Publisher: Good Press
"Lyrical Ballads, With a Few Other Poems (1798)" is a collection of poems by William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge. The book was first published in 1798 and is generally considered to have marked the beginning of the English Romantic movement in literature.
Librivox volunteers bring you fourteen different readings of Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Cow, a weekly poetry project. (Summary by Annie Coleman)Show book
Drama Classics series The world's great plays at a great little price. Each pocket-sized volume contains: a full introduction an author biography notes on historical and theatrical context a plot synopsis key dates a further reading list a glossary of unusual words and phrases (English-language texts) Lorca's extraordinarily powerful drama, The House of Bernada Alba, is the last he wrote before his assassination, explores the darkness at the heart of repression. When Bernarda's husband dies, she locks all the doors and windows. She tells her grown-up daughters to sew and be silent. 'There are eight years of mourning ahead of us. While it lasts not even the wind will get into this house.' But locks can't hold back the growing tide of desire. This edition, translated and introduced by Jo Clifford, also contains a chronology and suggestions for further reading.Show book
Named after a magical textbook, Cherene Sherrard’s Grimoire is a poetry collection centered on the recovery and preservation of ancestral knowledge and on the exploration of black motherhood. Incorporating experiences of food preparation, childrearing, and childbearing, the book begins with a section of poems that re-imagine recipes from one of the earliest cookbooks by an African-American woman: Mrs. Malinda Russell’s A Domestic Cookbook. Mrs. Russell’s voice as a nineteenth century chef is joined in conversation with a contemporary amateur cook in poetic recipes that take the form of soft and formal sonnets, introspective and historical lyric, and found poems. In the second section, the poet explores black maternal death and the harrowing circumstances surrounding birth for women of color in the United States. Even while confronting the dangers and tragedies of contemporary black life, Sherrard creates hopeful projections of the future. She imagines an afterlife in which souls of black mothers who have died in childbirth get to travel into space with the reluctant help of the astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, and she positions a doula as a figure of salvation who intervenes and advocates for black mothers, challenging the dehumanizing practices of early obstetrics, genetics, and pseudo-science. Throughout Grimoire, Sherrard explores the precarity of black mothering over the last two centuries and the creative and ingenuous modes of human survival.Show book
An uproarious underworld whodunit, Ronan O'Donnell's single-hander reworks the hardboiled crime thriller for our times. A suspicious death at the workplace and loner security guard Nick Prentice is hauled in for interrogation. The Inspector thinks he's got his man, as Nick's seedy wee 'stories' seem to nail him to the crime. Is he complicit in the death of two-bit shoplifter Gary Glover? Will Hollywood actress Scarlett Johansson come to his rescue? 'Ronan O'Donnell writes in muscular, imagistic language that throws a light on the underclasses in Leith today' - British Theatre Guide 'Poetic genius…brilliantly directed…performance of a lifetime' - The Scotsman 'a powerfully atmospheric and bleakly comic piece of theatre' - The Herald ScotlandShow book
The seventeenth book of the King James Bible, Esther recounts a tale of two queens. Queen Vashti is the loveliest woman in the land, but when she refuses to come to her husband's banquet, she is banished from the kingdom. Hadassah is called to take her place - a beautiful young woman with a secret. Hadassah is Jewish, but her guardian warns her to keep her identity hidden. Taking on the name Esther - which means "hidden" - she moves in to the palace, but when a wicked man hatches a plot to rid the land of Jews, her guardian asks her to take on a terrible job. Esther must go to the king unasked - and if he does not extend his golden scepter, she will face the ultimate punishment. Can she rely on God to save her people - and herself? - (Summary by Rachel)Narrator: RachelQueen Esther: Esther ben SimonidesKing Ahasuerus: Mark PenfoldMemucan / The King's Servants: Mark ChulskyMordecai: David LawrenceHaman: AdamZeresh, Haman's wife: Adele de PignerollesHarbonah, a eunuch: Glenn O'BrienFile Editor: RachelShow book
LibriVox volunteers bring you 8 recordings of Summer Morning by John Clare. This was the Fortnightly Poetry project for August 9th, 2009.Show book
