This is the final installment in Sophocles's Theban Plays, following Oedipus Rex and Oedipus at Colonus. Oedipus's daughter Antigone deliberately breaks the laws of Thebes when she buries her brother's body and is sentenced to death. She clashes with Creon, the King of Thebes, over what constitutes justice and morality: the laws of the state or the laws of the individual.

Published in 1899, just a year before his death, War Is Kind by Stephen Crane evokes again the dark imagery of war which made his fortune in The Red Badge Of Courage. Unlike that book, this collection leaves the battlefield itself behind to explore the damage war does to people’s hearts and minds. Reeking of dashed hopes, simultaneously sympathetic with the victims of war and cynical about the purposes of war, Crane implicitly criticizes the image of the romantic hero and asks if Love can survive...

Stephen Vincent Benét (July 22, 1898 – March 13, 1943) was an American author, poet, short story writer and novelist. He is best known for his book-length narrative poem of the American Civil War, John Brown’s Body (1928), for which he won a Pulitzer Prize in 1929, and for two short stories, “The Devil and Daniel Webster” and “By the Waters of Babylon”. It was a line of Benét’s poetry that gave the title to Dee Brown’s famous history of the destruction of Native American tribes by the United States: Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee.

Susan Coolidge was the pen name of Sarah Chauncey Woolsey, who is best known for her What Katy Did series. This is the first of three volumes of her verse.

'Roughing It In the Bush' is Susanna Moodie's account of how she coped with the harshness of life in the woods of Upper Canada, as an Englishwoman homesteading abroad. Her narrative was constructed partly as a response to the glowing falsehoods European land-agents were circulating about life in the New World. Her chronicle is frank and humorous, and was a popular sensation at the time of its publication in 1852.

Written in the 14th century by the Gawain poet, 'Pearl' is an elegiac poem reflecting on the death of a young daughter, pictured as a pearl lost in a garden. It is considered a masterpiece of Middle English verse, incorporating both the older tradition of alliterative poetry as well as rhyme, centered around the development of an intricately structured image. Sophie Jewett's translation from the Northern dialect of the original renders much of the poem's liveliness and beauty accessible to modern readers, whilst encouraging them to pursue their reading further, to read the original itself.This recording is dedicated to the memory of Pearl Jean Shearman, 1914-2012.

The Lays of Ancient Rome comprise four narrative poems comprised by Lord Thomas Babington Macaulay: recalling popular episodes from Roman historical-legends that were strongly moral in tone: exemplifying Roman virtue against Latine perfidy.The four poems are:- Horatius - Horatius and two companions seek to hold back a large invading Etruscan force at the far end of a bridge over the Tiber River. The trio are willing to lay down their lives so as to prevent the Etruscans crossing and sacking the otherwise ill-defended Rome: it is a desperate gamble to buy enough time for the Romans to destroy the bridge in advance of the hostile army...

Hardy claimed poetry as his first love, and published collections until his death in 1928. Although not as well received by his contemporaries as his novels, Hardy’s poetry has been applauded considerably in recent years. Most of his poems deal with themes of disappointment in love and life, and mankind’s long struggle against indifference to human suffering.

LibriVox volunteers bring you 9 recordings of "In Time Of The Breaking Of Nations" by Thomas Hardy. This was the Weekly Poetry project for June 30, 2013.Written during the First World War, this is a poem about love, war and their timelessness by one of the best Victorian novelists.

A collection of poetry by Thomas Hardy, some of which were previously published or adapted into his prose works.

Librivox volunteers bring you 12 readings of Oh! Where Do the Fairies Hide Their heads by Thomas Haynes Bayly. Oh! Where do the fairies hide their heads, When snow lies on the hills, When frost has spoiled their mossy beds, And crystallized their Rills? Beneath the moon they cannot trip In circles o’er the plain; And draughts of dew they cannot sip, Till green leaves come again.This was the weekly poetry project for February 15, 2015.

There were scarcely any events in the life of Thomas Hood. One condition there was of too potent determining importance—life-long ill health; and one circumstance of moment—a commercial failure, and consequent expatriation. Beyond this, little presents itself for record in the outward facts of this upright and beneficial career, bright with genius and coruscating with wit, dark with the lengthening and deepening shadow of death.

Thomas Hood was an English poet, author, and humourist, best known for poems such as The Bridge of Sighs and The Song of the Shirt. Hood wrote regularly for The London Magazine, the Athenaeum, and Punch. He later published a magazine largely consisting of his own works. Hood, never robust, lapsed into invalidism by the age of 41 and died at the age of 45. William Michael Rossetti in 1903 called him "the finest English poet" between the generations of Shelley and Tennyson.

