Classic Poetry

This follow-up to The Bippolo Seed and Other Lost Stories features familiar Seussian faces and places - including Horton the Elephant, Marco, Mulberry Street, and a Grinch - as well as an introduction by renowned Seuss scholar Charles D. Cohen. Seuss fans will learn more about Horton’s integrity, Marco’s amazing imagination, a narrowly avoided disaster on Mullbery Street, and a devious Grinch.

Published to great acclaim in 1873, Walter Pater’s compendium of idiosyncratic, impressionistic essays on the Renaissance gained him a reputation as a daring modern philosopher. Oscar Wilde called it the “holy writ of beauty.” It was Pater’s cry of “art for art’s sake” that became the manifesto for the aesthetic movement. He believed that art should be sensual and that beauty should rank as the highest ideal. Marked by elegant fluency, Pater’s essays discuss Botticelli, Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and other artists who, for him, embodied the spirit of the Renaissance.

This insightful look into one of mankind's favorite artists traces the magic and melancholy of Vincent Van Gogh. Out of Vincent's letters to his brother Theo, as collected by Irving Stone, we have selected an exciting and sensitive series of quotations. The quotations in My Life and Love Are One revolve around three themes - love, art, and turmoil. Centered around emotion and creation, Vincent's writing and philosophy is as expressive as his art.

The Epic of Gilgamesh is the oldest surviving literary work in the world. The epic poetry describes the ancient King Gilgamesh and his journey to discover the secret to eternal life.

Edgar Allan Poe was one of the greatest lyric poets of the English language. But his early work as a writer went unrecognized, and he was forced to earn his living in the newspaper business, working as an editor in Richmond, Philadelphia, and New York. Although he was respected as a literary critic, his poetry and short stories were neglected until the publication of The Raven and Other Poems in 1845, which propelled him to instant fame.

Paradise Lost is one of the most brilliant works of poetry ever written in the English language. With ease and grace, John Milton's words paint a picture of the fall of man, epically layering his words with all the innocence and treachery that such a fantastic tale deserves. Through Milton's words we witness the downfall of Adam and Eve as well as the epic battle between good and evil.

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.

A selection of Alexander Pope's finest poetry read by George Rylands, Peggy Ashcroft, and Emma Topping.

Byron was the ideal of the Romantic poet, gaining notoriety for his scandalous private life and being described by one contemporary as "mad, bad and dangerous to know". Here, Tyrone Power reads a selection of his finest work.

A classical collection of recitations by the master narrator Zia Mohyeddin. Volume 10 includes: "Angrezi Adab Para"; "Ek Tukra"; "Kuttay", by Sir Syed Ahmad; "Josh Malih Abadi"; "Nazm Noon Meem Rashid"; "Nazm Meera Jee"; "Khat Mohammad Ali Redolvi"; "Baccha Nahin Hota"; "Ghazal Nasir Kazmi"; "Al Shajri", by Azeem Baig Chughtai: "Nazm", by Noon Meem Rashid; "Ghazal", by Faiz; and "Ghazal", by Faiz and Khamooshi.

Robert Browning's intensely romantic love affair with Elizabeth Barrett inspired some of literature's most celebrated verse. His view that love is the key to the meaning of life and life's animating force is evident in these collected poems.

The Night Before Christmas by Clement Clarke Moore performed by Glenn Haskell will no doubt become a Christmas tradition in many homes.

Una historia irresistible y un mensaje al puro estilo de Roald Dahl: no crezcas nunca, aunque te hagas mayor.

Also known as the Roman Elegies, Erotica Romana is von Goethe's literary tribute to human sexuality and eroticism. Written in 24 elegies to emulate classical Roman elegy writers such as Tibullus, Propertius, and Catullus, von Goethe creates a lyrical work of art that has often been subject to censorship because of the erotic content.

John Clare was the forgotten Romantic poet, until the late 20th century. Known by his contemporaries as the Peasant Poet, he recorded in his poems the natural landscape of rural England before the Industrial Revolution. His poems rival Wordsworth’s for their sensitivity to nature and pantheism: ‘I feel a beautiful providence ever about me,’ Clare wrote. But his life was a long struggle against poverty and mental collapse. Some of his finest poems were written in the local asylum

The oldest long poem in Old English, written about AD 1,000, Beowulf tells the story of a great warrior of southern Scandinavia, in both youth and maturity. The monster Grendel terrorizes the Scyldings of Hrothgar's Danish Kingdom until Beowulf defeats him. As a result, he has to face her enraged mother. Beowulf dies after a battle against a fierce dragon.

Scottish poetry is a powerful, beautiful expression of Country and Culture. It’s proud history includes such figures as Robert Burns, Sir Walter Scott, Robert Louis Stevenson and many other illustrious figures. This volume of poetry is a perfect compendium of the words and works of Scotland.

This collection is narrated by distinguished Broadway performers Brian Murray and Suzanne Toren. It contains all 45 poems from two famous works, revealing a child's unspoiled view of human nature and the corruption and disillusionment awaiting the innocent. Included are such favorites as "The Lamb", "The Tyger", and "The Sick Rose".

In the preface to Leaves of Grass, Whitman states, "The United States themselves are essentially the greatest poem". The themes of equality for all people, fertility, sacredness of self, beauty in death, love of comrades, and the immortality of the soul prevail.

College freshmen have dissected this poem for ages, but it takes an older person to understand it.