Classic Poetry

In this modern audio version, you get to know the amazing world of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam and Edward FitzGerald. Discover how Rubiyat captured the world's imagination and became one of the most famous poems ever.

Today Byron is regarded as the ultimate romantic - a rebel, a Casanova, and a man of intense, brooding passion. He was the most famous literary man of his time, and his poetry, endlessly witty and often insightful, was immensely popular and hugely influential. From the delicate romanticism of "She Walks in Beauty" to the evocative reflections of "So We’ll Go No More a Roving", Byron’s poems were unrivaled in their power and potency.

John Donne, Andrew Marvell, George Herbert, Thomas Carew, and Henry Vaughan: these were some of the 17th-century writers who devised a new form of poetry full of wit, intellect and grace, which we now call Metaphysical poetry. They wrote about their deepest religious feelings and their carnal pleasures in a way that was radically new and challenging to their readers. Their work was largely misunderstood or ignored for two centuries, until 20th-century critics rediscovered it, finding in it a deep originality and a willingness to experiment.

In the beginning of Paradise Lost, Satan has ben banished to Hell and is working to organize the angels who fell with him and create his new kingdom. While a constant angelic war rages, Satan begins to wield his influence on the first humans created on Earth, and soon tempts them into defying God by using wit and logic to tempt Eve. The actions get Adam and Eve banished from paradise, and in the aftermath of their sin they get to glimpse the future of humanity based on their actions.

It's never been easy to be a hero. When Beowulf arrives at Hrothgar's hall, he discovers that the hall is beset by Grendel, an evil creature that kills and pillages with impunity. Beowulf, in heroic fashion, bests Grendel in combat, then follows Grendel back to his lair to finish the job.

The "Songs of Innocence" were published in 1789 and republished in 1794 together with the "Songs of Experience". They represent Blake's two perspectives on the world, that of the child (innocence) and that of the adult (experience). Blake's poetical works were largely neglected in their own time but are today considered some of the most brilliant of English verse. The "songs" are presented here together with "Auguries of Innocence".

In Stephen Mitchell's The Iliad, the epic story resounds again across 2,700 years, as if the lifeblood of its heroes Achilles and Patroclus, Hector, and Priam flows in every word. And we are there with them, amid the horror and ecstasy of war, carried along by a poetry that lifts even the most devastating human events into the realm of the beautiful. Mitchell's The Iliad is the first translation based on the work of the preeminent Homeric scholar Martin L. West.

The Roman poet Publius Ovidius Naso (Ovid) is best known for his epic poem Metamorphoses, a collection of myths and legends from Ancient Greece and Rome. His works continue to be widely read and admired, and he is regarded as one of the most significant poets of ancient Rome. Ovid’s love poems are both brilliant and evocative. In Amores, the romantic mysteriousness of elegiac love-poetry is exploded by his witty and ironic treatment of the form. Ars Amatoria and Remedia Amoris both lay down the rules for the game of love, which both sexes can play.

Wolfram von Eschenbach, a knight and a poet from 13th century Germany, is the author of this Arthurian romance. Parzival is the revival and completion of a narrative left incomplete by its initiator Chrétien de Troyes. It follows Parzival from his boyhood and career as a knight at the court of King Arthur to his ultimate achievement as King of the Temple of the Grail. This is both a tale of chivalry, and an epic quest for spiritual insight, as the hero Parzival must overcome his pride, and learn to be humble before he can finally win the Holy Grail.

This audiobook contains the most exciting and essential parts of the Iliad, capturing the final 50 days of the Trojan war and bringing to life ancient men and heroic battles. It provides an integral beginning to the infamous journey of Odysseus. Translated by Stanley Lombardo.

Presenting a delightful collection of children's favorite Mother Goose rhymes by Tomie dePaola. Young listeners and their parents will enjoy meeting up with familiar friends, including Old King Cole, Little Bo-Peep, Jack and Jill, and many more in an audiobook that is sure to be a story-hour favorite.

American poet, critic, and short-story writer Edgar Allan Poe is universally recognized for his cultivation of the macabre in fiction. His stories are characterized by an original kind of supernatural horror, often using the awareness of death as a catalyzing force in its own right. His tales and poems brim with psychological depth and intense imagery, made vivid through his musical language and hypnotic rhythms, which are especially captivating when heard aloud.

What begins with A? Aunt Annie's alligator! Learn the ABCs - the Dr. Seuss way.

Here is a massive collection of poems from classics through contemporary, grouped by poetry subject, including: Romance; Inspiration and faith; Lust, betrayal and lost love; Eternity; Growing up and growing old; Children; Ghosts, evil and superstition; Loss and sorrow; Nature; the Human condition; Working; that Make a Statement; Choices; War and Peace; and Writing, art, and poetry.

Climb up the beanstalk with Jack, march with the Duke of York and visit the bears with Goldilocks in Nursery Stories and Rhymes! These popular tales and rhymes read and sung by well-known children's TV presenters Floella Benjamin and Derek Griffiths, with added sound effects and music, will keep children listening again and again, at home or in the car.

Idealist, atheist, outcast, political radical and, of course, poet - Percy Bysshe Shelley was, in many ways, the epitome of the Romantic artist. His poetry was an outlet for his passionately held and highly unpopular beliefs, beliefs which resulted in social exclusion, exile, and possibly even his premature death at the age of 29. His work is a monument to his convictions and to the power of the human spirit, and today it is recognized as a key contribution to Romantic literature.

"Da “L’infinito” a “Il passero solitario”, da “A Silvia” a “Il sabato del villaggio”, 13 capolavori di Giacomo Leopardi. Fra testi imprescindibili e preziose riscoperte, in un compiuto affresco dalle scene di vita campestre ai più alti pensieri filosofici, tutto il mondo poetico di un grandissimo della letteratura italiana.

The original and immortal poem also known as "A Visit from St. Nicholas". Classic Tales narrator B. J. Harrison gives a stellar reading of this Christmas classic.

Martial was a Latin poet from Hispania best known for his 12 books of Epigrams, published in Rome between A.D. 86 and 103, during the reigns of the emperors Domitian, Nerva and Trajan. In these short, witty poems, he cheerfully satirises city life and the scandalous activities of his acquaintances, and romanticises his provincial upbringing.

In A Child's Garden of Verses, Stevenson catches the spirit of childhood in such charming poems as "At the Seaside", "Foreign Lands", "Bed In Summer", "The Land of Counterpane", and many more. Recipient of a 1983 Parents Choice Award.