Poetry audiobooks page 44

Having been publicly acknowledged as God's "beloved Son," Jesus retires to the desert to meditate upon what it means to be the Messiah, about whose coming many conflicting opinions have been circulating among the Jews. Although a learned rabbi, Jesus possesses no knowledge beyond what is available to all human beings. Satan also takes a new interest in this favored "son of God" and seeks to learn what threat he constitutes. The poem consists of a debate between these two adversaries, each seeking the same understanding of precisely what mankind's Savior will do in a world where the way to success typically lies through "wealth . . . honour . . . arms . . . arts . . . Kingdom . . . Empire ...

John Clare (1793 – 1864) was a farm labourer in the village of Helpstone, Northamptonshire, who became arguably England’s greatest nature poet. He rose to fame when his ‘Poems Descriptive of Rural Life and Scenery’ was published in 1820. His language preserves many local dialect words in a mixture of classical forms and heart-felt love of country life and nature. The poems in this collection are from his early career, and are largely free of pointers to his later mental illness.

Evangeline is one of Longfellow’s most popular poems and was once a great favorite with the American people. For many years almost every school child studied this poem during the middle school years. Although the decline of the reputation of the once-idolized poet has also brought neglect to this classic, it is still a very touching and expertly written work of art. It is based upon the tragic expulsion of the French settlers from Acadia (located in the Canadian maritime provinces) during the French & Indian War (1754-1763). Many Acadians died as a result of their exile, and many families were separated, including the heroine of this poem and her betrothed. Although she is a fictional cha...

A collection to celebrate Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s 200th birthday, on 27th February, 2007.

Adam Mickiewicz is considered one of the greatest of Polish poets. Sonnets from the Crimea was composed during a trip to that region in 1825 and rapidly became one of the poet's most popular works. The sonnets are read in Polish and English.(Introduction by Algy Pug)

Il Canzoniere di Francesco Petrarca è stata una grande "rivoluzione" nella letteratura europea in volgare: è il primo caso di canzoniere stricto sensu, cioè una raccolta organica di liriche "costruita" dall'autore in una prospettiva di unitarietà.

E in effetti Petrarca, nonostante la intitolasse Rerum vulgarium fragmenta ("Frammenti di cose volgari"; il titolo "Canzoniere" verrà attribuito solo nel XVI sec.), ha scrupolosamente curato per tutta la vita la realizzazione di quest'opera, selezionando, limando, cambiando la disposizione dei componimenti, di cui persino il numero (366) ha un valore strutturale: i giorni dell'anno più un proemio, o dell'anno bisestile in cui era morta...

Mostly a collection of story-telling poems told by a group of friends in a tavern late one night. "Tales" includes the famous Paul Revere's ride, together with poems of many tales, countries and styles.

The Joyful Wisdom (later translated as The Gay Science), written in 1882, just before Zarathustra, is rightly judged to be one of Nietzsche’s best books. Here the essentially grave and masculine face of the poet-philosopher is seen to light up and suddenly break into a delightful smile. The warmth and kindness that beam from his features will astonish those hasty psychologists who have never divined that behind the destroyer is the creator, and behind the blasphemer the lover of life. In the retrospective valuation of his work which appears in Ecce Homo the author himself observes with truth that the fourth book, “Sanctus Januarius,” deserves especia...

LibriVox volunteers bring you 13 recordings of Thrice Toss Those Oaken Ashes in the Air by Thomas Campion. This was the Weekly Poetry project for February 10, 2013.Thomas Campion was an English composer, poet, and physician. He wrote over a hundred lute songs; masques for dancing, and an authoritative technical treatise on music.

This is a collection of short poems and readings, both religious and secular, on death and bereavement.