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The Poetry of Shakespeare: Selected Sonnets, Venus and Adonis and the Rape of Lucrece
- Narrated by: Olivia Mornet, Joel Daffurn, Nathan Chatelier, Jon Brattin
- Length: 7 hrs and 5 mins
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The Poetry of Shakespeare: Selected Sonnets, Venus and Adonis and the Rape of Lucrece
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Publisher's summary
William Shakespeare, the "Bard of Avon", is the most famous of all English writers. Though he lived and died over 400 years ago, his works remain loved and treasured to this day. Even after all this time, they have lost none of their power nor their beauty: His stories still excite, his words still move, and his characters still seem real and deep and true.
Nowadays Shakespeare is best-remembered as a playwright. But he was also an extravagantly-gifted poet, the author of three major poetical works: The long narrative poems, Venus and Adonis and The Rape of Lucrece; and the Sonnets, a collection of 154 short poems.
Shakespeare’s three major poetic works are radically different in tone: From the contemplative intimacy of the Sonnets, to the exuberance of Venus and Adonis and the unremitting darkness of The Rape of Lucrece. But they are united by the Bard’s glorious poetry, his insight and his wisdom. All three deserve to be read, admired, and loved.
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Wounds Heal Ill That Men Do Give Themselves
- By Darwin8u on 08-30-17
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Faust
- By: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
- Narrated by: David McCallion
- Length: 5 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 54
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 48
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 45
Faust by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, is a poem, translated by Bayard Taylor, which tells the beautiful and emotional story of a man who has seen and done it all. However, despite all of his learning and education, his life still feels empty and unaccomplished. He believes wholeheartedly that there is something else out there. Faust, having exhausted all other fields of study, turns to magic for fulfillment. He summons the devil and makes a pact - that if the devil can show him something rewarding and fulfilling, he will give the devil his soul.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Misleading
- By Grant Pajak on 03-29-17
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Falstaff
- Give Me Life
- By: Harold Bloom
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 3 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 37
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 33
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 34
Falstaff is both a comic and tragic central protagonist in Shakespeare's three Henry plays. He is companion to Prince Hal (the future Henry V), who loves him, goads him, teases him, indulges his vast appetites, and commits all sorts of mischief with him. Award-winning author and esteemed professor Harold Bloom examines Falstaff with the deepest compassion and sympathy and also with unerring wisdom. He uses the relationship between Falstaff and Hal to explore the devastation of severed bonds and the heartbreak of betrayal.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Falstaff brooks no rebuttal.
- By Darwin8u on 02-06-20
By: Harold Bloom
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The Plays of Sophocles
- Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus, and Antigone
- By: Sophocles
- Narrated by: David McCallion
- Length: 5 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 55
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 49
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 47
Sophocles was born at Colonus, near Athens in about 496 BC and is considered to be one of the premier playwrights of Greek tragedy. His stories may have been filled with strife, but Sophocles himself was prosperous and came from a good family. It is said that he was handsome, wealthy, and a highly respected citizen of Athens. During his life, he wrote over 120 plays and was instrumental in how plays would eventually be performed, including the addition of stage props.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Bad Dialogue
- By Zoe Olvera on 08-12-18
By: Sophocles
![The Scarlet Plague [Classic Tales Edition] Audiobook By Jack London cover art](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61FhtSpkE8L._SL320_.jpg)
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The Scarlet Plague [Classic Tales Edition]
- By: Jack London
- Narrated by: B.J. Harrison
- Length: 2 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 690
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 598
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 595
Twelve billionaires rule the United States, while those called freemen are forced to serve the rich. But that was 60 years ago, before the Scarlet Plague. In this post-apocalyptic novella, a ragged and tattered old man tells his progeny of what life was like before The Scarlet Plague appeared - and wiped out civilization as they knew it.
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5 out of 5 stars
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wonderful listen very relevant today!
- By Johnny on 12-02-17
By: Jack London
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Idylls of the King
- By: Alfred Tennyson
- Narrated by: Charlton Griffin
- Length: 12 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 199
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 130
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 130
The Arthurian legend of Camelot has been told many times, but never better than by Alfred Tennyson. Employing some of the most stirring and beautiful blank verse ever written, Tennyson crafted his version of the Knights of the Round Table over the course of nearly fifty years, completing it in 1885. Despite the length of time, Tennyson managed to maintain a high level of style and continuity throughout.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Beautiful poetry
- By Roger on 01-15-08
By: Alfred Tennyson
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Oedipus the King
- By: Sophocles
- Narrated by: full cast
- Length: 1 hr and 46 mins
- Original Recording
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 352
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 298
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 295
In Sophocles' tragedy, Oedipus discovers that he has been caught in his terrible destiny, unknowingly murdering his father and marrying his mother.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Superb
- By Mark on 11-24-09
By: Sophocles
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The Divine Comedy
- By: Dante Alighieri, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow - translator
- Narrated by: Charlton Griffin
- Length: 17 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 577
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 440
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Story4 out of 5 stars 441
Dante's Divine Comedy is considered to be not only the most important epic poem in Italian literature, but also one of the greatest poems ever written. It consists of 100 cantos, and (after an introductory canto) they are divided into three sections. Each section is 33 cantos in length, and they describe how Dante and a guide travel through Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Not for listening.
