The Window on the Hill by Madison Julius Cawein

LibriVox volunteers bring you 19 recordings of The Window on the Hill by Madison Julius Cawein (1865-1914).
This was the Weekly Poetry project for April 22nd to April 29th, 2012.

Madison Julius Cawein was born in Louisville, Kentucky, the fifth child of William and Christiana (Stelsly) Cawein. His father made patent medicines from herbs. Cawein thus became acquainted with and developed a love for local nature as a child. After graduating from high school, Cawein worked in a pool hall in Louisville as a cashier in Waddill’s New-market, which also served as a gambling house. He worked there for six years, saving his pay so he could return home to write. His output was thirty-six books and 1,500 poems. His writing presented Kentucky scenes in a language echoing Percy Bysshe Shelley and John Keats. He soon earned the nickname the “Keats of Kentucky”. He was popular enough that, by 1900, he told the Louisville Courier-Journal that his income from publishing poetry in magazines amounted to about $100 a month.
(Summary by Wikipedia)


 

Running time=1m 35s (mp3@64kb)

Youth’s Spring-Tribute by Dante Gabriel Rossetti

LibriVox volunteers bring you 12 recordings of Youth’s Spring-Tribute by Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828-1882).
This was the Weekly Poetry project for April 15th to April 22nd, 2012.

Dante Gabriel Rossetti was an English poet, illustrator, painter and translator. His early poetry was influenced by John Keats. His later poetry was characterised by the complex interlinking of thought and feeling, especially in his sonnet sequence The House of Life. Poetry and image are closely entwined in Rossetti’s work. (Summary by Wikipedia)


 

Running time=1m 31s (mp3@64kb)

The Reaper And The Flowers by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

LibriVox volunteers bring you 25 recordings of The Reaper And The Flowers by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882).
This was the Fortnightly Poetry project for April 8th to April 22nd, 2012.

Longfellow predominantly wrote lyric poems which are known for their musicality and which often presented stories of mythology and legend. He became the most popular American poet of his day and also had success overseas. He has been criticized, however, for imitating European styles and writing specifically for the masses.
(Summary by Wikipedia)


 

Running time=2m 5s (mp3@64kb)

Where the Bee Sucks by William Shakespeare

LibriVox volunteers bring you 15 recordings of Where the Bee Sucks by William Shakespeare. (1564-1616)
This was the Weekly Poetry project for April 8th to April 15th, 2012.

Where the Bee Sucks is a song performed by Ariel, an airy spirit, in Shakespeare’s The Tempest. The Tempest has proved more popular as a subject for composers than most of Shakespeare’s plays. Scholar Julie Sanders ascribes this to the “perceived ‘musicality’ or lyricism” of the play. Thomas Arne, best known for the patriotic song Rule, Britannia!, set this piece to music.
(Summary by Wikipedia)

 

Running time=46s (mp3@64kb)

Song by Anna Seward

LibriVox volunteers bring you 16 recordings of Song by Anna Seward (1747-1809).
This was the Weekly Poetry project for April 1st to April 8th, 2012.

Anna Seward was an English Romantic poet, often called the Swan of Lichfield. Her verses include elegies and sonnets, and she also wrote a poetical novel, Louisa, of which five editions were published. In an era when women had to tread carefully in society’s orbit, Seward struck a middle ground.
(from Wikipedia)

 

Running time=2m 15s (mp3@64kb)