Ancient Poetry

"Les Métamorphoses sont composées au début de l'ère chrétienne par le poète latin Ovide, juste avant sa relégation sur les rives de la mer Noire. Ce recueil est constitué d'une multitude de courts récits inspirés des mythologies, des épopées et des tragédies grecques et romaines. Un livre-monde, tour à tour édifiant, galant et burlesque dont la voix inspirée de Michel Vuillermoz, sociétaire de la Comédie-Française, révèle l'esprit et les saveurs." Claude Colombini Frémeaux

John Keats was largely unappreciated during his lifetime and died in Rome at the age of 26. Most of his 150 poems were written in just nine extraordinary months in 1819. This selection contains some of his finest works, including the principal "Odes", "La Belle Dame Sans Merci", "Old Meg", and "Much Have I Travelled".

"Eugène Onéguine, le roman en vers de Pouchkine, est le plus grand livre jamais écrit en russe. Le traduire aura été le travail de ma vie. J'ai voulu en conserver une voix vivante, en demandant à ma mère, Daredjan, qui m'a transmis la langue et le connaît par cœur, de dire le texte russe. Ce n'est pas une lecture d'artiste, (les plus grands acteurs russes ont enregistré 'leur' Onéguine), c'est le témoignage d'une lecture familiale, de la façon dont ce roman, - dont ce poème - peut vivre, au jour le jour, dans le cœur de chaque Russe."

Harmonium was American poet Wallace Stevens's first book, published when he was 44 years old. It represents his complete poetic output up to that point in his life. It is now considered a masterpiece, one of the great contributions to literary Modernism. It is a mixture of pure, rational, philosophical thought, and imaginary nonsense-verse. It is striking in its diversity and includes some of Stevens' best known and most-loved poems.

Jason and the Golden Fleece is one of the finest tales of Ancient Greece, an epic journey of adventure and trial standing beside similar stories of Perseus, Theseus and the Labours of Heracles. The finest classic account comes from Apollonius of Rhodes, the Greek poet of the 3rd century BCE and librarian at Alexandria. Though less well-known than Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, and much shorter, it is an epic poem which is both exciting and moving, with remarkably vivid portraits of the main characters, Jason and Medea.

Sélection de vingt poèmes extraits des recueils Paroles, Histoires, La Pluie et le Beau Temps, Soleil de nuit et La Cinquième Saison. Chacun de ces poèmes laisse entrevoir la diversité des tons et des styles du poète. Amour, politique, fantaisie, tragédie, tout est sujet à poèmes pour ce jongleur de mots qu'était Jacques Prévert. Plutôt que de les faire publier, il préférait, dit-on, les faire chanter... Ceci explique peut-être le bonheur que ressent tout auditeur à l'écoute de ces textes savoureux.

The Song of Roland is acknowledged today as the first masterpiece of French vernacular literature and one of the world’s greatest epic poems. Written down around the year 1090, The Song of Roland finely crafted verses tell of the betrayal and defeat of Charlemagne’s beloved nephew at the Pass of Roncevaux in the Pyrenees and of the revenge subsequently sought on his behalf.

The most captivating part of perhaps the greatest epic poem ever written, Dante's Inferno still holds the power to thrill and inspire. The medieval equivalent of a thriller, Inferno follows Dante and his faithful guide, Virgil, as they traverse the complex geography of hell, confronting its many threats, macabre punishments, and historical figures before reaching the deep chamber where Satan himself resides.

Songs of Innocence and of Experience is a collection of 45 poems by English poet William Blake. "Songs of Innocence" is the first part of the collection and appeared in 1789 with engraved illustrations by Blake. The second part, "Songs of Experience", also illustrated, was added in 1794 when Blake published the whole under the full title of Songs of Innocence and Experience Showing the Two Contrary States of the Human Soul.

Perhaps the first great and truly "American" poet, Walt Whitman's writing reflected the idealism and turbulence of the mid-19th century. His poetry broke new stylistic ground with its unconventional meter and rhyme schemes, yet celebrated democratic values, the beauty of nature, and the complex variety and vitality of American life.

A collection of the best-known poems by Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844-1889). One of the Victorian era's greatest writers, Hopkins' reputation has continued to grow since his death. This collection includes "The Windhover", "The Caged Skylark", "Carrion Comfort", "Spring", and "Fall and Inversnaid".

Cap the narrator makes a deal with his pal Sam McGee that he will cremate him when he dies. Now the problem is where to do this deed in the frozen Yukon.

Paradise Lost is an epic poem in blank verse by the 17th-century English poet John Milton (1608–1674). The first version, published in 1667, consists of ten books with over ten thousand lines of verse. A second edition followed in 1674, arranged into twelve books (in the manner of Virgil's Aeneid) with minor revisions throughout. It is considered by critics to be Milton's major work, and it helped solidify his reputation as one of the greatest English poets of his time.

A mysterious knight all in green arrives at King Arthur's court and issues a bizarre challenge. Gawain answers the knight - but at what cost? This new translation keeps all the poetic power of the original's extraordinary alliteration. One of the greatest stories of English literature from any period, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a magical, medieval combination of the epic and the uncanny.

As exhilarating today as they were at the time of being written, Homer's epic poems transport the listener on a courageous and daring journey at the heart of one of the most infamous wars in history. Discover the heroism and compassion of soldiers at the close of the Trojan War in The Iliad, as well as the devastating aftermath of the conflict in The Odyssey. Exploring themes such as bravery, mortality and homecoming, both works are a unique insight into ancient Greek culture.

After a century of civil strife in Rome and Italy, the poet Virgil wrote The Aeneid to honor the emperor Augustus by praising Aeneas, Augustus's legendary ancestor. As a patriotic epic imitating Homer, The Aeneid also set out to provide Rome with a literature equal to that of Greece.

UNA EXTRAORDINARIA SELECCIÓN DE OBRAS ESENCIALES, EN SU MAYORÍA INÉDITAS, QUE CELEBRAN LA FUERZA, EL TALENTO Y LA DIVERSIDAD DE LAS MUJERES LATINAS, Y TIENDEN PUENTES QUE NOS CONECTAN LAS UNAS CON LAS OTRAS. Desde la prosa implacable de sor Juana Inés de la Cruz hasta los poderosos cantos de...

Développez votre culture générale, profitez des plaisirs de la poésie, découvrez ou redécouvrez les piliers de la littérature ou faites-les découvrir autour de vous, avec cette sélection de 50 poèmes parmi les plus grands classiques. Baudelaire, Verlaine, Mallarmé, Victor Hugo, Alfred de Musset, Leconte de l'Isle, Charles Cros, Arthur Rimbaud, Jean de La Fontaine, André Chenier, Ronsard, Alfred de Vigny, Gérard de Nerval, Tristan Corbières, José Maria de Heredia, François de Malherbe, Pierre Corneille : les voici tous réunis pour votre plaisir et votre enrichissement.

Ralph Waldo Emerson was born in Boston, Massachusetts on 25th May 1803, the son of Ruth Haskins and the Rev. William Emerson, a Unitarian minister. Emerson was the second of five sons who survived into adulthood. His father died before Emerson was eight, and the young boy was raised by his mother and other female members of the family. Emerson's formal schooling began at the Boston Latin School in 1812 when he was nine. In October 1817 at 14, Emerson went to Harvard College.

The 200th anniversary of the birth of Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809 - 1892), one of the most popular of poets, is celebrated in 2009. Works such as The Charge of the Light Brigade, Crossing the Bar and Tears, Idle Tears have made him an internationally famous figure, and the second most quoted writer of all time (after Shakespeare).