The Richard Burton Poetry Collection

By: Samuel Coleridge, John Donne, Thomas Hardy

Narrated by: Richard Burton

Richard Burton reads from Hardy and Donne, and performs a wonderful unabridged version of Samuel Taylor Coleridge's "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" (along with Robert Hardy and John Neville).

©2010 Saland Publishing (P)2010 Saland Publishing

Critic reviews

"Most listeners will feel that the tale of the mariner is the highlight of this disc. Certainly it comes over most thrillingly in dramatic form with Richard Burton making a real character of the mariner himself, John Neville, as narrator, painting the scene with exactly the right imaginative sense, and Robert Hardy giving to the wedding guest a tone of bewildered fear. It is all most exciting with plenty of varying pace and mood." ( Gramophone Magazine)

No titles

Richard Burton -- awesome. Love his voice. Miss his acting. No titles -- frustrating.

Burton Incredible / Chapters Confusing

This is the best poetry reading I have heard. I got it for the Rime of the Ancient Mariner which exceeds expectations. As usual, there's no way to tell what poems or authors come after. I can't believe audible has gotten away with failing to label chapters for so long. This isn't like a book where 2 just means a different chapter. It's a different author altogether(I think). Hopefully more competition in near future will force them to up their game. Also, more could have been included. Poetry collections are really lacking in length

A master orator at work

I can think of nothing better than Richard Burton reading some of the best classic poetry. The languid voice and rich Welsh tone do great justice to this short collection. Normally, that would be enough for me to grant this collection 5 stars but this production does not shine. One of me biggest problems was with the quality of the production. The audio is not of a high quality, it almost sounds like he is reading these poems from his own kitchen. Also there are some awkward silences, add in the fact that none of the poems are introduced leaving the listener to guess the name of the piece and I got the feeling that the production is sub-par. That a shame because Burton does a good job of reading these classic pieces and if you can ignore the flaws you will not be disappointed.

I can ocean like to see – poetry

Oh that we could still hear poetry
Oh that we could still see poetry
In gutters of snippets, bits
Our minds are poorly lit
We roll, sloths clinging to the last remnants
Of a history that never was

The Voice. There was only one Richard Burton

Listening to the Ancient Mariner was more effective than when I read it as a teenager.