"I have been in the Heaven that takes up most of his light, and saw things there that those who descend from that height cannot speak of or forget…' Led by his guide Beatrice, Dante leaves the Earth behind and soars through the heavenly spheres of Paradise. In this third and final part of The Divine Comedy, he encounters the just rulers and holy saints of the Church. The horrors of Inferno and the trials of Purgatory are left far behind. Ultimately, in Paradise, Dante is granted a vision of God's Heavenly court - the angels, the Blessed Virgin and God Himself."
"Now of that second kingdom I shall sing where human souls are purified of sin and made worthy to ascend to Heaven' Purgatory is the second part of Dante's The Divine Comedy ascending the terraces of the Mount of Purgatory inhabited by those doing penance to expiate their sins on earth. There are the proud - forced to circle their terrace for aeons bent double in humility; the slothful - running around crying out examples of zeal and sloth; while the lustful are purged by fire. Though less well-known than Inferno, Purgatory has inspired many writers including, in our century, Samuel Beckett, and has played a key role in literature."
"'Abandon all hope you who enter here' (Lasciate ogne speranza voi ch'intrate) Dante's Hell is one of the most remarkable visions in Western literature. An allegory for his and future ages, it is, at the same time, an account of terrifying realism. Passing under a lintel emblazoned with these frightening words, the poet is led down into the depths by Virgil and shown those doomed to suffer eternal torment for vices exhibited and sins committed on earth. Inferno is the first part of the long journey which continues through redemption to revelation - through Purgatory and Paradise - and, in this translation prepared especially for Audiobook, his images are as vivid as when the poem was first written in the early years of the fourteenth century."
"Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales, a collection of narratives written between 1387 and 1400, tells of a group of thirty people from all layers of society who pass the time along their pilgrimage to Canterbury by telling stories to one another, their interaction mediated (at times) by the affable host - Chaucer himself. Naxos AudioBooks' third volume presents the tales of six people, here in an unabridged modern verse translation (by Frank Ernest Hill, (1935)). This is an ideal way to appreciate the genuinely funny and droll talent of England's early master storyteller. Seven leading British actors bring the medieval world into the twenty-first century, and at least in terms of character, not much seems to have changed!"
"1. Diary Entries
4. In Flanders Fields
5. Preface: Poems by Wilfred Owen
6. Strange Meeting
7. Greater Love
8. Apologia pro Poemate Meo The Show
9. Mental Cases
10. Parable of the Old Men and the Young
11. Arms and the Boy
12. Anthem for Doomed Youth
13. The Send-off
14. Insensibility
15. Dulce et Decorum est
16. The Sentry
17. The Dead-Beat
18. Exposure
19. Spring Offensive
20. The Chances
21. S.I.W.
22. Futility
23. Smile, Smile, Smile
24. Conscious
25. A Terre
26. Qild with all Regrets
27. Disabled
28. The End"
"Paul Laurence Dunbar was born in Dayton, Ohio, in 1872, to parents who were both former slaves. From this humble and impoverished background, he went on to achieve international recognition for his work, which he alternately rendered in African-American dialect and in standard English. His work was popular with both black and white readers. Though he died of tuberculosis at the age of 33, his output was prolific. Before his death, he published twelve poetry collections, four short-story collections, one play, and five novels."
"Imagine if Billboard compiled a list of the top 100 poems, chosen not by critics or professors but by the people themselves. That's the concept behind The Classic Fifty Poems, and it works brilliantly."
"The award-winning bestselling poetry of 11-year-old Mattie Stepanek has touched the lives of hundreds and thousands of people. From Heartsongs, to Vietnam War Memorial, to Prayer for a Journey, Mattie has written movingly and courageously about life and death, love and loss, faith and hope, innocence and joy. His struggle with a rare form of muscular dystrophy has given him wisdom and insight, and his life, work, and message have been recognized by Oprah, National Public Radio, The Washington Post, ABC TV's Good Morning America, People, NBC TV's the Today show, and C- PAN's BookTV."
"Four more delightful tales from one of the most entertaining storytellers of all time. Though writing in the thirteenth century, Chaucer's wit and observation comes down undiminished through the ages, especially in this accessible modern verse translation. The stories vary considerably from the uproarious Wife of Bath's Tale, promoting the power of women to the sober account of patient Griselda in the Clerk's Tale."
"The Life of William Butler Yeats is a remarkable one - poet, playwright, essayist, politician, occultist, astrologer, founder of a national theatre, voluminous correspondent, lover, husband and father. It was a life that extended to a packed, sometimes frantic seventy-three years and left us with what many consider to be one of the finest collections of poetry from one voice."
