Showing titles in Ancient, Classical & Medieval Literature

Richard II is dangerously out of touch with his kingdom. He wastes money, raises taxes to support his lavish lifestyle, plays favorites, and cares more about his vanity than the common good. When Henry Bolingbroke - father of the future Henry V - challenges Richard for the throne, it's a fight the king can't win. But in losing his crown he gains far greater things: his humanity and his soul.

Antigone stood defiant in the face of tyranny. Best-selling and award winning author Colm Tóibín wrote this new dramatisation of the Greek tragedy especially to be performed by Irish actor Lisa Dwan. Pale Sister gives voice to Antigone’s sister, Ismene, who recounts her sister’s defiance of the king as pressures mount on her to act to vindicate her sister, or even follow her example. Pale Sister tells Antigone’s story through Ismene: the quiet person in the corner, bearing witness to everything.

Vuelve la mitología griega narrada como un buen salseo: ahora le toca a Hércules contar su historia. La nueva novela mitológica de Pol Gise, creador de contenido con más de 3 millones de seguidores en redes, después del éxito conseguido con su primera novela Hades, el dios menos malo.

The Odyssey is the greatest adventure story ever written, and one of the great epic masterpieces of Western literature For almost 3,000 years, it has been a storehouse of ancient Greek folklore and myth. It is also our very first novel, if we think of it in terms of romantic plot development, realistic characterizations, frequent change of scene, and heroic dramatic devices.

The Waste Land and Other Poems by T. S. Eliot, read by Edoardo Ballerini. To mark the centenary of the publication of The Waste Land, by T. S. Eliot, Faber & Faber, in association with the T. S. Eliot Foundation, commissioned this new recording of T. S. Eliot's major poems, narrated by Edoardo Ballerini. Ballerini is widely regarded as the brightest star of the audiobook era, one of the finest narrators of literature today.

A collection of the finest work of one of America's best-loved poets. Despite Dickinson's prolific writing, fewer than a dozen of her poems were published during her lifetime. Critics now consider Dickinson to be a major American poet. Read by Julie Harris.

America a Prophecy (1793) is the first book in Blake’s Continental Prophecies - the other two being Europe a Prophecy (1794) and The Song of Los (1795). The poem was engraved on 18 plates with illustrations by Blake, and survives in 14 known copies. Written during a time of great political and social upheaval, Blake uses his own complex invented mythology to explore the human need to resist tyranny. His verse is rich in metaphor, powerful, and apocalyptic in scope.

A Woman of No Importance takes place in a 24-hour period during a house party hosted by Lady Hunstanton at her country estate. The upper echelons of English society mix, mingle and flirt, including Lady Caroline Pontefract (who is on her fourth husband), the witty and ironic Mrs. Allonby and the dandyish Lord Illingworth. Wilde balances these worldly characters with a visiting young American woman, Hester Worsley.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream is one of William Shakespeare’s most well-known comedies and is arguably one of his most beloved plays. The play tells the tale of the misadventures of the people gathering to participate in their marriage of the duke of Athens and Hippolyta, former queen of the Amazons.

The Theogony "the genealogy or birth of the gods" is a poem by Hesiod (8th – 7th century BC) describing the origins and genealogies of the Greek gods, composed c. 730–700 BC. It is written in the Epic dialect of Ancient Greek and contains 1022 lines. Hesiod's Theogony is a large-scale synthesis of a vast variety of local Greek traditions concerning the gods, organized as a narrative that tells how they came to be and how they established permanent control over the cosmos. It is the first known Greek mythical cosmogony.

Antigone by Sophocles, is a classic Greek tragedy that unfolds against the backdrop of Thebes. The play delves into the profound ethical and moral dilemmas faced by its characters, with Antigone at the center of a conflict between personal convictions and civic duty. The narrative begins with the aftermath of a brutal war, where two brothers, Eteocles and Polynices, have fallen on opposing sides. Antigone, their sister, defies the king's decree and buries Polynices, setting the stage for a clash between divine law and human authority.

This Greek tragedy is based on the myth of Prometheus, a Titan who, in defiance of the gods, gives fire to mankind, an act for which he is subjected to perpetual punishment.The play consists almost entirely of speeches since the protagonist is chained throughout.

Argonautika is the story of Jason and the Argonauts and their quest for the Golden Fleece. This epic story of gods and goddesses, mythical beasts, thrilling adventures, and narrow escapes may be the oldest surviving Greek myth, which Homer referred to as something "familiar to all." Listen to this masterpiece of classical literature in an all-new translation that captures the timeless magic and quiet humor of this ancient legend.

Victor Hugo is one of the best-known French writers, and is part of the greatest literary figures of all time. His poetry made him famous very early, cementing his reputation as one of the greatest lyric poets when he was only 20 years old. He was also a novelist and a dramatist, and furthered the cause of Romanticism, this exalted artistic movement which toyed with Sublime and soared on the winds of emotion.

For students of Middle English, Andrew and Waldron's The Poems of the Pearl Manuscript has been the key edition of the four Pearl poems for over 30 years. With the changing needs of today's students in mind, the editors produced a complete prose translation of the four poems - the best known of which is "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight". The near-literal translations are intended to facilitate understanding of the four poems - to lead readers to, rather than away from, the original texts.

Andrew Marvell was born in Winestead-in-Holderness, in the East Riding of Yorkshire on March 31st, 1621. He was educated at Hull Grammar School, and at the age of 13 he attended Trinity College, Cambridge, and eventually received his BA degree. It is thought that in 1642 Marvell travelled in Europe and, while England was embroiled in its civil war, remained there until 1647, mastering several languages including French, Italian and Spanish.

Plato's dialogue, Critias, recalls the story of Atlantis attempting to conquer Athens. In ancient times, the Earth was divide by the gods - and gods tended the humans in their allotment as shepherds. Atlantis, allotted to Poseidon, becomes corrupt over time, and Zeus must take matters into his own hands.

The Iliad is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the Odyssey, the poem is divided into 24 books and was written in dactylic hexameter. It contains 15,693 lines in its most widely accepted version. Set towards the end of the Trojan War, a ten-year siege of the city of Troy by a coalition of Mycenaean Greek states, the poem depicts significant events in the siege's final weeks.

The Iliad, set 9 years into the Trojan War, tells the story of the wrath of Achilles. The Odyssey tells the story of Odysseus as he wearily travels home from the war. The two epics provide the basis of Greek education and culture in the classical age. They have long remained among the most significant poems of European tradition. Produced here in full cast arrangement and narrated by Rob Goll, one can experience these age-old stories in a brand new way.

Francesco Petrarch’s Canzoniere (translated in English as ‘Scattered Rhymes’) is a collection of 14th century poems famed for their exploration of love, grief, spirituality and nature. Peter Thornton's accessible new translation brings Petrarch to the 21st century in direct, rhymed, English verse - for academics and poetry enthusiasts alike.