LibriVox volunteers bring you 16 recordings of The Meeting of the Waters by Thomas Moore. This was the Fortnightly Poetry project for November 25, 2102.

Librivox volunteers bring you seven readings of Farewell! – But Whenever – by Thomas Moore. This is the fortnightly poetry project for October 12, 2014.

Whether you enjoy poetry or not, TS Eliot's The Wasteland is a work of literature that makes a rich, compelling, mystical and thought-provoking reading experience. It's one of those timeless works that seems to renew itself on each subsequent reading and you will find something new and unique every time. Some of the lines have become familiar to many of us: “April is the cruellest month....” “I will show you fear in a handful of dust” and many more. Written after the moral and social crisis that gripped much of the world after the end of WWI, this poem was considered experimental and path-breaking for that era...

Written in the first century b.C., On the Nature of Things (in Latin, "De Rerum Natura") is a poem in six books that aims at explaining the Epicurean philosophy to the Roman audience. Among digressions about the importance of philosophy in men's life and praises of Epicurus, Lucretius created a solid treatise on the atomic theory, the falseness of religion and many kinds of natural phenomena. With no harm to his philosophical scope, the author composed a didactic poem of epic flavor, of which the imagery and style are highly praised.

Michael Angelo and Campanella represent widely sundered, though almost contemporaneous, moments in the evolution of the Italian genius. Michael Angelo was essentially an artist, living in the prime of the Renaissance. Campanella was a philosopher, born when the Counter-Reformation was doing all it could to blight the free thought of the sixteenth century; and when the modern spirit of exact enquiry, in a few philosophical martyrs, was opening a new stage for European science. The one devoted all his mental energies to the realisation of beauty: the other strove to ascertain truth...

The First Crusade provides the backdrop for a rich tapestry of political machinations, military conflicts, martial rivalries, and love stories, some of which are complicated by differences in religion. The supernatural plays a major role in the action. Partly on this account, and partly because of the multilayered, intertwined plots, the poem met with considerable contemporary criticism, so Tasso revised it radically and published the revision under a new name, La Gerusalemme Conquistata, or "Jerusalem Conquered," which has remained virtually unread, a warning to authors who pay attention to the critics...

Toru Dutt was an Indian poet, writing in English. Born in 1856, she travelled to England and France, and being a polyglot became fluent in French and English, later in Sanskrit as well. Her works gained popularity and success posthumously. This collection of her poems, Ancient Ballads and Legends of Hindustan, was published by her father after her death in 1877. This collection is divided into 2 parts: the 1st part contains long poems about the ancient legends of her native land of India, which had been passed on to her orally in Sanskrit and which held much fascination for her, and also implied her desire to return to India...

A treasure trove of more than two hundred poems, this gem of an anthology compiled by Mary E Burt is indeed a most valuable set of poems to read or listen to. Published in 1904, Poems Every Child Should Know contains some well-loved verses like Thomas Gray's Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard, Lewis Carroll's delightful parody Father William, Felicia Hemans' deeply-moving Casablanca and other favorites. It also has lesser-known but equally beautiful pieces like Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's The Arrow and The Song, Robert Browning's The Incident of the French Camp, Eugene Field's nonsense lyrics Wynken, Blynken and Nod and a host of other wonderful verses...

Beowulf is a long narrative poem composed in Old English some time in between the 8th and 11th century AD. The only surviving manuscript that contains the poem is preserved in the British Library and it too was badly damaged by fire in 1731. It is considered to be the oldest surviving work of poetry in English and one of the rare pieces of vernacular European literature that has survived since Medieval times. A prince arrives to rid a neighboring country of a terrible monster. He mortally wounds the horrendous creature and it retreats to die in its lair in the remote mountains...

This collection includes 40 different Christmas carols collected and read by Douglas D. Anderson, the creator of The Hymns and Carols of Christmas website, a public-domain collection of Christmas music containing over 2,600 hymns, carols and songs.

This collection recognizes Black History Month, February 2007. Two excellent resources for public domain African American writing are African American Writers (Bookshelf) and The Book of American Negro Poetry, edited by James Weldon Johnson. Johnson’s collection inspired the Harlem Renaissance generation to establish a firm African-American literary tradition in the United States.

The Cathay poems appeared in a slim volume in 1915. They are, in effect, Ezra Pound’s English translations/ interpretations from notebooks written by the Japanese scholar Ernest Fenollosa. Pound, not knowing any Chinese or Japanese at all, promptly created a new and somewhat complex style of translation, as he had done with words from several other languages. The Cathay poems are primarily written by the Chinese poet Li Po, refered to throughout these translations as Rihaku, the Japanese form of his name...

