Piranesi sissay While contemporary critics mocked him

While contemporary critics mocked him as a “Cockney poet” and an uneducated lower-class “apothecary” who aspired to poetry

dazzling investigation into what it means to be alone

Sears unearthed a trove of beautiful verse that was just waiting to be discovered

Castruccio Castracani came from humble beginnings as a foundling

The collection also includes 'The Idiots'

Piranesi sissay While contemporary critics mocked himPiranesis house is no ordinary building: its rooms are infinite, its corridors endless, its walls are lined with thousands upon thousands of statues, each one different from all the others. Within the labyrinth of halls an ocean is imprisoned; waves thunder up staircases, rooms are flooded in an instant. But Piranesi is not afraid; he understands the tides as he understands the pattern of the labyrinth itself. He lives to explore the house. There is