John Donne

Selected Poems

By: John Donne

Narrated by: Frederick Davidson

The status of John Donne (1572-1631) as one of the greatest poets in the English language is firmly established. He strongly influenced writers of the 17th century, and modern poets such as T.S. Eliot have praised and imitated Donne's work. His poetry is characterized by dramatic, witty, and bold language; by strikingly original imagery; and rhythms based on everyday speech. Like Shakespeare, Donne was a genius at making common words yield up rich, poetic meaning. His thought is complex, but his poems unfold in a logical way.(P)1992 by Blackstone Audiobooks

Heavy gorgeous soulful

Intensely narrated with dramatic effect and intriguing emphasis on poets prose
Recommend listening in 2 parts

Not really sure

I'm not sure poetry really transfers to audio books as well as fiction. Can't really scan the work, or take much time to analyze it.

Needs a more inspired performer.

This narrator droned on and provided a tedious performance like a stereotypically bad actor. it gave no insight or connection to the words.

Nope.

It's hard to do poetry on audible. Poetry is rightly read aloud, but must be read well. Donne is wonderful, this narrator over inflects. I couldn't continue.

Unbearable Narrator

There are some audio book and poem narrators who are good, some bad, some excellent. But the person who somehow got to narrate these John Donne poems must really be making fun of the content he was reading. I mean the way it sounds is like a parody of the worst British accent. Almost like Stewie from The Family Guy, except the Stewie voice could pass as a decent narrator depending on the content. The guy narrating this must be a failed comedian.

This is just unacceptable.