Explore New Full Audiobooks in Literature, Poetry

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/358284 to listen full audiobooks.

Title: The Poetry of Churchyards

Author: Thomas Gray, Alexander Anderson

Narrator: Gideon Wagner, Ghizela Rowe, Richard Mitchley

Format: Unabridged Audiobook

Length: 1 hour 4 minutes

Release date: September 1, 2018

Genres: Poetry

Publisher's Summary:

The church building has been pivotal to manÕs spiritual and religious life for centuries.For many the interior of a church is literally their one to one with God. The interiors, whether soaring or simple, ornate or minimal, are built for communion, for worship.Outside and surrounding our many churches is the churchyard; the burial ground, the repository for faithful souls. An all-weather idyll of calm around where many a poet has sat and contemplated the surrounding world.The stone may be old, weathered and worn. The trees and grass overgrown and wind-blown but this is a sanctuary, a shelter from frenetic life. Moments here in reflective solitude make thought redemptive. This is unquestioning ground that makes no demands on those who seek to stop and wonder.Within this volume of glorious verse questions are asked, decisions are made. And whether of Faith or not this oasis of calm brings solitude, renewal and an awareness that Life can produce answers to the most pressing of problems.

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/358280 to listen full audiobooks.

Title: The Poetry of Charles Sorley

Author: Charles Sorley

Narrator: Gideon Wagner, Ghizela Rowe, Richard Mitchley

Format: Unabridged Audiobook

Length: 1 hour 6 minutes

Release date: September 1, 2018

Genres: Poetry

Publisher's Summary:

Charles Hamilton Sorley was born on May 19th, 1895 in Aberdeen. His family moved to Cambridge when Sorley was five and his education later continued at Marlborough College, 1908-1913, where he became an excellent debater. His favourite past time however was cross-country running in the rain.From here he won a scholarship to Oxford but decided to go in January 1914 to spend a year in Germany beforehand to study. It was a fateful decision. War clouds had gathered over Europe and when war was declared Sorley was interned for a few hours, and then instructed to leave Germany.Sorley returned to England and immediately signed up to serve as a 2nd Lieutenant with the Suffolk Regiment. He arrived in France in May, 1915 and, by the same August, had been promoted to Captain.His poems are small in number but large in influence. ÔSuch, Such is DeathÕ and ÔMillions of the Mouthless DeadÕ evocatively capture the horror, carnage and waste of the War.He did however also manage to write other verse which succinctly captures the human feelings and the nature of what the eye falls upon and the heart understands.On October 13th 1915, near Hulluch, at the Battle of Loos, Charles Hamilton Sorley was killed by a sniperÕs bullet to the head at the tender age of 20.His last poem was recovered from his kit after his death, and hauntingly reads:?When you see millions of the mouthless deadAcross your dreams in pale battalions goÉÉ..On November 11th 1985, Sorley was among 16 Great War poets commemorated on a slate stone unveiled in Westminster Abbey's Poet's Corner.This volume comes to you from Portable Poetry, a specialized imprint from Deadtree Publishing. Our range is large and growing and covers single poets, themes, and many compilations.

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/358281 to listen full audiobooks.

Title: A.E. Housman - A Shropshire Lad

Author: A. E. Housman

Narrator: Jake Urry, Ghizela Rowe, Richard Mitchley

Format: Unabridged Audiobook

Length: 1 hour 21 minutes

Release date: September 1, 2018

Genres: Poetry

Publisher's Summary:

This now seminal collection of sixty-three poems was originally self-published by Housman in 1896 after rejections from publishers. None saw its potential.Housman, it is said, originally wanted to name the book, The Poems of Terence Hearsay, referring to a character within, but changed the title to A Shropshire Lad at the suggestion of a colleague.The poems were mainly written in 1895 whilst Housman was living in Byron Cottage in Highgate. The book sold slowly. The initial print run of 500 took two years to sell through. However by 1911 annual sales were in the order of 13,500 copies and, during World War I, the book accompanied many young men into the trenches.It thereafter became a cultural icon, remembering a gentler time, a better time.Housman did confess that much of what he had written about, especially in terms of terrain and geography was assumed rather than known. But such poetic licence is easily set aside when the finished work is read and admired.As George Orwell later remembered, "these were the poems which I and my contemporaries used to recite to ourselves, over and over, in a kind of ecstasy".

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/358277 to listen full audiobooks.

