Showing results by author "ciesse" in All Categories

LibriVox volunteers bring you 17 recordings of Christmas Bells by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. This was the Fortnightly Poetry project for December 18, 2022.Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (27 February 1807 - 24 March 1882) was an American poet and teacher best known for the poems "Paul Revere's Ride", "The Song Of Hiawatha" and "Evangeline." He was one of the so-called fireside poets from New England. This poem was written on Christmas Day 1863 and deals with the stark contrast between the Christmas message of peace on earth and the brutal and devastating American Civil War which was at its height....

Long before he was President and having just started his law practice, 28-year-old Abraham Lincoln delivered (January 27, 1838) a speech on the dangers of mob rule. Seeming to speak to our present time, he warned that mobs, or people who disrespected U.S. laws and courts, could destroy the United States. He went on to say that the Constitution and rule of law in the United States are "the political religion of our nation."Delivered to the Young Men’s Lyceum in Springfield, Illinois, the speech became known as "the Lyceum Address" and was titled, "The Perpetuation of Our Political ...

A collection of short, non-fiction travel memoirs or guides written in, or translated into, English. Material covered might be a museum, a village or town, or a particular voyage or train journey, or other travelogues of potential interest to listeners. - Summary by KevinS

Helen Hunt Jackson is probably most famous for her work on behalf of Native Americans’ rights. However, this short volume presents a sonnet for each month of the year, devoted simply and beautifully to the shifting wonder of nature through the seasons.(Summary by Laura Fox)

LibriVox volunteers bring you 14 readings of My Shadow, by Robert Louis Stevenson. Stevenson's famous poem concerns a child's shadow and its antics. This was the weekly poetry project for the week of September 7th, 2014. Summary by Sweet Pea.

This short early twentieth century biography of Robert Louis Stevenson by polymath Chesterton and journalist Nicoll is also sometimes entitled ‘The Characteristics of Robert Louis Stevenson.’ Each author wrote a section of the whole. This recording is of the third edition which differs structurally from the first edition and has some additional material. - Summary by David Wales

A great collection of 12 classic stories about ghosts and the supernatural. Included are stories by Thomas Hardy, Fitz-James O'Brien, and Margaret Oliphant. Recommended for fans of classic ghost stories of yesteryear. - Summary by Phyllis Vincelli

Daisy Miller is an 1878 novella by Henry James first appearing in Cornhill Magazine in June–July 1879, and in book form the following year. It portrays the courtship of the beautiful American girl Daisy Miller by Frederick Winterbourne, a sophisticated compatriot of hers. His pursuit of her is hampered by her own flirtatiousness, which is frowned upon by the other expatriates when they meet in Switzerland and Italy. (Summary by Wikipedia)CastFrederick Winterbourne: Brett W. DowneyDaisy Miller: Amanda FridayRandolph Miller: Arielle LipshawMrs. Miller: Libby GohnMrs. Costello: Elizabeth ...

A humorous tale about a poor Irish charwoman living in the slums of Dublin, and her innocent teenage daughter, Mary Makebelieve, whose first forays into courtship and romance, and their desire to escape from drudgery -- provide us with a charming picture of youth's enthusiasm and a mother's devotion, amidst Dublin's many parks and shops. The chapters are filled with James Stephens' witty Irish observations on life, love, ignorance, the frustrations of the poor and the wishful thinking that sustains them . . . . told as jauntily as only a few authors can equal. ( ~ Michele Fry, Soloist)

"Moses leads the Hebrews out of Egypt and through the wilderness to the Mountain of God: Mount Sinai. There Yahweh, through Moses, gives the Hebrews their laws and enters into a covenant with them, by which he will give them the land of Canaan in return for their faithfulness. The book ends with the construction of the Tabernacle." (Summary by Wikipedia)

描述中國唐朝皇帝唐玄宗(又稱唐明皇)與寵妃楊貴妃淒慘的愛情故事。中國文學中有好幾部作品取材自這個歷史故事，例如唐朝陳鴻的〈長恨歌傳〉與白居易的〈長恨歌〉、元代白樸的〈梧桐雨〉，內容上最主要差異在於馬嵬驚變這個高潮之後，對貴妃心境的描寫。相較於其他作者，洪昇塑造了一個更具獨立人格的女性，以及更人性化的唐玄宗。 (概述来源：Summary by Ayishalyu )

