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Troilus and Criseyde is a poem by Geoffrey Chaucer which re-tells in Middle English the tragic story of the lovers Troilus and Criseyde set against a backdrop of war in the Siege of Troy. It was composed using rime royale and probably completed during the mid 1380s. Many Chaucer scholars regard it as the poet's finest work. As a finished long poem it is certainly more self-contained than the better known but ultimately uncompleted Canterbury Tales. Criseyde, the daughter of the seer Calchas, lives alone in Troy after her father abandons the Trojans to help the Greeks. Eventually she catches ...

LibriVox volunteers bring you 6 different recordings of One day is there of the series by Emily Dickinson. This was the weekly poetry project for the week of November 25th, 2007.

LibriVox volunteers bring you 16 recordings of The Railway Train by Emily Dickinson. This was the Weekly Poetry project for May 28, 2011.Although Dickinson was a prolific private poet, fewer than a dozen of her nearly eighteen hundred poems were published during her lifetime. The work that was published during her lifetime was usually altered significantly by the publishers to fit the conventional poetic rules of the time. Dickinson's poems are unique for the era in which she wrote; they contain short lines, typically lack titles, and often use slant rhyme as well as unconventional ...

Emily Dickinson has come to be regarded as one of the quintessential poets of 19th century America. A very private poet with a very quiet and reclusive life, her poetry was published posthumously and immediately found a wide audience. While she echoed the romantic natural themes of her times, her style was much more free and irregular, causing many to criticize her and editors to "correct" her. In the early 20th century, when poetic style had become much looser, new audiences learned to appreciate her work. Here collected are many of her most contemplative, most rebellious, and "dark" works, ...

Chaucer's famous and important work is predicated upon the premise that a group of Christian folks from various occupations, familiar in the Middle Ages and a goodly number of them in the Church, are on a pilgrimage to worship at the burial site of Thomas Becket in the Cathedral at Canterbury. The host suggests that to pass the time each traveler tell a tale. So, we are entertained by quite a variety of stories, almost all of which, though, have a moral purpose. Of course, Chaucer and his folk spoke an English that is between the Anglo-Saxon beginnings, which is totally foreign to us, and the ...

After the brutal and turbulent Wars of the Roses, Henry VII reigned over England and the sons of his rival Edward IV, once held captive in the Tower of London, were lost to time. Years later, a young man with boundless energy and hope emerged, claiming to be Richard, Duke of York, heir of Edward IV and the rightful king of England. Mary Shelley’s swashbuckling narrative of the doomed claimant to the throne imagines Richard from his youth in hiding as the lowly Perkin Warbeck to his execution as a traitor at the hands of Henry VII. Richard gains friends and supporters in his quest to claim ...

Emily Dickinson is one of the most intriguing of American poets. Since she grew increasingly reclusive, very few of her poems were published until after her death. This collection includes two letters Dickinson wrote to her friends on the occasion of the deaths of her friend, Mr. Humphrey, and her brother, Austin. The rest of collection consists of her poetry on the subject of death. (Summary by Libby Gohn)

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 ...

Poem XXI: "A Book", read by the wonderful podcasters at the Podcasters Across Borders 2006 conference, in Kingston, Ontario, June 23-24, 2006.

LibriVox volunteers bring you 17 different recordings of I’m Nobody, by Emily Dickinson. Dickinson’s text of this poem contains two possible versions of it. There is a great deal of discussion among academics as to which she preferred. Only one version forms part of this collection. This was the weekly poetry project for the week of March 18th, 2007.