Title: The Poetry of World War I - Volume III - Women's Word on War

Author: Katharine Tynan, Amy Lowell, Sara Teasdale

Narrator: Ghizela Rowe, Richard Mitchley, Eve Karpf

Format: Unabridged Audiobook

Length: 1 hour 14 minutes

Release date: September 1, 2018

Genres: Poetry

Publisher's Summary:

War may be rationalized as Ôdiplomacy by other meansÕ but the reality is that when tribes, Nations and peoples bring themselves into armed conflict with one another mayhem, terror and slaughter are the result.In the First World War, The Great War, The War to End all Wars any idealistic aims that it was a Ôjust causeÕ and would be all over in a few months were shattered against the vast scale of millions dead or wounded all for the often temporary gains of a few miles of shell-pocked mud. Human bodies were of little more value than the bullets and shells which mowed them down.In this series of poetry volumes we look at the first world war from several viewpoints. From poets who died, often in battle, during its torturous years, to the women who write of war and its consequences as well as an anthology of those poets, some still of fame, and some now forgotten with only their words to bear witness for what they have experienced. Each has an individual point of view that bears its own truth.Whilst in modern times women fight and serve in many armed forces a century ago their work was needed to tend and comfort the sick and wounded from battle and help Nations, depleted of their menfolk, work as best they could.Within this vast landscape of pain and valour these women also put pen to paper to produce words that show us war from another angle. Their own. Whether it be jingoistic or patriotic, reflective or overwhelming their verses have an eloquence that is both painful and tender.This volume comes to you from Portable Poetry, a specialized imprint from Deadtree Publishing. Our range is large and growing and covers single poets, themes, and many compilations.

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/358274 to listen full audiobooks.

Title: The Poetry of World War I - Vol II - The Fallen Poets

Author: Edward Thomas, Rupert Brooke, Wilfred Owen

Narrator: Jake Urry, Gideon Wagner, Richard Mitchley

Format: Unabridged Audiobook

Length: 1 hour 27 minutes

Release date: September 1, 2018

Genres: Poetry

Publisher's Summary:

War may be rationalized as Ôdiplomacy by other meansÕ but the reality is that when tribes, Nations and peoples bring themselves into armed conflict with one another mayhem, terror and slaughter are the result.In the First World War, The Great War, The War to End all Wars any idealistic aims that it was a Ôjust causeÕ and would be all over in a few months were shattered against the vast scale of millions dead or wounded all for the often temporary gains of a few miles of shell-pocked mud. Human bodies were of little more value than the bullets and shells which mowed them down.In this series of poetry volumes we look at the first world war from several viewpoints. From poets who died, often in battle, during its torturous years, to the women who write of war and its consequences as well as an anthology of those poets, some still of fame, and some now forgotten with only their words to bear witness for what they have experienced. Each has an individual point of view that bears its own truth.For the poets who fought in this conflict their first hand accounts often came at a terrible and irrevocable price. In this volume we collect together the works of many poets who died during this tumultuous time. Whilst their lives were cut tragically short their words endure. This volume comes to you from Portable Poetry, a specialized imprint from Deadtree Publishing. Our range is large and growing and covers single poets, themes, and many compilations.

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/358275 to listen full audiobooks.

Title: The Poetry of World War I - The Top 100

Author: Ivor Gurney, Laurence Binyon, Isaac Rosenberg

Narrator: Jake Urry, Gideon Wagner, Richard Mitchley

Format: Unabridged Audiobook

Length: 2 hours 33 minutes

Release date: September 1, 2018

Genres: Poetry

Publisher's Summary:

War may be rationalized as Ôdiplomacy by other meansÕ but the reality is that when tribes, Nations and peoples bring themselves into armed conflict with one another mayhem, terror and slaughter are the result.In the First World War, The Great War, The War to End all Wars any idealistic aims that it was a Ôjust causeÕ and would be all over in a few months were shattered against the vast scale of millions dead or wounded all, for the often temporary gains of a few miles of shell-pocked mud. Human bodies were of little more value than the bullets and shells which mowed them down.In this poetry volume we have distilled an enormous number of poets and poems into a selection that moves from the witness to searing horror and terror of battle to almost forgotten moments of recuperation and reflection both at the front and at home.Out of the carnage has flowered works of fractured beauty, symbols of those we have lost and reminders of what we have lost.These words to bear witness for what they have experienced. Each has an individual point of view that bears its own truth.This volume comes to you from Portable Poetry, a specialized imprint from Deadtree Publishing. Our range is large and growing and covers single poets, themes, and many compilations.

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/358273 to listen full audiobooks.

