Poetry

The Odyssey

• UNABRIDGED (13 hrs and 26 mins)
• By Homer, Robert Fagles - translator
• Narrated By Ian McKellen
• Whispersync for Voice-ready

The great adventure story tells of Odysseus, a veteran of the Trojan War, who - through a landscape peopled with monsters, sea nymphs, evil enchantresses, and vengeful gods - makes his tortuous way home to his faithful wife, Penelope. Shipwrecked numerous times, faced with apparently insurmountable obstacles, offered the temptations of ease, comfort, and even immortality, Odysseus remains steadfast and determined. Themes of courage and perseverance, fidelity and fortitude.

Homer Box Set: Iliad & Odyssey

• UNABRIDGED (25 hrs and 3 mins)
• By Homer, W. H. D. Rouse - translator
• Narrated By Anthony Heald

Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey are unquestionably two of the greatest epic masterpieces in Western literature. Though more than 2,700 years old, their stories of brave heroics, capricious gods, and towering human emotions are vividly timeless. The Iliad can justly be called the world’s greatest war epic. The terrible and long-drawn-out siege of Troy remains one of the classic campaigns. The Odyssey chronicles the many trials and adventures Odysseus must pass through on his long journey home from the Trojan wars to his beloved wife.

The Iliad

• UNABRIDGED (22 hrs and 12 mins)
• By Homer, Richmond Lattimore - translator
• Narrated By Charlton Griffin

The Iliad is one of the most enduring creations of Western Civilization and was originally written to be recited or chanted to the accompaniment of various instruments. Properly performed, this work today is just as meaningful, just as powerful and just as entertaining as it was in the ninth century B.C.,and it casts its spell upon modern listeners with the same raw intensity as it did upon the people of ancient times.

The Iliad: The Fitzgerald Translation

• UNABRIDGED (13 hrs and 59 mins)
• By Homer, Robert Fitzgerald - translator
• Narrated By Dan Stevens

Since it was first published more than 25 years ago, Robert Fitzgerald's prizewinning translation of Homer's battle epic has become a classic in its own right: a standard against which all other versions of The Iliad are compared. Fitzgerald's work is accessible, ironic, faithful, written in a swift vernacular blank verse that "makes Homer live as never before" (Library Journal).

The Waste Land and Other Poems

• UNABRIDGED (1 hr and 9 mins)
• By T. S. Eliot
• Narrated By Ted Hughes

'The Waste Land' is a landmark in 20th-century poetry. Here it is read by the late Poet Laureate Ted Hughes. Published in 1922, it is a brilliant exploration of a faithless, immoral society trying to rebuild itself after the devastation of the Great War. Rich in literary references and steeped in allusive and evocative imagery, 'The Waste Land' is widely considered to be the pinnacle of modernist poetry.

Poems of the Orient

• UNABRIDGED (2 hrs and 34 mins)
• By Rumi, Sa'di, Hafiz
• Narrated By David Timson, Madhav Sharma

The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyam, in the famous translation by Edward Fitzgerald, remains one of the most popular poems. Here, it forms the main work on the first half of this program, along with other shorter poems by other leading Persian and Indian figures, including Rumi, Sa'di, and Rabindranath Tagore.

The Divine Comedy

• UNABRIDGED (13 hrs and 18 mins)
• By Dante Alighieri
• Narrated By Ralph Cosham

One of the greatest works in literature, Dante's story-poem is an allegory that represents mankind as it exposes itself, by its merits or demerits, to the rewards or the punishments of justice. A single listen will reveal Dante's visual imagination and uncanny power to make the spiritual visible.

The Classic Hundred Poems

• ABRIDGED (6 hrs and 1 min)
• By William Shakespeare, William Wordsworth, W.B. Yeats, and others
• Narrated By Alfred Corn, Rita Dove

Adopting the methodology of the music charts, The Classic Hundred Poems presents the "top 100" poems of all time. The selections are illuminated by the informative notes of editor William Harmon and read by an ensemble of contemporary poets including Alfred Corn and Rita Dove.

The Odyssey: The Fitzgerald Translation

• UNABRIDGED (10 hrs and 15 mins)
• By Homer, Robert Fitzgerald - translator
• Narrated By Dan Stevens

Robert Fitzgerald's translation of The Odyssey has been the standard translation for more than three generations of students and poets. Macmillan Audio is delighted to publish the first ever audio edition of this classic work, the greatest of all epic poems. Fitzgerald's supple verse is ideally suited for audio, recounting the story of Odysseus' long journey back to his wife and home after the Trojan War. Homer's tale of love, adventure, food and drink, sensual pleasure, and mortal danger reaches the English-language listener in all its glory.

