Classic Poetry

Virgil's Georgics ranks as one of the most precious pastoral poems ever written, and it has served as a model for its type ever since. Georgics means "of or relating to agriculture or rural life" and it comes from the Greek word, "georgicus". Virgil's main theme in this, his second great work after The Eclogues, was the importance of peace both in the spiritual and physical sense.

Classic Poems for Girls is a collection of over 25 funny, whimsical and moving poems for 5- to 10-year olds, designed to fuel the imagination. From the adventures of the Jumblies, who sail away in a sieve; to the sticky end of a girl named Matilda; to the courtship of a maiden who lived long ago, in a kingdom by the sea, there’s a poem to suit any feeling or mood. Seasoned Naxos AudioBooks readers Laura Paton, Anne-Marie Piazza, Benjamin Soames and Roy McMillan work their magic on the works of Edward Lear, Louisa May Alcott, Christina Rossetti, and many more.

The epitome of the romantic literary hero, Lord Byron was as well known in his time for the revolutionary panache with which he lived as for his extremely popular verse. “As a myth,” wrote Bertrand Russell, “his importance, especially on the continent, was enormous.” His many tempestuous relationships were the subject of scandal which only added to his celebrity. His name has even entered into our language to describe a man of deep passion and defiance.

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".

This varied, well-chosen selection brings onto one audiobook the best of Dylan Thomas. Here is the legendary recording of "Under Milk Wood", with Richard Burton and Richard Bebb as narrators; but here also are two radio productions he wrote before that great classic, and though interesting in their own right, they show how "Under Milk Wood" grew gradually in his imagination.

Thomas's recording of this holiday classic is considered the first official audiobook. You'll hear the author's recollection of a holiday in the seaside town of his youth as well as some of his most celebrated poems, including "Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night."

One of the great masterpieces of Western literature, The Odyssey chronicles the many trials and adventures Odysseus must pass through on his long journey home from the Trojan wars. Though the stormy god of the ocean is determined to keep him off course, Odysseus is clever and has the brilliant goddess Athena on his side.

Classic Poems for Boys comprises a delightfully varied set of over 20 poems for 5- to 10-year olds. From rousing favorites like Felicia Dorothea Hemans’ "Casabianca" and John Keats’ "A Song About Myself", to dreamy, thoughtful poems by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Rudyard Kipling, this is a collection to be treasured.

The quartercentenary of John Milton (1608-1674) is celebrated next year. This selection of his finest poetry includes sections from "Paradise Lost", "Samson Agonistes", the masque "Comus", as well as sonnets and other poems. They are read by two of Britain's leading classical actors.

The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyam, in the famous translation by Edward Fitzgerald, remains one of the most popular poems. Here, it forms the main work on the first half of this program, along with other shorter poems by other leading Persian and Indian figures, including Rumi, Sa'di, and Rabindranath Tagore.

The Greek poet, Hesiod, stands out as the first personality in European literature. The Theogony contains a genealogy of the gods from the beginning of time and an account of their violent struggles before the present order was established. The Works and Days, a compendium of advice for a life of honest husbandry, shines a unique and fascinating light on archaic Greek society, ethics, and superstition. Hesiod's poetry is the oldest source of the myths of Prometheus, Pandora, and the Golden Age.

The ethereal words of the great thinker Omar Khayyam will echo through time eternal. The poet's profound and magical thoughts will blend into your consciousness and you will be transported into a different realm. David Davies captures the essence of this unusual poem in a remarkable reading.

A selection of poems by Hannah More on various topics. A word about the author: Hannah More (1745-1833) was born in Gloucestershire, England. In middle age, she was closely connected with William Wilberforce and his fellow abolitionists. She was also a friend of the evangelical hymn-writer John Newton. She wrote moral stories and ballads on many topics and was one of the most successful writers, and perhaps the most influential Christian woman, of her day.

Libidinous, licentious, salacious and very, very funny, The Satyricon is one of the most remarkable documents from ancient Rome. It tells the ribald story of Encolpius, a man of active and varied appetites (powered notably by his passion for his favourite lover, the handsome Giton), who plunges without inhibition into the life of Roman pleasures: orgies of food, feasting, abundant sex and escapades. The kind of hedonism found occasionally in Roman mosaics is here brought to life.

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.

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.

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.

Richard Burton, the multi-award winning actor reads the finest work of John Donne.

Dante’s conception of Purgatory involves principles of comparative awareness and the possibility of change. To course over better waters the little boat / of my imagination raises her sails, / and leaves behind her that sea so cruel. 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.

A collection of Rudyard Kipling's finest poetry read by David Philo, Christopher Hassall, Emma Topping and Rudyard Kipling himself.