LibriVox volunteers bring you 13 recordings of I Stepped from Plank to Plank by Emily Dickinson. This was the Weekly Poetry project for August 21, 2011.Emily Elizabeth Dickinson was an American poet. Born in Amherst, Massachusetts, to a successful family with strong community ties, she lived a mostly introverted and reclusive life. Thought of as an eccentric by the locals, she became known for her penchant for white clothing and her reluctance to greet guests or, later in life, even leave her room. Most of her friendships were therefore carried out by correspondence.( Summary by Wikipedia)

NOTE: Because of the nature of this project, there was a bending of usual LibriVox procedures: pub-like background noise was encouraged, as well as group readings; and no editing was required, so in places there may be some accidental variation from the original text ... Listener be warned! Here is some more information about the genesis of the LibriVox Ulysses project. (Summary by Hugh McGuire)Still one of the most radical novels of the 20th Century, James Joyce's Ulysses is considered to have ushered in the era of the modern novel. Loosely based on Homer's Odyssey, the book follows Leopold ...

This novella is the final story in Joyce's collection Dubliners. It describes a Christmas party given by Kate and Julia Morkan, two elderly Dublin ladies, that is attended by their nephew, Gabriel Conroy, and his wife. While the party is festive, full of dancing, drinking, and eating, it is also pervaded by political, religious, and sexual tensions, as well as memories of loss. When Gabriel and his wife go home at the end of the night, she reveals a long-kept secret that leads to an epiphany. (Summary by Elizabeth Klett).

Ulysses is a groundbreaking novel in which Irish author James Joyce explores realism through stream-of-consciousness technique and shifting narrative styles. It was published in serial form between 1918-1920 and first published in book form in 1922. The story follows Leopold Bloom through Dublin during the course of one day: June 16, 1904. The events and characters of Ulysses parallel those of Homer's Odyssey, with Bloom corresponding to Odysseus. Although the book was the subject of early obscenity prosecutions, was banned in several countries, and has been considered unreadable by many, it ...

Exiles is a play by James Joyce, who is principally remembered for his novels. It was rejected by W. B. Yeats for production by the Abbey Theatre. Its first major London performance was in 1970, when Harold Pinter directed it at the Mermaid Theatre. The basic premise of Exiles involves a love triangle between Richard Rowan (a Dublin writer recently returned from exile in Rome), Bertha (his common law wife) and his old friend Robert Hand (a journalist). (There are obvious parallels to be drawn with Joyce's own life – Joyce and Nora Barnacle lived, unmarried, in Trieste, during the years the ...

Masterful short stories about life in Dublin at the turn of the century, by James Joyce. (Summary by Hugh McGuire)

The Canterbury Tales is a collection of stories written in Middle English by Geoffrey Chaucer in the 14th century (two of them in prose, the rest in verse). The tales, some of which are originals and others not, are contained inside a frame tale and told by a group of pilgrims on their way from Southwark to Canterbury to visit the shrine of Saint Thomas Becket at Canterbury Cathedral.The themes of the tales vary, and include topics such as courtly love, treachery, and avarice. The genres also vary, and include romance, Breton lai, sermon, beast fable, and fabliau. The characters, introduced in...

La muerte de Iván Ilich (ruso: Смерть Ивана Ильича, Smert Ivana Ilichá), publicada por primera vez en 1886, es una novela corta del escritor ruso Lev Tolstói. Dentro de su bibliografía, se encuentra hacia el final de su producción. Para algunos analistas de la obra de Tolstói, esta historia reflejaría las luchas intelectuales y espirituales que poco tiempo atrás el autor había atravesado, en la crisis que tuvo cuando alcanzó los 50 años y que superaría con un radical cambio espiritual. En la novela, los temas tratados son la naturaleza tanto de la vida como de la ...

A group of Dubliners gather together for a Christmas celebration in James Joyce's transcendent tale of the mundanity and magic in life and death. "The Dead" is taken from Joyce's collection of short stories Dubliners. (summary by Iremonger)

James Joyce published three volumes of poetry during his lifetime including Pomes Penyeach. This simple booklet was published in 1927 in Paris. The poems were written over a twenty-year period beginning in 1904 and are arranged chronologically in the booklet.This thin collection reveals some of Joyce's humor. "Pomes Penyeach" plays with the French word for apples---pommes. The booklet was sold for a shilling, that is 12 pennies. (12 francs.) That the collection of poems is actually 13 in number mirrors the Irish tradition of the "tilly," something like the well-known baker's dozen. In fact, ...