Classic Poetry Aloud

By Classic Poetry Aloud

Classic Poetry Aloud gives voice to poetry through podcast recordings of the great poems of the past. Our library of poems is intended as a resource for anyone interested in reading and listening to p... more

4.3

144144 ratings

Download on the App Store

Download on the App Store

Get it on Google Play

FAQs about Classic Poetry Aloud:

How many episodes does Classic Poetry Aloud have?

The podcast currently has 609 episodes available.

Classic Poetry Aloud episodes:

June 28, 2009 490. Loveliest of Trees by AE Housman
AE Housman read by Classic Poetry Aloud:
http://www.classicpoetryaloud.com/
Giving voice to the poetry of the past.
---------------------------------------
Loveliest of Trees
by AE Housman (1859 – 1936)
Loveliest of trees, the cherry now
Is hung with bloom along the bough,
And stands about the woodland ride,
Wearing white for Eastertide.
Now, of my threescore years and ten,
Twenty will not come again,
And take from seventy springs a score,
It only leaves me fifty more.
And since to look at things in bloom
Fifty springs are little room,
About the woodlands I will go
To see the cherry hung with snow.
First aired: 30 April 2008
For hundreds more poetry readings, visit the Classic Poetry Aloud index.
Reading © Classic Poetry Aloud 2009
...more
1min
June 27, 2009 489. The Rhodora by Ralph Waldo Emerson
RW Emerson read by Classic Poetry Aloud:
http://www.classicpoetryaloud.com/
Giving voice to the poetry of the past.
---------------------------------------
The Rhodora
by Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 – 1882)
On Being Asked Whence Is the Flower
In May, when sea-winds pierced our solitudes,
I found the fresh Rhodora in the woods,
Spreading its leafless blooms in a damp nook,
To please the desert and the sluggish brook.
The purple petals, fallen in the pool,
Made the black water with their beauty gay;
Here might the red-bird come his plumes to cool,
And court the flower that cheapens his array.
Rhodora! if the sages ask thee why
This charm is wasted on the earth and sky,
Tell them, dear, that if eyes were made for seeing,
Then Beauty is its own excuse for being:
Why thou wert there, O rival of the rose!
I never thought to ask, I never knew:
But, in my simple ignorance, suppose
The self-same Power that brought me there brought you.
First aired: 28 April 2008
For hundreds more poetry readings, visit the Classic Poetry Aloud index.
Reading © Classic Poetry Aloud 2009
...more
2min
June 20, 2009 488. Opportunity by James Elroy Flecker
JE Flecker read by Classic Poetry Aloud:
http://www.classicpoetryaloud.com/
Giving voice to the poetry of the past.
---------------------------------------
Opportunity
by James Elroy Flecker (1884 – 1915)
From Machiavelli
"But who art thou, with curious beauty graced,
O woman, stamped with some bright heavenly seal
Why go thy feet on wings, and in such haste?"
"I am that maid whose secret few may steal,
Called Opportunity. I hasten by
Because my feet are treading on a wheel,
Being more swift to run than birds to fly.
And rightly on my feet my wings I wear,
To blind the sight of those who track and spy;
Rightly in front I hold my scattered hair
To veil my face, and down my breast to fall,
Lest men should know my name when I am there;
And leave behind my back no wisp at all
For eager folk to clutch, what time I glide
So near, and turn, and pass beyond recall."
"Tell me; who is that Figure at thy side?"
"Penitence. Mark this well that by decree
Who lets me go must keep her for his bride.
And thou hast spent much time in talk with me
Busied with thoughts and fancies vainly grand,
Nor hast remarked, O fool, neither dost see
How lightly I have fled beneath thy hand."
First aired: 25 July 2007
For hundreds more poetry readings, visit the Classic Poetry Aloud index.
Reading © Classic Poetry Aloud 2009
...more
2min
June 19, 2009 487. The Way Through the Woods by Rudyard Kipling
R Kipling read by Classic Poetry Aloud:
http://www.classicpoetryaloud.com/
Giving voice to the poetry of the past.
---------------------------------------
The Way Through the Woods
by Rudyard Kipling (1865 – 1936)
They shut the road through the woods
Seventy years ago.
Weather and rain have undone it again,
And now you would never know
There was once a road through the woods
Before they planted the trees.
It is underneath the coppice and heath,
And the thin anemones.
Only the keeper sees
That, where the ring-dove broods,
And the badgers roll at ease,
There was once a road through the woods.
Yet, if you enter the woods
Of a summer evening late,
When the night-air cools on the trout-ringed pools
Where the otter whistles his mate.
(They fear not men in the woods,
Because they see so few)
You will hear the beat of a horse's feet,
And the swish of a skirt in the dew,
Steadily cantering through
The misty solitudes,
As though they perfectly knew
The old lost road through the woods. . . .
But there is no road through the woods.
First aired: 16 July 2007
For hundreds more poetry readings, visit the Classic Poetry Aloud index.
Reading © Classic Poetry Aloud 2009
...more
2min
June 18, 2009 486. Sonnet 116 by William Shakespeare
W Shakespeare read by Classic Poetry Aloud:
http://www.classicpoetryaloud.com/
Giving voice to the poetry of the past.
---------------------------------------
Sonnet 116
by William Shakespeare (1564 – 1616)
Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come:
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.
First aired: 19 April 2008
For hundreds more poetry readings, visit the Classic Poetry Aloud index.