Thomas H. Huxley, an English biologist and essayist, was an advocate of the theory of evolution and a self-proclaimed agnostic. A talented writer, his essays helped to popularize science in the 19th century, and he is credited with the quote, "Try to learn something about everything and everything about something." In The Advance of Science in the Last Half Century, he presents a summary of the major developments in Physics, Chemistry and Biology during the period 1839-1889 and their impact on society, within the historical context of philosophical thought and scientific inquiry going back to ...

"Micio and Demea are two brothers of dissimilar tempers. Demea is married, and lives a country life, while his brother remains single, and resides in Athens." Things quickly get a bit messy with hushed-up debauchery, kidnapping/elopement/theft of a slave, general carousing, and marriage nuptials - the usual for the day perhaps, except that: "The Play concludes with a serious warning from Demea, who advises his relatives not to squander their means in riotous living; but, on the contrary, to bear admonition and to submit to restraint in a spirit of moderation and thankfulness."- Summary by The ...

LibriVox volunteers bring you 15 recordings of Adam and Eve (From “Paradise Lost,” Fourth Book) by John Milton. This was the Weekly Poetry project for Paradise Lost is an epic poem in blank verse by the 17th-century English poet John Milton. It was originally published in 1667 (though written nearly ten years earlier) in ten books, with a total of over ten thousand individual lines of verse. A second edition followed in 1674, redivided into twelve books (in the manner of the division of Virgil's Aeneid) with minor revisions throughout and a note on the versification; most of the poem was ...

The letters... will perhaps more clearly exhibit the temper and character of Knox, than his more elaborate compositions: but to understand the allusions with which they abound, it is necessary to revert to his domestic history while he resided in England. During his stay at Berwick, be contracted an acquaintanceship with Mrs. Bowes, in the course of which, a mutual attachment was formed between him and her daughter Marjory, with the approbation of the mother, who gave her hearty consent to their union. But the intended match was opposed by her husband’s relatives, and especially, by Sir ...

A collection of 10 out of the 12 Encyclicals written by Pope Benedict XV, who was Pope from 1914-1922. Public domain English translations of 'In Hac Tanta' and 'Principi Apostolorum Petro' were not able to be located for this collection. (Summary by Maria Therese)

The Letters of a Portuguese Nun (Les Lettres Portugaises) were first published anonymously in Paris in 1669. The five passionate letters in book form were a publishing sensation since their appearance, with five editions in the first year, followed by more than forty editions throughout the 17th century. A Cologne edition of 1669 stated that the Marquis de Chamilly was their addressee, but, aside from the fact that she was female, the author's name and identity remained unknown. The letters were translated in several languages, and set a precedent for sentimentalism in European culture at ...

Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania is a series of essays written by the Pennsylvania lawyer and legislator John Dickinson (1732–1808) and published under the name "A Farmer" from 1767 to 1768. The twelve letters were widely read and reprinted throughout the thirteen colonies and were important in uniting the colonists against the Townshend Acts. (Wikipedia)

Published in 1908, this is the story of two small families and the agreeable couple who help them. The heartfelt Norths, though clouded by disabilities, maintain the joy of life while struggling through sadness and loss. Their neighbours, the Austins, live comfortably if without much in the way of shared interest. As Eloise Wynne approaches to “bless” the Norths with her amiable fiancé, Doctor Allan Conrad, the two offspring in each family discover a hidden deception and how each parent, that they had grown up without, had met their fatal ends. - Summary by Daryl Wor

Originally entitled A frutefull pleasaunt, and wittie worke of the beste state of publique weale, & of the newe yle, called Utopia: written in Latine, by ... Syr Thomas More knyght, and translated into Englishe by Raphe Robynson ...The first book tells of the traveller Raphael Hythloday, to whom More is introduced in Antwerp. The second book consists of Hythloday's description of the island and people of Utopia, their customs, laws, religions, economy, language and relations with other nations. Hythloday portrays Utopia as an idealised state, where all property is common to all the people and ...