter denunciation of the degeneracy of Roman society
Ruth Padel combines two major gifts: she is both a distinguished poet and a quite exceptional reader of the poetry of others... The result is a book which opens doors, which bids us share with its author and the poems she has chosen a wealth of insight
—— George SteinerShe argues away the idea that contemporary poetry is "difficult": all it needs is a little work and the rewards are great
—— Sunday TimesA brilliant snapshot of contemporary poetry. Padel writes with incisive intelligence, particularly in her lively and provocative introduction on gender-related power in the poetry world and why poetry has "lost its audience
—— Christina Patterson, Director of the Poetry Society , IndependentShe chooses her poems with impeccable taste, an anthologist of the very best contemporary poetry
—— The TimesA great gift for any student or poetry virgin who wonders what all the excitement is about
—— Glasgow Herald






