The Best Poems of All Time, Volume 1

By: William Shakespeare, Edgar Allan Poe, Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Narrated by: Graeme Malcolm, Eric Stoltz

Length: 1 hr and 36 mins

Publisher's summary

This perfect poetry companion brings the words of the world's favorite poets to life. Hearing poetry spoken - as it was originally intended to be heard - adds dramatically to your understanding and appreciation of the form. Be moved, amused, and awed by these expert interpretations of even the most familiar poems.

Revisit classics through the 1850s such as:

• "Sonnet 18 (Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer's Day)" by William Shakespeare
• "The Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe
• "Kubla Khan" by Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Other poets included in this collection are: Homer, Virgil, Ovid, Omar Khayyam, Dante Alighieri, Petrarch, Geoffrey Chaucer, John Donne, Ben Jonson, Robert Herrick, John Milton, Anne Bradstreet, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Alexander Pope, John Keats, Ralph Waldo Emerson, William Blake, Robert Burns, John Greenleaf Whittier, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, William Wordsworth, Walter Scott, Lord Byron, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Alfred Tennyson, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Emily Bronte, and Robert Browning.

This is Volume 1 of The Best Poems of All Time. Don't miss Volume 2.

©2001 by Warner Books, Inc., All Rights Reserved (P)2001 Time Warner AudioBooks

Critic reviews

"...a crackerjack, very accessible compilation...This collection works because of the varied readers and the decision to choose classic material." - (Deirdre Donahue, USA Today)

A cherished favorite bought to life.

I've given out more copies of this book than I'd like to admit. Leslie gives a brief synopsis, yet more than that, each poem is given an identity, a voice. And here, they're voiced by big-time celebrities! The mundane and marvelous, the subtle and sublime converge giving an insightful glimpse into our cultures and identities. Leslie, thanks for putting this charming little compendium together, and to the many collaborative voices, a top-notch performance I'll gladly tip my hat to.

worthwhile

some good stuff here, but also several poems chosen more perhaps for historical/national importance than actual poetic quality.

Lines of rhymes - from ancient times

This volume covers the period from ancient times to the 1850's. The choice of poems is excellent although it's inevitable that most listeners will miss a few of their own favorites that didn't make the cut. To counter this, many listeners who have not read too much poetry in recent years will be pleasantly surprise when a favorite but vaguely-remembered stanza or turn of phrase pops up unexpectedly. I notice that some other reviewers would have preferred a short introduction to each poem - the problem with this is that, while the introduction is useful the first time you listen, it is an annoyance thereafter. I thus far prefer this audiobook's approach of climbing in immediately. The various readers were all excellent, although I would have preferred two or three more British readers, to vary the accents. Audio quality (at level 4) is excellent.

I listen to this book time and again.

Loved it. It is serene and tranquil and energizing I would
recommended to everybody thank you

Poor

Not a great selection and some weird choices like a reading of the battle hymn of the republic...

Poor QC - poems are missing lines (E.g. to Virgins to make much of time).

Some readers are not really aware of what they are reading.

If you already like poetry, this will just annoy you. If you don't and are hoping to learn, look elsewhere

not what I was looking for.

I was looking for "the raven". looking within this it was no were with in.

Very Disappointing

Very few, if any, of the poems I found here were ones I thought worthy of the title of the book, one of the exceptions being "The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere".

Okay but

This is a series of poems being read with no introduction. That probably works for some, but for me, I prefer "Classic Fifty Poems," that introduces each poem with a little information about the poet and the time in which he or she lived.