Classic Poetry

Walt Whitman explores the freedom of the wanderer, the sorrow of the pallbearer, and the spirit of the adventurer in his remarkable collection of poems, Leaves Of Grass. Both an explorer of cultural thought and a lover of sensual pleasure, Whitman champions the cause of common men, and revels in emotional and physical love. In plain and beautiful language, Whitman redefined the world of poetry.

"L'Orlando furioso" (1516) è un poema cavalleresco che racconta le avventure del paladino Orlando, innamorato di Angelica, che impazzisce quando scopre che la sua amata ha una relazione con un altro uomo. L'opera ha una trama molto stratificata che si sviluppa sostanzialmente su tre narrazioni principali: quella militare, costituita dalla guerra tra i paladini, difensori della religione cristiana, e i Saraceni infedeli; quella amorosa, incentrata sulla fuga di Angelica e sulla pazzia di Orlando, e infine quella encomiastica, con cui si lodava la grandezza dei duchi d'Este.

Dispute over land and kingdom may lie at the heart of this story of war between cousins - the Pandavas and the Kouravas - but the Mahabharata is about conflicts of dharma. These conflicts are immense and various, singular and commonplace. Throughout the epic, characters face them with no clear indications of what is right and what is wrong; there are no absolute answers. Thus every possible human emotion features in the Mahabharata, the reason the epic continues to hold sway over our imagination.

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.

The spectrum of all of human life, as portrayed in the poem, will unfold with breathtaking variety, drama, thought, and beauty: In the middle of the journey of our life / I found myself in a dark wood, where the straight path was lost. The process of listening to Dante’s Comedy is a journey into not just literature but into the mysteries of human nature and its capacity for unhappiness and happiness, folly and wisdom, rejection and wonder over the miracles of creation and existence.

The Bronte Sisters: A Collection of Poems. While the novels of the Bronte sisters are much beloved, their beautiful works of poetry often go unnoticed. This collection contains all their poetical works, pieced together by Charlotte, who provides illuminating commentary on her dear sisters' words. The collection was first published under the names Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell.

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".

This translation with its admirable projection of the various moods throughout the poem can be recommended to both classicist and non-classicist. -( The Classical World)

Distinguished actor and six-time Academy Award nominee Richard Burton reads a selection of his favourite poetry. Volume 2 in this dramatic audiobook series includes selections from William Shakespeare, John Donne, and Thomas Hardy....

Complete and unabridged, and read with meticulous care, in this story Miles Standish and John Alden both seek the hand of the fair Priscilla. See the Mayflower abandon the first settlers as it returns to England. Feel the heated vision of the Indians, perpetually keeping their watch in the dark forest. Love and adventure collide in one of Longfellow's most famous works

Included in this collection are major works by Matthew Arnold, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Robert Browning, William Blake, Rupert Brooke, Robert Burns, Lord Byron, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Abraham Crowley, William Cooper, John Donne, Michael Drayton, John Dryden, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Oliver Goldsmith, Thomas Hardy, Robert Herrick, Thomas Gray, Ben Johnson, John Keats, John Lyly, Christopher Marlowe, Andrew Marvell, John Milton, Alexander Pope, Sir Walter Raleigh, Christina Rossetti, Sir Walter Scott, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Robert Southey and more!

>"The Raven" is an appropriate supernatural poem for the Halloween period. First published in 1845, it has long been a favourite of Edgar Allan Poe enthusiasts. Expertly voiced by Phillip J. Mather, this performance brings a musicality to the language of the poem, luring the listener into the desolate scene and keeping him spellbound as the tale unfolds.

Out of the mixture of Latin and Germanic paganism and the Christianity of the Early Middle Ages has sprung one of the world's supremely great pieces of literature. J.R.R. Tolkien, author of The Lord of the Rings, delivered a famous lecture to the British Academy in 1936 in which he maintained that Beowulf was a poem all of a piece, and not (as had been suggested) a jumble of fragments for pedantic scholars to paw over.

Yves Bonnefoy lit ses propres textes, fragments de sa première œuvre "Du mouvement et de l'immobilité du Douve", parue en 1953 jusqu'aux "Planches courbes", recueil publié en 2001. L'unité de l'écriture, en dialogue avec elle-même, se révèle dans la voix de son auteur. Le jeu de miroir, déjà présent dans l'œuvre d'Yves Bonnefoy, prend toute sa dimension dans le mouvement de son propre souffle, dans la respiration du poète qui lit ses vers, à la fois réflexifs et attachés au réel.

“If music be the food of love, play on" was one of Shakespeare’s finest lines. If music is food then poetry is the wine. In this volume of classic love poetry the flavoured capture of words and rhythms makes us think more carefully of words and their value to us. They also surprise us with their structure and meaning, layering in thoughts and emotions that we might otherwise shy away from. Poems are wonderful ways to express what we feel for a very special someone.

La trama dell' Orlando Furioso è un grandioso susseguirsi di duelli e battaglie, di incontri imprevisti, di mostri e di magie, di castelli incantati e sterminati viaggi fin sulla luna. Il fascino di questo poema non risiede soltanto nel vertiginoso ritmo di avventure che vi sono narrate, ma anche dalla continua e naturale mescolanza fra realtà e sogno. Nel groviglio di storie che compongono il poema ritroviamo i temi dell'amicizia e dell'inganno, della fedeltà e della infedeltà, della lealtà e del tradimento, della prodezza e della superbia.

Are you looking for a short story for your children? This one has a good moral and teaches not to trust strangers. "Little Red Riding Hood" is a European fairy-tale about a young girl and a big bad wolf. Its origins can be traced back to the 10th century to several European folk tales, including one from Italy called "The False Grandmother". The best known version was written by Charles Perrault.

The poem "Song of Myself" by Walt Whitman first appeared in his 1855 volume Leaves of Grass. "Song of Myself" is written in Whitman’s signature free verse style. The "I" of the narrator should not be confused with the person of the historical Walt Whitman, as the first-person persona is portrayed as having transcended the conventional boundaries of self. Most critics consider "Song of Myself" as the core of Whitman’s poetic vision, and it remains one of the most acclaimed of all American poems.

Robert Browning (1812-1889), playright and poet, is known and admired for his dramatic monologues in blank verse, of which he is a recognized master. He was not always popular in his own time but is now considered one of the foremost poets of Victorian England.

Some of the greatest poets and lovers in the English language speak of their love in this seductive and romantic collection. Here are the voices of Romeo, Robert Burns, Lord Byron and many others.