Classic English Style

The best and most engaging portraits of the Romans as living people are to be found in the works like those of the four poets featured in this recording. In Howard Felperin’s lively translations, these pieces become verbal postcards of the era, revealing in exquisite detail the passion and the grief, the joy and the pain experienced by the people of Rome as they deal with the inevitable fascination of love as it permeates their daily lives.

This poetic exploration of the subject of love was composed in Italy 1821, and published anonymously, as the poet wished its circulation to be restricted to the "esoteric few." The title means "concerning or about a little soul", the subject, in this case, being Shelley's inamorata of the time, Countess Teresa (designated "Emily" in the poem) Viviani, a young woman who was immured in the Convent of Saint Anna by her father. Shelley had had a number of contacts with her by letter and in person.

Many masters employed the form of the sonnet, including Petrarch, Spenser, Shakespeare, Keats, and Robert Bridges. However, the most celebrated, and oft quoted, examples are to be found in the collection by Shakespeare, first published in 1609. In the 154 poems, Shakespeare surveys and dissects the subject of love in all its guises, and its relationship with youth, age, illness, death, and memory.

The origins, history and authorship of Beowulf are shrouded in uncertainty. This heroic epic probably began, as most do, with a wandering troubadour strumming a stringed instrument, sitting before a hearth-fire, and singing the verses to a spellbound audience arrayed before him. Beowulf is a rousing adventure story, filled with intrepid heroes, monsters and fire-breathing dragons, which can be listened to for the sheer enjoyment of the tale.

Mark Redfield narrates from a specially prepared text for performance by Dickens himself, and performs all of your favorite characters, in this beloved Christmas tale of forgiveness and redemption. Since 1843, “A Christmas Carol” has delighted millions around the globe and has come to embody the spirit of Christmas for all who have been touched by its magic.

Down through the millennia the emotion of love has inspired countless poets to great heights of lyrical expression. In this volume listeners can sample great love poems by English and American poets. Spanning over four centuries of literary creation in the service of amour, the works include a selection of Shakespeare's sonnets, John Donne's "The Ecstasy", William Blake's "The Garden of Love", Robert Burns' "The Banks o'Doon" and "John Anderson My Jo", Lord Byron's "She Walks in Beauty", and more.

Four more delightful tales from one of the most entertaining storytellers of all time. Though writing in the thirteenth century, Chaucer’s wit and observation comes down undiminished through the ages, especially in this accessible modern verse translation. The stories vary considerably from the uproarious Wife of Bath’s Tale, promoting the power of women to the sober account of patient Griselda in the Clerk’s Tale.

Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales, a collection of narratives written between 1387 and 1400, tells of a group of 30 people from all layers of society who pass the time along their pilgrimage to Canterbury by telling stories to one another, their interaction mediated (at times) by the affable host - Chaucer himself. Naxos AudioBooks’ third volume presents the tales of six people, here in an unabridged modern verse translation (by Frank Ernest Hill, 1935).

When sleep was at its deepest, night at its blackest, up from the mist-filled marsh came Grendel stalking. Thus begins the battle between good and evil, for lying in wait and anxious to challenge the ogre Grendel is a young man, strong-willed and fire-hearted. This man is Beowulf, whose heroic dragon-slaying deeds were sung in the courts of Anglo-Saxon England more than a thousand years ago.

Homer's Odyssey is the thrilling and moving tale of the wanderings of the hero Odysseus after the end of the Trojan war. For ten years he experiences storms, shipwrecks, and seductions as he tries to find a way home to Ithaca, contending with the wrath of Poseidon but protected by Pallas Athena. Meanwhile, his wife Penelope is beset by suitors who believe him dead.

Perhaps the most famous epic poems ever written, the Iliad and the Odyssey have been read for nearly 3,000 years, making them the oldest written works in the Western world. The poems made characters like Paris, Helen, Odysseus, Achilles, Hector, and Ajax instantly recognizable, and they also influenced other ancient poets like Virgil, whose Aeneid is clearly modeled after them.

Paradise Lost is an epic poem in blank verse by the 17th-century English poet John Milton. Originally published in 1667 in ten books and later revised to twelve, here Anthony Quayle reads book 1 and book 4.

The Merchant of Venice (by William Shakespeare) starring David Serero as Shylock. Adapted in a Jewish Sephardi style.

The Iliad of Homer is the earliest work of European literature that we have. Created in the eighth century BC it has continued to arouse interest for over 2000 years. The author intended it to be heard, as delivered by a bard or rhapsode who had made the presentation of Greek epic poetry his profession, and who had command of the vocal resources and the dramatic power to move his audience.

This epic poem by Edmund Spenser is the longest poem in the English language. It is an allegorical work, written in praise of Queen Elizabeth I. Michael MacLiammoir reads a selection from Book III.

"Annabel Lee" is the last complete poem by Edgar Allan Poe. Like many of Poe's poems, it explores the theme of the death of a beautiful woman. The narrator, who fell in love with Annabel Lee when they were young, has a love for her so strong that even angels are jealous. He retains his love for her even after her death.

Paradise (Paradiso) is the third canticle of Dante Alighieri's world-renowned narrative poem describing the poet's journey through the realms of the afterlife. Here Dante is guided by his beloved Beatrice through the nine celestial regions of Paradise, leading to the last, Empyrean Heaven, the dwelling place of God and the angels.

This collection was published in 1923 and won the Pulitzer Prize for the author in the following year. It is laid out in three main sections. The first is a lengthy poem, titled New Hampshire, the name being given to the entire collection. The second section bears the title "Notes", and consists of 14 poems, including the mini drama, "The Witch of Coös". The final section, which contains 30 poems, many of which are very short, is titled "Grace Notes."

Peter Hartley wrote the poems in this book in a little over a year but they represent many of the joys and some of the sorrows of a lifetime. They reflect a love of Labrador retrievers and penguins, cryptic crosswords, mountains and travel, wild and lonely places, the poetry of Hopkins, baroque music (especially Handel), a dislike for most modern art and architecture, and an extremely odd attitude towards cats. While nearing completion the author’s partner was struck down by motor neuron disease.

In the second book of Dante’s epic poem The Divine Comedy, Dante has left hell and begins the ascent of the mount of purgatory. Just as hell had its circles, purgatory, situated at the threshold of heaven, has its terraces, each representing one of the seven mortal sins. With Virgil again as his guide, Dante climbs the mountain; the poet shows us, on its slopes, those whose lives were variously governed by pride, envy, wrath, sloth, avarice, gluttony, and lust.