Showing titles in Poetry

Christopher Smart (1722-1771) was an English poet and scholar. This extraordinary poem, which is a florid display of Smart's opinions on a variety of theological, historical, and scientific subjects, was written between 1759 and 1763, while the author was confined in a lunatic asylum. His condition was diagnosed as religious mania, as evidenced by his compulsion to break into spontaneous prayer in public.

This amazing collection of poetry from the famous Greek Anthology spans over 1,500 years of ancient Greek and Byzantine history. The selections in this recording were chosen and translated by famed classicist J. W. Mackail.

It’s a dark and stormy night, and “The Raven”, read by award-winning narrator Mike Vendetti, transports us to a lonely chamber illuminated by firelight. The inhabitant who becomes the narrator hears a gentle tapping at the chamber door. The tapping is a raven who speaks one word, “Nevermore."

"Comment traduire l'énigme et la lucidité, évoquer les menus détails du réel, pénétrer avec ou sans désinvolture l'univers onirique un peu trouble mais évident de Pessoa ? La voix de Richard Graille relève ce défi. A sa voix nue ou presque nue se mêlent les accords de la guitare, tantôt cordes grattées, tantôt caisse frappée. Le nuancier des états d'âme et la nature des situations se déclinent subtilement dans la singularité d'un accent, dans les aspérités du chant, la fluidité d'un cri."

"The Passionate Shepherd to His Love", known for its first line, "Come live with me and be my love," is a poem written by the English poet Christopher Marlowe and published in 1599 (six years after the poet's death). In addition to being one of the best-known love poems in the English language, it is considered one of the earliest examples of the pastoral style of British poetry in the late Renaissance period. The poem was the subject of a well-known "reply" by Walter Raleigh, called "The Nymph's Reply to the Shepherd".

Romantik - was verbinden wir mit diesem (Epochen-) Begriff? Sehnsucht, Natur, Schönheit, vielleicht sogar Idyllen? Das große Projekt der Wiederverzauberung einer aufklärungsversehrten Welt? All dies trifft wohl zu und ist doch bestenfalls die halbe Wahrheit. Denn der Blick der Romantiker wendete sich keineswegs nur in den Himmel oder in lichte Gefilde, sondern vor allem unter die Oberfläche des Rationalen. Und dort lauerte - und lauert! - reichlich Dunkles.

This group of 19th-century American poets was the first to rival their British counterparts in popularity. Gathered around their New England roots, they were also known as the Schoolroom or Household poets and comprised of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, William Cullen Bryant, John Greenleaf Whittier, James Russell Lowell and Olivier Wendell Holmes, Sr. Occasionally Ralph Waldo Emerson was included, although his poetic philosophy differed in some key aspects.

The Völsunga saga is a legendary saga, a late 13th-century poetic rendition in Old Norse of the origin and decline of the Völsung clan (including the story of Sigurd and Brynhild and the destruction of the Burgundians). It is one of the most famous legendary sagas and an example of a "heroic saga" that deals with Germanic heroic legend. The saga covers topics including the quarrel between Sigi and Skaði, a huge family tree of great kings and powerful conquerors and the quest led by Sigmund and Sinfjǫtli to save princess Signý from the evil king Siggeir.

Charles Baudelaire is one of the greatest French poets. His most famous work, "Les Fleurs du Mal"("The Flowers of Evil"), was deemed scandalous at the time because of its themes of sex and death, lesbianism, corruption, wine, and the oppressiveness of living. The effect on fellow artists was "immense, prodigious, unexpected, mingled with admiration and with some indefinable anxious fear", while the regime of the Second Empire had Baudelaire prosecuted and fined for his "insult to public decency". Baudelaire's style had a tremendous influence on French poetry, and also on English writers; he was a pioneering translator, and created strong ties with the Anglo-Saxon literature.

This is a story from the Canterbury Tales III: Modern Verse Translation collection.

Lucretius' poem On the Nature of Things combines a scientific and philosophical treatise with some of the greatest poetry ever written. With intense moral fervour he demonstrates to humanity that in death there is nothing to fear since the soul is mortal, and the world and everything in it is governed by the mechanical laws of nature and not by gods; and that by believing this men can live in peace of mind and happiness. He bases this on the atomic theory expounded by the Greek philosopher Epicurus, and continues with an examination of sensation, sex, cosmology, meteorology, and geology.

Masterfully read by award-winning narrator Mike Vendetti, travel to the town of Hamelin suffering from a rat infestation, when a piper dressed in multicolored ("pied") clothing appeared, claiming to be a rat-catcher. He promised the mayor a solution to their problem with the rats. The mayor, in turn, promised to pay him for the removal of the rats (according to some versions of the story, the promised sum was 1,000 guilders). The piper accepted and played his pipe to lure the rats into the Weser River, where they all drowned. The rest is a legend enjoyed for centuries.

A man was hanged in Reading Gaol during Wilde's imprisonment there. In "The Ballad", written after his release, he tells of the horror of the event and its effect on himself and his fellow prisoners. First published 1898, under the pseudonym C.3.3 - the number by which Wilde was known in the prison, consisting of the cell block, landing number and cell number of his cell.

Victor Hugo is one of the best-known French writers, and one 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. We have selected for you 28 of his most well-known and powerful poems, mostly from the immortal Autumn Leaves and Contemplations. They are, in order: Childhood; Death in Life; Epitaph; Have you nothing to say for yourself; How Butterflies are born; I am content; Inscription for a crucifix; Satire on the Earth; St John; etc.

Livre audio composé de Les femmes et l'amour, Debureau, Mozart, le petit menuet et Dernier Quart d'heure.

Œdipe... Aussi orgueilleux qu'opiniâtre, sa clairvoyance, son intelligence ont jadis eu raison de la cruelle Sphinge et de ses énigmes. Porté sur le trône par le peuple libéré pour avoir levé la terreur qui étouffait la ville de Thèbes, il doit encore prouver sa valeur : une malédiction incurable semble frapper sans distinction récoltes, troupeaux et habitants.

14 canti scelti a cura di Piero Maccarinelli. Nel 2007 al Foro di Traiano, per dieci serate un manipolo di grandi attori ha dato voce ai più bei canti del poema omerico...

Canto le armi, canto l’uomo che primo da Troia / venne in Italia, profugo per volere del Fato / sui lidi di Lavinio...

Extraits de : "Éloge", "La gloire des rois", "Anabase", "Exil", "Vents", "Amer". Il manquait, parmi les grands poètes de ce siècle, un personnage hautain, toujours isolé, toujours absent, qui transmît aux hommes, d'une voix voilée et d'un geste à peine entrevu, un discours ample et sibyllin, plein de terribles vigueurs et d'énigmes, de ces discours que seuls un orateur antique ou un Bossuet eussent pu prononcer et qui n'étaient faits que pour un auditoire princier.

Like his great contemporaries, John Keats and Lord Byron, Shelley suffered an untimely death, but still managed to stun the world with a wide-ranging body of work, including poetry, drama, and criticism. His poetry is that of a young man, a lover of nature and fiercely critical of institutionalized corruption, and virtuosic in his use of language and imagery.