Beowulf: A New Translation

• ABRIDGED (2 hrs and 15 mins)
• By Seamus Heaney
• Narrated By Seamus Heaney

Seamus Heaney’s new translation of Beowulf is a work that is both true to the original poem and an expression of something fundamental to Heaney’s own creative gift.One of the great classics of English literature, it tells the story of a hero who wins glory and learns wisdom and is then called upon to face a final test against the monstrous. There are obvious parallels to be found in the history of the twentieth century, and Heaney’s Beowulf cannot fail to be read partly in the light of his Northern Irish upbringing. But it also transcends such considerations, revealing psychological and spiritual truths that are both permanent and liberating.

The Classical Poetry Collection, Volume 3

• UNABRIDGED (48 mins)
• By John Keats, William Wordsworth, William Shakespeare, and others
• Narrated By Ralph Richardson, Richard Burton, Dylan Thomas, and others

The finest voices reading a wonderful selection of poetry accompanied by selected classical music.

The Aeneid

• UNABRIDGED (13 hrs and 1 min)
• By Virgil
• Narrated By David Collins

The masterpiece of Rome's greatest poet, Virgil's Aeneid has inspired generations of readers and holds a central place in Western literature. The epic tells the story of a group of refugees from the ruined city of Troy, whose attempts to reach a promised land in the West are continually frustrated by the hostile goddess Juno. Finally reaching Italy, their leader, Aeneas, is forced to fight a bitter war against the natives to establish the foundations from which Rome is destined to rise.

Complete Poetry: Sonnets and Narrative Poems

• UNABRIDGED (6 hrs and 13 mins)
• By William Shakespeare
• Narrated By Charlton Griffin

The sonnets are a collection numbering 154 poems dealing with themes such as the passage of time, love, beauty, and mortality. They were probably written over a long period of Shakespeare's life up until 1609, when they were first printed. The first 17 poems, traditionally referred to as the "procreation sonnets", are addressed to a young man urging him to marry and have children in order to immortalize his beauty by passing it on to his descendants.

The Great Poets: John Keats

• UNABRIDGED (1 hr and 7 mins)
• By John Keats
• Narrated By Samuel West, Michael Sheen

John Keats was largely unappreciated during his lifetime and died in Rome at the age of 26. Most of his 150 poems were written in just nine extraordinary months in 1819. This selection contains some of his finest works, including the principal "Odes", "La Belle Dame Sans Merci", "Old Meg", and "Much Have I Travelled".

T. S. Eliot reading his poems and choruses

• UNABRIDGED (49 mins)
• By T. S. Eliot
• Narrated By T. S. Eliot

A selection of poems and choruses read by T. S. Eliot himself, recorded in 1959. Poems : A song for Simeon, Ash wednesday, Family reunion Act II, Marina, Mr Eliot's Sunday morning, Murder in the cathedral Part I, O light invisible from the roc, Portrait of a Lady, Preludes, The love song of Alfred Prufo, Triumphal march from Coriolan.

The Invitation

• UNABRIDGED (4 hrs and 30 mins)
• By Oriah Mountain Dreamer
• Narrated By Oriah Mountain Dreamer

Speaking from the heart, Oriah Mountain Dreamer invites you to confront the varieties of human experience, from desire and commitment to sorrow and betrayal, and challenges you to open repeatedly to love and life. Unique, practical, and often surprising, The Invitation is an invaluable guide to living the ecstasy of everyday life, learning to recognize true beauty in yourself and the world, and finding the sustenance your spirit longs for.

The Essential Dylan Thomas

• ORIGINAL (4 hrs and 52 mins)
• By Dylan Thomas
• Narrated By Dylan Thomas, Richard Bebb, Jason Hughes, and others

This varied, well-chosen selection brings onto one audiobook the best of Dylan Thomas. Here is the legendary recording of "Under Milk Wood", with Richard Burton and Richard Bebb as narrators; but here also are two radio productions he wrote before that great classic, and though interesting in their own right, they show how "Under Milk Wood" grew gradually in his imagination.

The Iliad of Homer

• ORIGINAL (6 hrs and 4 mins)
• By The Great Courses
• Narrated By Professor Elizabeth Vandiver

For thousands of years, Homer's ancient epic poem the Iliad has enchanted readers from around the world. When you join Professor Vandiver for this lecture series on the Iliad, you'll come to understand what has enthralled and gripped so many people.Her compelling 12-lecture look at this literary masterpiece -whether it's the work of many authors or the "vision" of a single blind poet - makes it vividly clear why, after almost 3,000 years, the Iliad remains not only among the greatest adventure stories ever told but also one of the most compelling meditations on the human condition ever written.

