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This powerful poem narrates the fateful return of Count Lara to the British Isles after spending years abroad traveling the orient. Returning to his patrimony with a retinue consisting of one foreign-born page, Count Lara resumes the management of his landed estates. Lara's first efforts are crowned with success: only to be undermined by the jealousy and envy of his his peers. After a successful duel to defend his honour, the count becomes inexorably caught up in local blood-feuds; which quickly escalate to open warfare between his own followers and the private armies of his enemies. - Count Lara remains a bold and skillful leader: is he strong enough to triumph yet over adverse fortune? - And what is the secret of his mysterious foreign page: who left kindred and homeland behind in order to follow Count Lara to the uttermost ends of the earth? (Introduction by Godsend)...

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Poetry

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Summary text The following is a recording of the first volume of poetry published by Edna St. Vincent Millay. When the author had graduated from high school, she couldn't afford to go to college. In the summer of 1912, Vincent's sister, Norma, found work as a waitress at a hotel near where they lived. One night, Norma insisted that Vincent attend a masquerade ball, given at the hotel, if only to get Vincent out of the house and to meet people. Vincent finally gave in, and while there, sang songs and recited Renascence, the first poem in this collection. This immediately won over the support of one Miss Dow, who would help Vincent raise enough money to attend Vassar College. From there, she would meet others and become fully entrenched in, and later a major influence on, the literary community. (According to Savage Beauty, by Nancy Milford.) (Summary by Linda Leu)...

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Poetry

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This was the weekly poetry project for 3 June 2006. Many “character” poems cut straight to the inmost psychology of their subjects, but here, the eponymous Richard Cory with all his wealth and charm is viewed entirely from the outside. Indeed as the poem ends, we realise with an unforgettable shock just how little we, the narrator, or perhaps anyone really knew about him. (Summary by LauraFox)...

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Poetry

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volunteers bring you 29 recordings of When You Are Old by William Butler Yeats. This was the Weekly Poetry project for January 3rd, 2010.

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Poetry

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volunteers bring you 15 different recordings of A Dream within a Dream by Edgar Allan Poe. This was the weekly poetry project for the week of April 15th, 2007....

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Poetry

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One of the first collections of poetry by Robert Frost, published in 1914. (Summary written by Gesine) Contents (with beginning time):

Part 1
• Mending Wall (00:01:20)
• The Death of the Hired Man (00:03:45)
• The Mountain (00:12:20)
• A Hundred Collars (00:18:14)

Part 2
• Home Burial (00:00:18)
• The Black Cottage (00:06:16)
• Blueberries (00:12:56)
• A Servant to Servants (00:18:44)

Part 3
• After Apple-picking (00:00:16)
• The Code (00:02:16)
• The Generations of Men (00:08:01)
• The Housekeeper (00:18:55)

Part 4
• The Fear (00:00:16)
• The Self-seeker (00:05:27)
• The Wood-pile (00:16:35)
• Good Hours (00:18:47)

...

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Poetry

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Originally modeled on the Psalms and other poetic passages (commonly referred to as canticles) in the Scriptures, Christian hymns are generally directed as praise and worship to the monotheistic God. Many refer to Jesus Christ either directly or indirectly. Since the earliest times, Christians have sung psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, both in private devotions and in corporate worship (Matthew 26:30; 1 Cor 14:26; Ephesians 5:19; Colossians 3:16; James 5:13; cf. Revelation 5:8-10; Revelation 14:1-5). One definition of a hymn is ...a lyric poem, reverently and devotionally conceived, which is designed to be sung and which expresses the worshipper's attitude toward God or God's purposes in human life. It should be simple and metrical in form, genuinely emotional, poetic and literary in style, spiritual in quality, and in its ideas so direct and so immediately apparent as to unify a congregation while singing it. (Summary by Wikipedia)...

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Music, Poetry

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This is a small collection of whimsical poems by the American physician and author Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. The Deacon's Masterpiece describes the logical outcome of building an object (in this case, a two-wheeled carriage called a shay) that has no weak points. The economic term one hoss shay, referring to a certain model of depreciation, derives its name from this poem. How the Old Horse Won the Bet is a lighthearted look at a horse race. Finally, The Broomstick Train is a wonderfully Halloween-y explanation of how an electric tram really works. (Summary by Laurie Anne Walden)...