Reading © Classic Poetry Aloud 2009
...more
1min
June 17, 2009 485. Claire de Lune by Paul Verlaine
P Verlaine read by Classic Poetry Aloud:
http://www.classicpoetryaloud.com/
Giving voice to the poetry of the past.
---------------------------------------
Claire de Lune
by Paul Verlaine (1844 – 1896)
Votre âme est un paysage choisi
Que vont charmant masques et bergamasques
Jouant du luth et dansant et quasi
Tristes sous leurs déguisements fantasques.
Tout en chantant sur le mode mineur
L'amour vainqueur et la vie opportune
Ils n'ont pas l'air de croire à leur bonheur
Et leur chanson se mêle au clair de lune,
Au calme clair de lune triste et beau,
Qui fait rêver les oiseaux dans les arbres
Et sangloter d'extase les jets d'eau,
Les grands jets d'eau sveltes parmi les marbres.
Claire de Lune
by Paul Verlaine (1844 – 1896)
Your soul is a chosen landscape
Where charming masked and costumed figures go
Playing the lute and dancing and almost
Sad beneath their fantastic disguises.
All sing in a minor key
Of all-conquering love and careless fortune
They do not seem to believe in their happiness
And their song mingles with the moonlight.
The still moonlight, sad and beautiful,
Which gives the birds to dream in the trees
And makes the fountain sprays sob in ecstasy,
The tall, slender fountain sprays among the marble statues.
First aired: 14 April 2008
For hundreds more poetry readings, visit the Classic Poetry Aloud index.
Reading © Classic Poetry Aloud 2009
...more
3min
June 15, 2009 484. Gravis Dulcis Immutabilis by James Elroy Flecker
JE Flecker read by Classic Poetry Aloud:
http://www.classicpoetryaloud.com/
Giving voice to the poetry of the past.
---------------------------------------
Gravis Dulcis Immutabilis
by James Elroy Flecker (1884 – 1915)
Come, let me kiss your wistful face
Where Sorrow curves her bow of pain,
And live sweet days and bitter days
With you, or wanting you again.
I dread your perishable gold:
Come near me now; the years are few.
Alas, when you and I are old
I shall not want to look at you:
And yet come in. I shall not dare
To gaze upon your countenance,
But I shall huddle in my chair,
Turn to the fire my fireless glance,
And listen, while that slow and grave
Immutable sweet voice of yours
Rises and falls, as falls a wave
In summer on forgotten shores.
First aired: 9 April 2008
For hundreds more poetry readings, visit the Classic Poetry Aloud index.
Reading © Classic Poetry Aloud 2009
...more
2min
June 14, 2009 483. Love by George Herbert
G Herbert read by Classic Poetry Aloud:
http://www.classicpoetryaloud.com/
Giving voice to the poetry of the past.
---------------------------------------
Love
by George Herbert (1593 – 1632)
Love bade me welcome; yet my soul drew back,
Guilty of dust and sin.
But quick-eyed Love, observing me grow slack
From my first entrance in,
Drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning
If I lack'd anything.
'A guest,' I answer'd, 'worthy to be here:'
Love said, 'You shall be he.'
'I, the unkind, ungrateful? Ah, my dear,
I cannot look on Thee.'
Love took my hand and smiling did reply,
'Who made the eyes but I?'
'Truth, Lord; but I have marr'd them: let my shame
Go where it doth deserve.'
'And know you not,' says Love, 'Who bore the blame?'
'My dear, then I will serve.'
'You must sit down,' says Love, 'and taste my meat.'
So I did sit and eat.
First aired: 9 April 2008
For hundreds more poetry readings, visit the Classic Poetry Aloud index.
Reading © Classic Poetry Aloud 2009
...more
2min
June 13, 2009 482. Evening on Calais Beach by William Wordsworth
W Wordsworth read by Classic Poetry Aloud:
http://www.classicpoetryaloud.com/
Giving voice to the poetry of the past.
---------------------------------------
Evening on Calais Beach
by William Wordsworth (1770 – 1850)
It is a beauteous evening, calm and free,
The holy time is quiet as a Nun
Breathless with adoration; the broad sun
Is sinking down in its tranquillity;
The gentleness of heaven broods o'er the sea:
Listen! the mighty Being is awake,
And doth with his eternal motion make
A sound like thunder—everlastingly.
Dear Child! dear Girl! that walkest with me here,
If thou appear untouch'd by solemn thought,
Thy nature is not therefore less divine:
Thou liest in Abraham's bosom all the year;
And worshipp'st at the Temple's inner shrine,
God being with thee when we know it not.
First aired: 7 April 2008
For hundreds more poetry readings, visit the Classic Poetry Aloud index.
Reading © Classic Poetry Aloud 2009
...more
2min
June 07, 2009 481. Nightingales by Robert Bridges
R Bridges read by Classic Poetry Aloud:
http://www.classicpoetryaloud.com/
Giving voice to the poetry of the past.
---------------------------------------
Nightingales
by Robert Bridges (1844 – 1930)
Beautiful must be the mountains whence ye come,
And bright in the fruitful valleys the streams, wherefrom
Ye learn your song:
Where are those starry woods? O might I wander there,
Among the flowers, which in that heavenly air
Bloom the year long!
Nay, barren are those mountains and spent the streams:
Our song is the voice of desire, that haunts our dreams,
A throe of the heart,
Whose pining visions dim, forbidden hopes profound,
No dying cadence nor long sigh can sound,
For all our art.
Alone, aloud in the raptured ear of men
We pour our dark nocturnal secret; and then,
As night is withdrawn
From these sweet-springing meads and bursting boughs of May,
Dream, while the innumerable choir of day
Welcome the dawn.
First aired: 4 April 2008
For hundreds more poetry readings, visit the Classic Poetry Aloud index.
Reading © Classic Poetry Aloud 2009
...more
2min