The Divine Comedy

• UNABRIDGED (17 hrs and 13 mins)
• By Dante Alighieri, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (translator)
• Narrated By Charlton Griffin
• Whispersync for Voice-ready

Dante's Divine Comedy is considered to be not only the most important epic poem in Italian literature, but also one of the greatest poems ever written. It consists of 100 cantos, and (after an introductory canto) they are divided into three sections. Each section is 33 cantos in length, and they describe how Dante and a guide travel through Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso.

The Poetry of W. B. Yeats

• UNABRIDGED (1 hr and 9 mins)
• By William Butler Yeats
• Narrated By William Butler Yeats, Siobhan McKenna

A wonderful selection of Yeats' finest work, read by the author himself along with Siobhan McKenna and others.

The Bees

• UNABRIDGED (1 hr and 24 mins)
• By Carol Ann Duffy
• Narrated By Carol Ann Duffy

The Bees is Carol Ann Duffy's first collection of poems as Poet Laureate. In it she uses her full poetic range: there are drinking songs, love poems, poems of political anger; there are elegies, too, for beloved friends and - most movingly - the poet's own mother. Woven and weaving through the book is its presiding spirit: the bee.

William Wordsworth: Selected Poems

• UNABRIDGED (31 mins)
• By William Wordsworth
• Narrated By Steve Patriarca

"William Wordsworth - Selected Poems" is a selection of popular poems by William Wordsworth, which all describe an experience (what Wordsworth termed "the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings") which is recollected in tranquillity. That recollection stimulates the power of the human mind, the 'inward eye' or the imagination. Selected and narrated by Steve Patriarca, these readings are made in the hope that the audience will not only enjoy the poems but also find in them new power and meaning.

John Keats: Selected Poems

• UNABRIDGED (13 mins)
• By John Keats
• Narrated By Steve Patriarca

John Keats (31 October 1795 - 23 February 1821) was an English Romantic poet. He was one of the main figures of the second generation of Romantic poets, along with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley, despite his works having been in publication for only four years before his death aged 25 in the year 1821. Although his poems were not generally well received by critics during his lifetime, his reputation grew after his death, and by the end of the 19th century, he had become one of the most beloved of all English poets.

Poe Classic: 2 Books: A Quick Beginners Guide to Edgar Allan Poe & A Quick Advance Guide to Edgar Allan Poe

• UNABRIDGED (24 mins)
• By Sarah Bailey
• Narrated By Joel Crow

A wonderful two book bonus: For the first time, available for your listening pleasure is the life of Edgar Allan Poe. We've combined both the beginners and the advance guides which demystify who he was, what he has done, and how his life ended. This is a wonderful collection that provides many important and detailed facts about Edgar Allan Poe.

The Book of Modern British Verse

• UNABRIDGED (5 hrs and 16 mins)
• By William Stanley Braithwaite - editor
• Narrated By Denis Daly

This anthology, first published in 1919, is very much a record of its time. Many of the poems deal with the cataclysmic trauma of World War One and the emergence of a new world order after the fading of the Edwardian era. Among the authors of the 151 poems can be found the names of Rupert Brooke and Ivor Gurney, best known as war poets, as well as James Joyce and the mystic philosopher Evelyn Underhill.

Fifty Poems of Emily Dickinson

• UNABRIDGED (38 mins)
• By Emily Dickinson, New Millennium Audio - producer
• Narrated By Glenda Jackson, Stephanie Beacham, Sharon Stone, and others

Four well-known actresses read these poems by one of the greatest American poets of the 19th century. Beginning always with particulars of personal experience, her poems encompass life and death, love and longing, joyfulness and sorrow. With sparse, precise language, she conveys a penetrating vision of the natural world and an acute understanding of the most profound human truths.

Evangeline: A Tale of Acadie

• UNABRIDGED (2 hrs and 1 min)
• By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
• Narrated By David Stifel
• Whispersync for Voice-ready

A classic tale of doomed romance, Longfellow's classic epic poem reminds us that man's inhumanity to man and refugees have been with us many centuries. The story of how the Cajuns came to Louisiana is only a part of this moving, evocative poem. Two lovers separated by a cruel fate stand against a canvas of America in the making.

Beowulf

• UNABRIDGED (2 hrs and 12 mins)
• By Francis Barton Gummere
• Narrated By Austin Vanfleet
• Whispersync for Voice-ready

Dating from between the 8th and 11th century Beowulf is the oldest known English epic poem. Beowulf is a narrative poem about the kings and heroes of Denmark and Geatland. It is a story of mythic creatures and medieval battles between men and monsters. Follow the adventures of Beowulf, the story's title character, as he battles the Grendel, the Grendel's mother, and a dragon.