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Poetry, Humor

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volunteers bring you 17 recordings of Business by Ambrose Bierce. This was the weekly poetry project for August 2nd, 2009.

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Satire, Poetry

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Scott's The Bridal of Triermain is a rhymed, romantic, narrative poem which weaves together elements of popular English legend using dramatic themes. This beautiful poem celebrates the exploits of a knight errant - Sir Roland De Vaux - as he seeks to rescue (and hopefully espouse) a beautiful maiden, Gyneth. Gyneth is the illegitimate daughter of King Arthur: doomed by Merlin 500 years previously to an enchanted sleep inside a magic castle. The enchantment can only be broken by a rescuer both brave and noble enough to overcome the temptations used successively to distract and overcome him, namely: fear, wealth, pleasure and pride. (Introduction by Godsend)...

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Poetry

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The scene of the following Poem is laid chiefly in the vicinity of Loch Katrine, in the Western Highlands of Perthshire. The time of Action includes Six Days, and the transactions of each Day occupy a Canto. (Summary by William J. Rolfe, ed.)...

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Poetry, Myths/Legends

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volunteers bring you 8 recordings of To Autumn by John Keats. This was the Fortnightly Poetry project for November 21st, 2010. To Autumn is the final work in a group of poems known as Keats's 1819 odes. He composed To Autumn after a walk near Winchester one autumnal evening. The work marks the end of his poetic career as he needed to earn money and could no longer devote himself to the lifestyle of a poet. A little over a year following the publication of To Autumn, Keats died in Rome. To Autumn has been regarded by critics as one of the most perfect short poems in the English language and it is one of the most anthologised English lyric poems....

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Instruction, Literature, Nature, Poetry

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The narrative poems in this collection are written by Sir Walter Scott - the well-known English poet and novelist. Each of these five poems are based loosely upon German ballads: rewritten in flowing English meter. * The Chase - a.k.a. The Wild Huntsman - A profligate, noble-born keeper of the royal forest - avidly addicted to the pleasures of the hunt - cruelly uses and mistreats his fellow-men. One day God's messengers come to test him: executing sentence immediately in just proportion to the huntsman's responses * William & Helen - William - long thought dead - unexpectedly returns at midnight from the crusades to marry his betrothed. Helen - relieved at his return - joyfully agree,s after initial misgivings: follows him on horseback into the night. Approaching the church in which they will celebrate their wedding: it is clear to Helen that all is not what it seems. But, with their mutual love strong enough to transcend death itself - what can possibly go wrong? * The Fire King - Count Albert never returns from crusade: having being imprisoned by Saracens. Rosalie, his betrothed, swears to leave at once for Lebanon to find him. R...

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Poetry

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volunteers bring you 13 recordings of Longings for Home by Walt Whitman. This was the Weekly Poetry project for August 26, 2012. Born on Long Island, Whitman worked as a journalist, a teacher, a government clerk, and – in addition to publishing his poetry – was a volunteer nurse during the American Civil War. Early in his career, he also produced a temperance novel, Franklin Evans (1842). Whitman's major work, Leaves of Grass, was first published in 1855 with his own money. The work was an attempt at reaching out to the common person with an American epic. He continued expanding and revising it until his death in 1892. After a stroke towards the end of his life, he moved to Camden, New Jersey, where his health further declined. He died at age 72 and his funeral became a public spectacle. ( Summary from Wikipedia )...

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Adventure, History, Memoirs, Nature, Poetry

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volunteers bring you 14 recordings of Cheese Curd for Bait by James McIntyre. This was the Weekly Poetry project for September 23, 2012. James McIntyre, born in Scotland, came to Canada in 1841. He finally settled in Ingersoll (a town in central Ontario on the banks of the Thames River), the then-heart of Canadian dairy country. He was well loved in the community, from which he often received aid in hard times, due in part to his poesy and oratorical skills — he was called on to speak at every kind of social gathering in Ingersoll. The region seems to have inspired him, and it was in celebration of the proud history of Canada, the natural beauty and industry of the region, and especially its cheese, that the majority of his oeuvre was written. (Summary from Wikipedia)...

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Adventure, Humor, Instruction, Nature, Poetry