FAQs about Classic Poetry Aloud:

How many episodes does Classic Poetry Aloud have?

The podcast currently has 609 episodes available.

More shows like Classic Poetry Aloud

In Our Time by BBC Radio 4

In Our Time

5,450 Listeners

Poetry Off the Shelf by Poetry Foundation

Poetry Off the Shelf

423 Listeners

Selected Shorts by Symphony Space

Selected Shorts

2,847 Listeners

The New Yorker: Fiction by WNYC Studios and The New Yorker

The New Yorker: Fiction

3,339 Listeners

Audio Poem of the Day by Poetry Foundation

Audio Poem of the Day

350 Listeners

Philosophize This! by Stephen West

Philosophize This!

15,133 Listeners

The New Yorker: Poetry by WNYC Studios and The New Yorker

The New Yorker: Poetry

511 Listeners

Backlisted by Backlisted

Backlisted

578 Listeners

10% Happier with Dan Harris by 10% Happier

10% Happier with Dan Harris

12,634 Listeners

The New Yorker: The Writer's Voice - New Fiction from The New Yorker by WNYC Studios and The New Yorker

The New Yorker: The Writer's Voice - New Fiction from The New Yorker

2,130 Listeners

The Daily Poem by Goldberry Studios

The Daily Poem

727 Listeners

The Slowdown: Poetry & Reflection Daily by American Public Media

The Slowdown: Poetry & Reflection Daily

1,205 Listeners

Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories by Slumber Studios

Get Sleepy: Sleep meditation and stories

9,384 Listeners

Poetry Unbound by On Being Studios

Poetry Unbound

3,514 Listeners

The world, the universe and us by New Scientist

The world, the universe and us

116 Listeners