Great Poetry

An anthology of over 50 classic poems, read by some of our finest actors. This collection contains a selection of the very best poems, from verses inspired by love to war poetry, nature poems and children's rhymes.

What starts with young Jim Hawkins meeting a beggar and ends in a climactic battle between him and one of the most infamous villains in literature — Long John Silver — has long been revered as the ultimate pirate adventure story. This non - dramatized classic will sweep you off to a world of sly and savvy seafarers as the young Hawkins navigates treachery, assassination and the ominous prophecy of the black spot in the greatest treasure hunt known to literature.

An anthology of over 50 classic children's poems, read by some of our finest actors. Full of fun, excitement, and magic, the poems in this collection are guaranteed to spark the imagination and open up a world of wonder. Favourites from authors such as Edward Lear, Lewis Carroll, and Robert Louis Stevenson are all here, as well as less familiar but nonetheless hugely entertaining poems such as" The Camel's Complaint"and "The Elephant, or The Force of Habit".

E. H. Gombrich's world history, an international best seller now available in English for the first time, is a text dominated not by dates and facts but by the sweep of experience across the centuries, a guide to humanity's achievements, and an acute witness to its frailties.

Ryokan (1758–1831) is, along with Dogen and Hakuin, one of the three giants of Zen in Japan. But unlike his two renowned colleagues, Ryokan was a societal dropout, living mostly as a hermit and a beggar. He was never head of a monastery or temple. He liked playing with children. He had no dharma heir. Even so, people recognized the depth of his realization, and he was sought out by people of all walks of life for the teaching to be experienced in just being around him.

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).

An anthology of over 60 classic love poems, read by some of our finest actors. Love has always been the supreme inspiration for poets, whether romantic or platonic, reciprocated or unrequited. This collection contains a range of the very best love poems, including Andrew Marvell's "To His Coy Mistress", Keats' "La Belle Dame Sans Merci" and Byron's "So We'll Go No More A-Roving" - as well as several sonnets from the master himself, William Shakespeare.

With a dynamic spirit, these great English poets made a conscious return to nostalgia and spiritual depth. Each chose a different path, but they are united in a love of moods, impressions, scenes, stories, sights and sounds. In this collection of more than forty poems are some of the finest and most memorable works in the English language.

Elliott Gould, Burt Reynolds, Meryl Streep, and a host of other celebrities read over 100 poems by four of America's greatest poets. Walt Whitman celebrates the brash and rugged individualism of his country in exuberant language. The spare, precise language of Emily Dickinson conveys her penetrating vision of the natural world and an acute understanding of the most profound human truths.

William Wordsworth (1770-1850) was born in Cockermouth, in the Lake District. His Lyrical Ballads, written in collaboration with Coleridge, was published in 1798, and shortly afterwards he settled in Dove Cottage, Grasmere, with his sister Dorothy. Inspired in his early manhood by the French Revolution, he grew disillusioned with revolutionary politics and in later life became decidedly conservative. He left a vast body of work, ranging from delicately simple lyrics to deeply meditative odes.

An anthology of over 40 classic nature poems, read by some of our finest actors. The majesty of nature has always inspired poets, and this collection contains a selection of the very best verses praising the natural world.

This anthology of Kipling's most famous poems - including "If", "Mandalay", "Gunga Din" - is taken from Naxos AudioBooks' Great Poets series. Though sometimes still regarded as a product of the colonial era, Kipling touches a very popular nerve in Britain's literary tradition and is regarded more generously now as a master of popular verse. It is often forgotten that he won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1907.

"101 Great American Poems" is a thoughtfully curated anthology that brings together a diverse collection of classic American poetry. Spanning over two centuries, the book features works from some of the nation's most celebrated poets, including Edgar Allan Poe, Emily Dickinson, Walt Whitman, Robert Frost, and Langston Hughes.

Since his youth, living in poverty in a cave in Italy, Roland's mother has taught him that someday he will be a brave hero like his father, Milon, and serve with the great army of Charlemagne. He learns from her that he is descended from great heroes of old and that his mother is Charlemagne's sister, the Princess Bertha.

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".

Great Minds ‘INK’ Alike Anthology, by Author Reneé Drummond-Brown and diverse writers on one accord from across the globe, who weigh in with various writing styles: Haiku, Free Verse and none other than Shakespeare’s distinct and favorite poetic form: sonnets relating to love. Wisdom speaks from a poetic minds-eye and these international dramatists have certainly seen it all. After all is said and done, “love makes the world go around” and the proof is in their poems, Shakespearean style.

In the heart of New Orleans, where jazz melodies lace the air and mysteries hide behind every corner, lies an uncharted path—one of poetic tales and poignant musings. Through 67 Days, be transported to the vibrant streets of NOLA, a city where every dawn promises a new story, and every dusk holds a secret whisper. Week 5 beckons you with the intriguing dance of 'Experimental Certainty.' Dive deep into a world where the boundaries of the heart are tested, and the soul reaches out, seeking connections in an age of social distance. Amidst this urban landscape, discover tales of love, longing...

“Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary, Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore, While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping, As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door. "'Tis some visitor," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door - Only this, and nothing more." Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December, And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor. Eagerly I wished the morrow; vainly I had tried to borrow From my books surcease of sorrow - sorrow for the lost Lenore - For the rare and ...

Here are the extraordinary writings of a generation who fought through a war of unprecedented destructive power, and who had to find new voices to express the horror of what they discovered. The great names - Owen, Sassoon - are fully represented, but there are also many poems by lesser-known or unexpected figures, ranging from serving soldiers like Isaac Rosenberg and Richard Aldington to women such as Edith Nesbit and Vera Brittain.

What is poetry? If music is sound organized in a particular way, poetry is a way of organizing language. It is language made special so that it will be remembered and valued. It does not always work - over the centuries countless thousands of poems have been forgotten. This little history is about some that have not. John Carey tells the stories behind the world’s greatest poems, from the oldest surviving one written nearly four thousand years ago to those being written today. Carey looks at poets whose works shape our views of the world.