Poetry
The Princess
The Princess is a serio-comic blank verse narrative poem, written by Alfred Tennyson, published in 1847. The poem tells the story of an hero…
Eugene Onéguine
Eugene Oneguine is a classic of Russian literature, and its eponymous protagonist has served as the model for a number of Russian literary h…
Shakespeare's Sonnets
Shakespeare's sequence of 154 sonnets deals with such themes as love, time, death, immortality, lust, and sex. The poems follow but also dep…
Absalom and Achitophel
John Dryden published Absalom and Achitophel: A Poem in 1681. It is an elaborate historical allegory using the political situation faced by …
The Waste Land
LibriVox volunteers bring you 5 different recordings of The Waste Land by T. S. Eliot.
The Iliad
The Iliad, together with the Odyssey, is one of two ancient Greek epic poems traditionally attributed to Homer. The poem is commonly dated t…
The Song Celestial
This work is a unique rendering of the Bagavad Gita by a well known poet. It is faithful to the text and yet does not read like a translatio…
Paradise Regained
Paradise Regained is a poem by the 17th century English poet John Milton, published in 1671. It is connected by name to his earlier and more…
Don Juan
Don Juan is a long narrative poem by Byron, based very loosely on the legend of the evil seducer, Don Juan. The first and second of (eventua…
The Island
Written late in his career, Byron's narrative poem The Island tells the famous story of the mutiny on board the Bounty, and follows the muti…
Psalms of David
Isaac Watts was a poet, hymn-writer and musician. He wrote many of what we regard as "classical hymns" such as "Joy to the Wo…
Milton
Milton: a Poem is an epic poem by William Blake, written and illustrated between 1804 and 1810. Its hero is John Milton, who returns from he…
Manfred
Manfred is a dramatic poem in three acts by Lord Byron, and possibly a self confessional work. A noble, Manfred, is haunted by the memory of…
Astrophil and Stella
Astrophil and Stella is a sonnet sequence written by Philip Sidney, an Elizabethan poet and courtier. It details the frustrated love of Astr…
Hymns to the Night
"Hymns to the Night" is the last published work of Georg Philipp Friedrich Freiherr von Hardenberg (1772-1801), the German philoso…
Poems on Various Subjects
Phillis Wheatley was the first African-American to publish a book of poetry in 1773. Born in West Africa, she was sold into slavery at age s…
The Diary of a Dead Officer
Published posthumously in 1919, this collection of diary entries presents a scathing picture of army life and is said to be one of the most …
Vintage Verse Rhapsody
A collection of poetry selected and performed by Bob Gonzalez, rhapsode. Rhapsodes of Ancient Greece were “song-stitchers,” performing selec…
Jerusalem Delivered
The First Crusade provides the backdrop for a rich tapestry of political machinations, military conflicts, martial rivalries, and love stori…
Poems
In this collection, Emily Dickinson invites listeners into her introspective world, where the profound themes of life, love, and death are e…