Poetry Audiobooks | Literature

The Best Loved Poems of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis

"Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis loved literature, especially poetry. 'Once you can express yourself,' she wrote, 'you can tell the world what you want from it...All the changes in the world, for good or evil, were first brought about by words'. Now, Caroline Kennedy shares her mother's favorite poems and the inspiration behind her strong belief in the power of literature. The poems presented span centuries and include works by such renowned authors as Langston Hughes, William Shakespeare, Homer, W.B. Yeats, Emily Dickinson, E.E. Cummings, and Robert Frost. This volume also includes poems by Jacqueline Kennedy. Illustrated with photographs of the Kennedy family, and illuminated by Caroline's reflections on her mother's life and work. A wonderful volume for reading aloud or by yourself, a meaningful gift or keepsake, this book offers an intimate view of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis' world, and a poignant glimpse into her heart. This audiobook includes a special reading by Senator Edward M. Kennedy and Robert Frost reading 'The Gift Outright' at the inauguration of President John F. Kennedy, January 20, 1961."

Caroline Kennedy (Author), B. D. Wong, Byron Jennings, Caroline Kennedy, Claire Bloom, Daniel Davis, Edward M. Kennedy, Jennifer Wiltsie, Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Viola Davis (Narrator)

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T. S. Eliot Reads The Waste Land, Four Quartets and Other Poems

"The most famous, beautiful and spiritually moving poems of the twentieth-century, read by the most famous poet. Historic recordings of the cream of Eliot’s poetry. It is always something of a revelation to listen to a poet reading his own words, and these recordings are no exception. Eliot clearly and evenly characterises and reveals the voices of some of his most important works in this excellent reading. The Waste Land caught the imagination of the age with its powerful emotional impact. Eliot felt that the modern Western city had become a sterile desert waste land, and in it life had become a sham pretence, with no content but stale conventionality. The Four Quartets express the poet’s whole-hearted acceptance of the Christian faith. Each poem describes a meditation which leads to a reconciliation with the burden of the past."

T.S. Eliot (Author), T.S. Eliot (Narrator)

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Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats

"The basis for the musical phenomenon 'Cats', this collection of 14 inviting rhymes – the mixture of the real and the impossible, the familiar and the fantastic – make for a set of poems that no child or adult can possibly resist. The basis for the musical phenomenon 'Cats', this collection of 14 inviting rhymes – the mixture of the real and the impossible, the familiar and the fantastic – make for a set of poems that no child or adult can possibly resist."

T.S. Eliot (Author), Irene Worth, Sir John Gielgud (Narrator)

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Annabel Lee

"Annabel Lee is the last complete poem composed by Edgar Allan Poe. Like many of Poe's poems, it explores the theme of the death of a beautiful woman. The narrator, who fell in love with Annabel Lee when they were young, has a love for her so strong that even angels are jealous. He retains his love for her even after her death. There has been debate over who, if anyone, was the inspiration for "Annabel Lee." Though many women have been suggested, Poe's wife Virginia Eliza Clemm Poe is one of the more credible candidates. Written in 1849, it was not published until shortly after Poe's death that same year."

Edgar Allan Poe (Author), Patrick Lawlor (Narrator)

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Valentines: A Bouquet of Letters and Poetry for Lovers

"A collection of classic love poetry Composed by many of the world’s best known and most celebrated poets—including William Blake, Emily Dickinson, John Donne, Robert Frost, James Joyce, Christina Rossetti, William Butler Yeats, and others—Valentines spans not only the ages, but the full range of passionate expression of love in all its forms and stages."

Stefan Rudnicki (Author), Alfre Woodard, Amy Irving, Burt Reynolds, Christopher Cazenove, David Warner, Elliott Gould, Gabriel Byrne, Glenda Jackson, Jean Smart, Jill Eikenberry, Joel Grey, Juliet Mills, Melissa Manchester, Meryl Streep, Michael Tucker, Michael York, Nancy Kwan, Orson Welles, Robert Foxworth, Roger Rees, Roscoe Lee Browne, Samantha Eggar, Sharon Stone, Stephanie Beacham, Susan Anspach, Vanessa Redgrave (Narrator)

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Long Poems Collection 008

Various Authors (Author), LibriVox Volunteers (Narrator)

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Towards Democracy

""Civilization sinks and swims, but the old facts remain-the sun smiles, knowing well its strength." Edward Carpenter (1844-1929) wrote his prose poem, Towards Democracy, styled after Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass, in a summer burst of creativity. "Early in 1881, no doubt as the culmination and result of struggles and experiences that had been going on, I became conscious that a mass of material was forming within me, imperatively demanding expression . . ." An English intellectual, Carpenter was in rebellion against Victorian prudery. Railing against Industrialization's dehumanization, he preached a return to a simple life in harmony with Nature. Towards Democracy reads like Beat poetry-wild flowing word associations, moments of insight so clear they hurt, interspersed with pure rant! Included is an essay Carpenter wrote in 1894 explaining his intent and feelings in writing Towards Democracy. - Summary by Sue Anderson"

Edward Carpenter (Author), Sue Anderson (Narrator)

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Meditations from the Pen of Mrs. Maria W. Stewart

"Maria W. Stewart was America's first black woman political writer. Between 1831 and 1833, she gave four speeches on the topics of slavery and women's rights. Meditations From The Pen of Mrs. Maria W. Stewart-published in 1879, shortly before her death-is a collection of those speeches as well as her memoir, some meditations and prayers. They are political, poetical and sermon all at the same time; but in the mileu in which she lectured, they were a critically important part of the abolitionist movement years before the contributions of others such as Frederick Douglass and Sojourner Truth. Her speeches and essays espoused a return to Christian values and morality, but also proposed fundamental changes in gender roles in the midst of tremendous public opposition to the rights of blacks and of women. (Introduction by James K. White)"

Maria W. Stewart (Author), James K. White (Narrator)

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Collected Poems 1901-1918

Walter De La Mare (Author), LibriVox Volunteers (Narrator)

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Canzoniere

"Le Rime (in English, The Rhymes) are the collection of lyric poems written by Dante Alighieri throughout his life. While the rest of Dante's works were prepared by himself for publication, these poems were written by him in letters, as parts of other works or independently, but only collected and ordered much later, by modern critics. Among these is found the famous collection of Rime Petrose, a cycle of poems dedicated to a woman nicknamed Pietra (Stone) due to her insensibility to the poet's love. As the work of a whole life, the poems are varied, and mirror the many different moments of Dante's thoughts, both poetically and philosophically. - Summary by Leni"

Dante Alighieri (Author), LibriVox Volunteers (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Poems of Giacomo Leopardi

Giacomo Leopardi (Author), LibriVox Volunteers (Narrator)

Audiobook

Early Poems

James Russell Lowell (Author), LibriVox Volunteers (Narrator)

Audiobook

Poetry Audiobooks in Literature