The Pool by Paul Laurence Dunbar

LibriVox volunteers bring you 20 recordings of The Pool by Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872-1906).
This was the Weekly Poetry project for May 20th to May 27th, 2012.

Paul Laurence Dunbar (June 27, 1872 – February 9, 1906) was an African American poet, novelist, and playwright of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Much of his popular work in his lifetime used a Negro dialect, which helped him become one of the first nationally-accepted African American writers. Much of his writing, however, does not use dialect; these more traditional poems have become of greater interest to scholars.
(Summary by Wikipedia)


 

Running time=1m 25s (mp3@64kb)

There Was a Cherry-Tree by James Whitcomb Riley

LibriVox volunteers bring you 18 recordings of There Was a Cherry-Tree by James Whitcomb Riley (1849-1916).
This was the Weekly Poetry project for May 13th to May 20th, 2012.

Riley began his career writing verses as a sign maker and submitting poetry to newspapers. Thanks in part to an endorsement from poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, he eventually earned successive jobs at Indiana newspaper publishers during the latter 1870s. Riley gradually rose in prominence during the 1880s through his poetry reading tours. He traveled a touring circuit first in the Midwest, and then nationally, holding shows and making joint appearances on stage with other famous talents. Regularly struggling with his alcohol addiction, Riley never married or had children, and was involved in a scandal in 1888 when he became too drunk to perform. He became more popular in spite of the bad press he received, and as a result extricated himself from poorly negotiated contracts that limited his earnings; he quickly became very wealthy.
(Summary from Wikipedia)


 

Running time=1m 28s (mp3@64kb)

Travels by the Fireside by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

LibriVox volunteers bring you 22 recordings of Travels by the Fireside by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882).
This was the Fortnightly Poetry project for May 6th to May 20th, 2012.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was an American poet and educator. He 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 adapted from Wikipedia)


 

Running time=2m 30s (mp3@64kb)

Safe in their Alabaster Chambers by Emily Dickinson

LibriVox volunteers bring you 18 recordings of Safe in their Alabaster Chambers by Emily Dickinson (1830-1886).
This was the Weekly Poetry project for May 6th to May 13th, 2012.

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 capitalization and punctuation.[3] Many of her poems deal with themes of death and immortality, two recurring topics in letters to her friends.
(Summary from Wikipedia)


 

Running time=1m 16s (mp3@64kb)

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I’d like to take a brief moment to do a quick thank you to the many people who have been subscribing lately.

I know this blog gets a lot of traffic/hits because of my World War Z book notes, but it seems the majority of people who have been subscribing are more interested in my poetry recordings for the LibriVox project.
For that I am truly grateful to you all and it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, knowing that I’m reaching someone out there.

Goodnight subscribers, goodnight everyone, and I do hope you enjoy my latest weekly & fortnightly (poetry) endeavours.

-raven