Publisher: Sovereign
An incomplete drama based on the life of Demetrius, briefly Russian czar between 1604 and 1605. It is a reflection on the individual's responsibility in history and on the rule of Napoleon.
LibriVox volunteers bring you 27 recordings of The Lovers by Emily Dickinson. This was the Weekly Poetry project for May 27, 2012.The verses of Emily Dickinson belong emphatically to what Emerson long since called "the Poetry of the Portfolio,"—something produced absolutely without the thought of publication, and solely by way of expression of the writer's own mind. Such verse must inevitably forfeit whatever advantage lies in the discipline of public criticism and the enforced conformity to accepted ways. On the other hand, it may often gain something through the habit of freedom and the unconventional utterance of daring thoughts. In the case of the present author, there was absolutely no choice in the matter; she must write thus, or not at all. A recluse by temperament and habit, literally spending years without setting her foot beyond the doorstep, and many more years during which her walks were strictly limited to her father's grounds, she habitually concealed her mind, like her person, from all but a very few friends; and it was with great difficulty that she was persuaded to print, during her lifetime, three or four poems. Yet she wrote verses in great abundance; and though brought curiously indifferent to all conventional rules, had yet a rigorous literary standard of her own, and often altered a word many times to suit an ear which had its own tenacious fastidiousness. (Summary from the Preface of Poems by Emily Dickinson )Show book
It’s that time of year again . . .With his signature wit, Brian Bilston returns with And So This is Christmas, fifty-one poems in celebration of the festive season: from bizarre family traditions to the office Christmas party; from voting day for turkeys to the impossible art of gift-giving.So hang your stockings, grab your mistletoe and curl up with this heart-warming collection of Christmas crackers.Show book
The Waste Land is T. S. Eliot's Modernist masterpiece, first published in 1920. Rich in allusions to Shakespeare, Dante, Baudelaire, the Bible, Marvell, Buddha, and the folklore of the Holy Grail, among other sources, the poem emphasizes the fundamental fragmentation and lack of connection that characterizes modern life and relationships. (Summary by Elizabeth Klett)Show book
The Lays of Ancient Rome comprise four narrative poems comprised by Lord Thomas Babington Macaulay: recalling popular episodes from Roman historical-legends that were strongly moral in tone: exemplifying Roman virtue against Latine perfidy.The four poems are:- Horatius - Horatius and two companions seek to hold back a large invading Etruscan force at the far end of a bridge over the Tiber River. The trio are willing to lay down their lives so as to prevent the Etruscans crossing and sacking the otherwise ill-defended Rome: it is a desperate gamble to buy enough time for the Romans to destroy the bridge in advance of the hostile army. But will their efforts succeed?- The Battle of Lake Regillus - The Romans take arms against the powerful Latine league headed by the expelled Tarquin nobles. The fighting is desperate and bloody: the event is decided only after the arrival upon the battlefield of the twin gods Castor and Pollux.- Virginia - Virginia is the daughter of Virginius - a poor, honest Roman farmer-citizen. In former years Virginius enlisted as a legionary and shed his blood to fight Rome's enemies: now Virginius - like other Romans of the humbler sort - suffer the usurious exactions of noblemen like the wicked Appius Claudius. Appius Claudius uses spurious legal means to take possession of Virginia as his "runaway slave": action guaranteed to succeed given the incumbent corrupt magistracy. So what can Virginius do? To what extremes is the father forced to protect his only child?- The Prophecy of Capys - Romulus and Remus return triumphant to the home of their grandfather Capys. When they arrive, Capys - blind and well advanced in years - is seized by a prophetic frenzy: Capys declaims a series of portents describing the future battles and victories destined as the lot of Romulus' descendants.(Introduction by Godsend)Show book
Tapping At Glass charts girlhood, multilingualism, and psychogeography from Hong Kong to Scotland. Myths, meditations on the arts and mass media, and migration stories entwine. Through protest-stricken urban spaces, love hotels, farming as activism, frog watching, alternative therapies, and seascapes where racial and social memories flow in all directions, the working class subjects in Cheng's poems reflect on what it means to exist in one locale and dream of elsewhere, where the past and future, interconnectedness and othering, are in perpetual negotiation. Tapping into various moods, Cheng's poems question the making of a self and a city, and the languages one uses to translate microhistories. Tapping At Glass is Tim Tim's debut pamphlet collection. "Tim Tim Cheng is a wonderful new voice in the poetry landscape. Playful, serious, complicating any attempt to pin her down – even in the short span of a pamphlet she dances through images and ideas. Already so accomplished, she is definitely a poet who is going places." – Niall CampbellShow book
The Trial of Ruth Ellis: A Mr Punch True Crime Drama “Mr Punch is going from strength to strength, continuing their good run of classy audio… Jemma Redgrave gives a spirited performance… with a high calibre cast” Talking Business In the annals of British justice, there exists a story that has stood the test of time, a tale of passion, despair, and a fateful twist of destiny. In the turbulent summer of 1955, the nation held its collective breath as Ruth Ellis, a mother of two, faced conviction for the calculated murder of her unfaithful lover, David Blakely. This is the gripping true story of a woman on the edge. Drawing exclusively from the original trial transcripts, eyewitness testimonies and contemporary reports, we invite you to join the jury at the Old Bailey tasked with unravelling the truth behind the events leading up to that fatal Easter Sunday when Mrs Ellis fired six fatal shots, shattering the calm of Hampstead and sealing her place in history as the last woman to be hanged in Britain. Almost seven decades since her execution, Ruth Ellis's story still captivates and haunts. Who was this former model and nightclub hostess who dared to venture into the elite world of 1950s London? Why did she endure an abusive liaison with the charismatic yet dangerous racing driver David Blakely? What compelled her to take the life of the man she loved? Starring JEMMA REDGRAVE as Ruth Ellis with Terence Edmond, David Goodland, Mark Hadfield, Jenny Howe, Jeffrey Segal, Robin Welch, Andrew Wincott and full supporting cast Also available as part of the Great British Trials Box Set, a fascinating eight-hour collection of true crime dramas, featuring the trials of Ruth Ellis, Dr Crippen, Timothy Evans & John Reginald Halliday Christie.Show book
