by Emily Dickinson (1890)
Emily Dickinson lived as a recluse in Amherst, Massachusetts, dedicating herself to covertly writing some of the most startling, unconventional, and visionary verses in English literature. Her slant rhymes, idiosyncratic punctuation, and acute meditations on death, ecstasy, and nature transformed poetry.
Walt Whitman
First published in 1855, Leaves of Grass announced the arrival of America’s most distinct, boisterous poetic voice. Celebrating the divine beauty of the human body, democracy, brotherhood, and the open road, Walt Whitman broke with traditional rhyme schemes to pioneer modern free verse.
Sylvia Plath
The electrifying collection of poems written in the frantic final months of Sylvia Plath's life, containing legendary masterpieces including "Lady Lazarus", "Daddy", and "Edge", defining mid-century confessional verse.
Friedrich Nietzsche, R.J. Hollingdale
A poetic philosophical masterpiece in which the prophet Zarathustra descends from his mountain cave to preach the death of God, the arrival of the Übermensch, and the eternal return of all things.
F. Scott Fitzgerald
The exemplary novel of the Jazz Age, F. Scott Fitzgerald's third book stands as the supreme achievement of his career. First published in 1925, this quintessential story of the decadence and excess of the Roaring Twenties follows the mysterious millionaire Jay Gatsby and his quixotic passion for Daisy Buchanan.