Title: The Poetry of George Meredith

Author: George Meredith

Narrator: Gideon Wagner, Ghizela Rowe, Richard Mitchley

Format: Unabridged Audiobook

Length: 1 hour 11 minutes

Release date: September 1, 2018

Genres: Poetry

Publisher's Summary:

George Meredith, OM, was born in Portsmouth, England on February 12th, 1828. His mother died when he was five. As a fourteen year old teenager he was sent to a Moravian School in Neuwied, Germany, staying there for two years. After reading law he was articled as a solicitor, but quickly abandoned that career path for journalism and poetry. He collaborated with Edward Gryffydh Peacock, son of Thomas Love Peacock in publishing a privately circulated literary magazine, the Monthly Observer. At age twenty-one he married Mary Ellen Nicolls, Edward Peacock's beautiful widowed sister, on August 8th, 1849. Mary Ellen was 28.The marriage produced one child; Arthur (1853Ð1890). Meredith collected his early writings, all previously published in periodicals, in an 1851 volume, Poems. In 1856 he posed as the model for The Death of Chatterton, a well-known picture by the English Pre-Raphaelite painter Henry Wallis, which romantised the teenage ChattertonÕs demise. Although Meredith received some publicity for this his wife received rather more attention from Wallis because of it. Mary Ellen ran off with Wallis in 1858, shortly before giving birth to a child that all assumed to be Wallis. Tragically she died three years later. From that dreadful experience emerged a collection of sonnets entitled Modern Love in 1862 together with much of his first major novel; The Ordeal of Richard Feverel.Meredith married Marie Vulliamy in 1864 and they settled in Surrey. Together they had two children; William (1865) and Mariette (1874). He had a keen understanding of comedy and his Essay on Comedy (1877) remains a reference work in the history of comic theory. In The Egoist, published in 1879, he applies some of his theories of comedy in one of his most thoughtful and enduring novels. During most of his career, he had difficulty crossing over from critical acclamation to popular success. It was only in 1885 that his first genuine commercial success appeared; Diana of the Crossways. With an unreliable income stream he sought to bolster that with a job as a publisher's reader.The company that gave him this lifeline was Chapman & Hall. His advice to the company was very well received and made him influential in the world of letters. In 1868 Meredith was introduced to Thomas Hardy. Hardy had submitted his first novel, The Poor Man and the Lady. Meredith felt the book was too bitter a satire on the rich and told Hardy to put it aside as it was likely it would be savaged by reviewers and destroy his nascent career. Meredith had received the same reaction with The Ordeal of Richard Feverel. Although it had brought him success it was judged so shocking that Mudie's circulating library cancelled an order of 300 copies. But these years, creatively, were very prolific and successful for Meredith. Novels and poems flowed from his pen including everything from The Adventures of Harry Richmond to many poetry volumes including The Lark Ascending (which later inspired the Vaughan Williams music). In 1886, tragedy struck when Marie Vulliamy, died of cancer.Whilst his personal life was producing horrendous scars he was receiving many accolades. Oscar Wilde was a fan. In The Decay of Lying, he says of Meredith "Ah, Meredith! Who can define him? His style is chaos illumined by flashes of lightning". In 1891 Meredith was even the subject of homage when Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in his Sherlock Holmes short story The Boscombe Valley Mystery. Holmes turns to Watson during case discussions and says "And now let us talk about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all minor matters until tomorrow." George Meredith, aged 81, died at his home in Box Hill, Surrey on May 18th, 1909. He is buried in the cemetery at Dorking, Surrey.This volume comes to you from Portable Poetry, a specialized imprint from Deadtree Publishing. Our range is large and growing and covers single poets, themes, and many compilations.

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/358268 to listen full audiobooks.

Title: The Poetry of A. E. Housman

Author: A. E. Housman

Narrator: Gideon Wagner, Ghizela Rowe, Richard Mitchley

Format: Unabridged Audiobook

Length: 1 hour 8 minutes

Release date: September 1, 2018

Ratings: Ratings of Book: 5 of Total 1

Genres: Poetry

Publisher's Summary:

Alfred Edward Housman was born on 26 March 1859 in a small village near Bromsgrove in Worcestershire, the eldest of seven children. His mother died when he was 12 and his father remarried. Despite a good formal education where he won prizes for his poetry and a scholarship to Oxford, Houseman failed to get his degree in Classics. Various reasons have been suggested for this; over confidence, a lack of interest in philosophy or the rejection by one of his roommates who was the love of his life but heterosexual.Housman himself documented his homosexuality and love of this roommate in a letter to the British Library that he specified be opened 25 years after it was sent. Housman independently pursued studying the Greek classicists in particular and published many scholarly articles on their work which were well regarded. This resulted in his taking a position as a Professor of Latin at University College London in 1892 and later at Trinity College Cambridge.Whilst his reputation as a classical scholar grew and remains relevant to this day, his poetry took longer to be recognised. His 63 poems forming the Shropshire Lad was self published as publishers rejected the work but although it sold slowly it chimed well with Victorian and Edwardian sensibilities and became a lasting success helped by striking a chord with musicians who were inspired by his words. Housman continued to write lyrical poetry that evokes the distinct imagery of the English countryside as well as powerfully questioning our mortality and although linked to the era his poetry is still widely quoted and remains relevant as this volume clearly demonstrates. A.E. Housman as he became known died on 30th April, 1936 aged 77 and his ashes are buried in Shropshire. This volume comes to you from Portable Poetry, a specialized imprint from Deadtree Publishing. Our range is large and growing and covers single poets, themes, and many compilations.

