The Cathay poems appeared in a slim volume in 1915. They are, in effect, Ezra Pound’s English translations/ interpretations from notebooks written by the Japanese scholar Ernest Fenollosa. Pound, not knowing any Chinese or Japanese at all, promptly created a new and somewhat complex style of translation, as he had done with words from several other languages. The Cathay poems are primarily written by the Chinese poet Li Po, refered to throughout these translations as Rihaku, the Japanese form of his name. These poems came to have a profound influence on 20th Century poetry, spawning, among other things, the Imagist movement, and helped in the generation of widespread interest in Asian ...

Librivox volunteers bring you 13 readings of Winter Sport, by an unknown author. This was the weekly poem for the week of November 23 - 30, 2014.

The Dhammapada is is a Buddhist scripture, containing 423 verses in 26 categories. According to tradition, these are verses spoken by the Buddha on various occasions, most of which deal with ethics. It is is considered one of the most important pieces of Theravada literature. Despite this, the Dhammapada is read by many Mahayana Buddhists and remains a very popular text across all schools of Buddhism. – Excerpted from Wikipedia

“The House that Jack Built” is a standard of juvenile literature that delights children and adults alike with the increasingly lengthy sentences, stretched to the breaking point, that make up its narrative. Through a chain of events, beginning with a rodent eating some grain and culminating in a festive wedding, children learn that playing with grammar can be fun! You can read along with this recording.

The original document is in Latin so this can only be a fairly rough approximation of the actual content. The text used is the first version in the Gutenberg collection. – Magna Carta is the most significant early influence on the long historical process that has led to the rule of constitutional law today. Magna Carta was originally created because of disagreements between the Pope, King John and his English barons over the rights of the King. Magna Carta required the king to renounce certain rights and respect certain legal procedures and to accept that the will of the king could be bound by law.

A recording of the first 2000 prime numbers (2-17389). Recommended listening for math fanatics and insomniacs!

This Ontario Public School textbook, published in 1922, contains some fascinating facts of a world which no longer exists. It seems politically incorrect in some of its descriptions by modern day standards.

One of the Pseudepigrapha, the Psalms of Solomon is a group of eighteen psalms (religious songs or poems) that are not part of any scriptural canon (they are, however, found in copies of the Peshitta). The Psalms of Solomon were referenced in Early Christian writings, but lost to modern scholars until a Greek manuscript was rediscovered in the 17th century. Politically, the Psalms of Solomon are anti-Maccabee, and some psalms in the collection show a clear awareness of the Roman conquest of Jerusalem under Pompey in 63 BCE, metaphorically treating him as a dragon who had been sent by God to punish the Maccabees.

The Odes of Solomon is a collection of 42 odes attributed to Solomon...

A book of short fables with morals.

Aus meinem Leben. Dichtung und Wahrheit ist eine zwischen 1808 und 1831 entstandene Autobiographie, in der Johann Wolfgang von Goethe seine Erlebnisse aus den Jahren 1749 bis 1775 liebevoll darstellt. Nach Richard Friedenthal ist diese mannigfaltig vorschreitende Lebensgeschichte einer der großen deutschen Romane – ein Hausbuch.