- By Larry on 03-13-11
By: Dante Alighieri, and others
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Paradise Lost & Paradise Regained
- By: John Milton
- Narrated by: Charlton Griffin
- Length: 16 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 865
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 728
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 732
Paradise Lost, along with its companion piece, Paradise Regained, remain the most successful attempts at Greco-Roman style epic poetry in the English language. Remarkably enough, they were written near the end of John Milton's amazing life, a bold testimonial to his mental powers in old age. And, since he had gone completely blind in 1652, 15 years prior to Paradise Lost, he dictated it and all his other works to his daughter.
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5 out of 5 stars
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SELL YOUR SHIRT FOR THIS AUDIO BOOK!
- By thomas on 04-23-11
By: John Milton
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Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
- By: J. R. R. Tolkien
- Narrated by: Terry Jones
- Length: 4 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 714
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 602
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 600
A collection of three medieval English poems, translated by Tolkien for the modern-day reader and containing romance, tragedy, love, sex and honour.
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5 out of 5 stars
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An absolute delight!
- By Shannon Slee on 07-15-18
By: J. R. R. Tolkien
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The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
- By: Samuel Taylor Coleridge
- Narrated by: B.J. Harrison
- Length: 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 344
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 301
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 299
A bird of good omen is murdered. A fickle crew is punished by supernatural, spectral beings. A skeletal ship is sighted moving against the wind and tide. The figure of Death along with a singular, gruesome companion man the fiendish craft. And as they draw closer, it becomes clear that the two play at dice for the soul of the ancient mariner. The result is nothing short of cataclysmic.
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5 out of 5 stars
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A classic well read
- By Gary on 08-08-16
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The Complete Collection of Emily Dickinson's Poems
- By: Emily Dickinson
- Narrated by: Elaine Sepani
- Length: 3 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 36
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 30
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 29
Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) was a reclusive poet whose only friendships were carried out in correspondence. Despite writing almost 1800 poems in her life, very few were published until after her death. Here, the poems are presented in chronological order in their original form, unaltered by editorial revision, in one volume. It offers a wide-angle view of Dickinson's poetic development, from the clunky rhyme schemes of her youth, through valentines she wrote in the early 1850s, to the gloomy, hell-obsessed writings of her last years.
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1 out of 5 stars
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It’s not Emily Dickinson’s Fault
- By Mary Beth Hammond on 04-04-21
By: Emily Dickinson
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Bulfinch’s Mythology
- The Age of Fable, or Stories of Gods and Heroes
- By: Thomas Bulfinch
- Narrated by: Jonathan Cowley
- Length: 13 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 68
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 56
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Story4 out of 5 stars 57
First published in three separate volumes from 1855 to 1863, Bulfinch's Mythology quickly became the standard source of classic tales from ancient Greece and Rome, the Norse tradition, and beyond. This edition contains the full text of The Age of Fable, or Stories of Gods and Heroes, the first volume of Bulfinch's seminal work. From stories of the Greek gods of Mt. Olympus to retellings of the Iliad and the Odyssey, from descriptions of mythological monsters to tales of Hindu and Egyptian deities, Bulfinch's versions of these classic stories bring their characters to life.
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4 out of 5 stars
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new stories, and covers alot.
- By Felisa Kay on 03-28-17
By: Thomas Bulfinch
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Quo Vadis
- A Narrative of the Time of Nero
- By: Henryk Sienkiewicz
- Narrated by: Frederick Davidson
- Length: 22 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 222
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 187
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 192
Marcus, a Roman officer in Nero's army, risks his career, his family, and even his life when he falls in love with a Christian woman named Callina. In order to win Callina's love, Marcus must come to understand the true meaning of her religion, even as Rome sinks under the excesses of Nero and Christians are thrown to the lions. Quo Vadis brims with passion and life as it explores one of the turning points in history.
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5 out of 5 stars
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loved every word
- By TruckerOlli on 12-02-10