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/358270 to listen full audiobooks.

Title: The Poetry of Night - Volume 2

Author: Robert Seymour Bridges, Robert Louis Stevenson, Robert Burns

Narrator: Gordon Kennedy, Ghizela Rowe, Richard Mitchley

Format: Unabridged Audiobook

Length: 1 hour 11 minutes

Release date: September 1, 2018

Genres: Poetry

Publisher's Summary:

Night. The day has gone. Departed. And the dark embrace, the inky shadows of night descend. For many a time to unwind and slumber. For some a nagging doubt that all is not well. That some primeval and primordial happening may yet go bump in the night.But for our poets the night is a time of wonder and imagination as well as many other emotions and feelings. Among our ranks of gloried talents are Keats, Coleridge, William Morris, DH Lawrence, Whitman, Longfellow and many more besides. Their descriptions capture what they see and feel as perhaps only a poet can. Among our ranks of gloried talents are Thomas Hood, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Robert Louis Stevenson, John Clare, Herman Melville and many more besides. Their descriptions capture what they see and feel as perhaps only a poet can. This volume comes to you from Portable Poetry, a specialized imprint from Deadtree Publishing. Our range is large and growing and covers single poets, themes, and many compilations.

Please visit https://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/1/audiobook/358266 to listen full audiobooks.

Title: The Poetry Of Alfred Lord Tennyson

Author: Alfred Lord Tennyson

Narrator: Gideon Wagner, Ghizela Rowe, Richard Mitchley

Format: Unabridged Audiobook

Length: 1 hour 16 minutes

Release date: September 1, 2018

Genres: Poetry

Publisher's Summary:

Alfred Tennyson was born on August 6th, 1809, in Somersby, Lincolnshire, the fourth of twelve children. Most of Tennyson's early education was under the direction of his father, although he did spend four unhappy years at a nearby grammar school. He left home in 1827 to join his elder brothers at Trinity College, Cambridge, more to escape his father than a desire for serious academic work. At Trinity he was living for the first time among young men of his own age who knew little of his problems. He was delighted to make new friends; he was handsome, intelligent, humorous, a gifted impersonator and soon at the center of those interested in poetry and conversation. That same year, he and his brother Charles published Poems by Two Brothers. Although the poems in the book were of teenage quality, they attracted the attention of the ÒApostles," a select undergraduate literary club led by Arthur Hallam.The ÒApostlesÓ provided Tennyson with friendship and confidence. Hallam and Tennyson became the best of friends; they toured Europe together in 1830 and again in 1832. HallamÕs sudden death in 1833 greatly affected the young poet. The long elegy In Memoriam and many of TennysonÕs other poems are tributes to Hallam.In 1830, Tennyson published Poems, Chiefly Lyrical and in 1832 he published a second volume entitled simply Poems. Some reviewers condemned these books as ÒaffectedÓ and Òobscure.Ó Tennyson, stung by the reviews, would not publish another book for nine years. In 1836, he became engaged to Emily Sellwood. When he lost his inheritance on a failed investment in 1840, the engagement was cancelled. In 1842, however, TennysonÕs Poems [in two volumes] was a tremendous critical and popular success. In 1850, with the publication of In Memoriam, TennysonÕs reputation was pre-eminent. He was also selected as Poet Laureate in succession to Wordsworth and, to complete a wonderful year, he married Emily Sellwood.At the age of 41, Tennyson had established himself as the most popular poet of the Victorian era.The money from his poetry [at times exceeding 10,000 pounds per year] allowed him to purchase a home in the country and to write in relative seclusion. His appearanceÑa large and bearded man, he regularly wore a cloak and a broad brimmed hatÑenhanced his notoriety. In 1859, Tennyson published the first poems of Idylls of the Kings, which sold more than 10,000 copies in a fortnight. In 1884, he accepted a peerage, becoming Alfred Lord Tennyson. On October 6th, 1892, an hour or so after midnight, surrounded by his family, he died at Aldworth. It is said that the moonlight was streaming through the window and Tennyson himself was holding open a volume of Shakespeare. He was buried in Westminster Abbey.This volume comes to you from Portable Poetry, a specialized imprint from Deadtree Publishing. Our range is large and growing and covers single poets, themes, and many compilations.