First collection of sung and spoken folk ballads (13 in collection).

In honor of Kristin and Corey’s wedding (April 2006) we’ve recorded a selection of wedding-themed poems. Congratulations, you two!

The poems and stories in this collection were selected with the reader’s grandchildren in mind. “The Raggedy Man” and “Little Orphant Annie,” both by James Whitcomb Riley, the Hoosier Poet were favorites of the reader when she was a child on a farm in Indiana. Other favorites were picked up along the way as she read to her own daughter and to her students, while other gems were discovered while looking for poems and stories to include in this collection. It is hoped that this collection will bless the hearts of many children and parents alike as they listen together.

A collection of 48 prose and poetry selections written principally in the 18th Century. These works of world literature are written in the English language or are in English translation.

One of the Pseudepigrapha, the Psalms of Solomon is a group of eighteen psalms (religious songs or poems) that are not part of any scriptural canon (they are, however, found in copies of the Peshitta). The Psalms of Solomon were referenced in Early Christian writings, but lost to modern scholars until a Greek manuscript was rediscovered in the 17th century. Politically, the Psalms of Solomon are anti-Maccabee, and some psalms in the collection show a clear awareness of the Roman conquest of Jerusalem under Pompey in 63 BCE, metaphorically treating him as a dragon who had been sent by God to punish the Maccabees...

“The Keepsake, or, Poems and Pictures For Childhood and Youth”, is a collection of twenty pastoral poems published as one collection in London, 1818. The topics are moral encouragement for children, young and old alike.

As we get older, many of us return to youthful memories of poems once significant to us. Outside their association with our youth, we may wonder what significance they have to us now. There were other poems we’ve met along the way as well: some held no appeal while others were forgotten. And there were others we never had the opportunity to meet.This selection hopes to go beyond the experience of meeting old friends and on top opening the door to new ones —poems that might relate more significantly to our current lives...

As we get older, many of us return to youthful memories of poems once significant to us. Outside their association with our youth, we may wonder what significance they have to us now. There were other poems we’ve met along the way as well: some held no appeal while others were forgotten. And there were others we never had the opportunity to meet. This selection hopes to go beyond the experience of meeting old friends and on top opening the door to new ones — poems that might relate more significantly to our current lives...

A collection of Australian writing from the public domain.

Some day an enterprising editor may find time to glean from the whole field of Canadian literature a representative collection of wit and humour. . . . The present little collection obviously makes no such ambitious claim. It embraces, however, what are believed to be representative examples of the work of some of our better-known writers, many of which will no doubt be quite familiar to Canadian readers, but perhaps none the less welcome on that account.

The Congo is one of the best-known poems by American poet Vachel Lindsay (1879-1931). It was revolutionary in its use of sounds and rhythms — as sounds and rhythms — and includes elaborate annotations to guide its spoken performance. Lindsay categorized The Congo as “higher Vaudeville” and was famous for his exuberant performances of it. The poem’s imagery is racist, but Lindsay was a product of his time — born 14 years after the end of the American Civil War in Abraham Lincoln’s hometown, he revered Lincoln and viewed himself as a friend and supporter of African-American culture.

This is a collection of poems on various topics by Vachel Lindsay. Please note that the Booker T. Washington trilogy had to be omitted from this collection.

LibriVox volunteers bring you 14 recordings of The Conscientious Deacon by Vachel Lindsay. This was the Weekly Poetry project for May 5th, 2013.Vachel Lindsay described this poem as "a song to be syncopated as you please". According to Wikipedia he is considered the father of modern singing poetry (as he referred to it) in which verses are meant to be sung or chanted. His extensive correspondence with the poet Yeats details his intentions to revive the musical qualities in poetry as had been practised by the ancient Greeks. (Introduction by Ruth Golding)

The Ramayana is an ancient Sanskrit epic. It is attributed to the Hindu sage Valmiki and forms an important part of the Hindu canon (smṛti). The Ramayana is one of the two great epics of India, the other being Mahabharata. It is the story of Rama, who emabrks on an epic journey followed by the fight with Ravana, the demon king who abducted Rama's wife, Sita. The epic depicts the duties of relationships, portraying ideal characters like the ideal servant, the ideal brother, the ideal wife and the ideal king. (Introduction by Om123)

Here are 37 distinctively American poems, covering the mid-17th – early 20th Centuries, from Anne Bradstreet to Dorothy Parker’s sole PD work.

Short Poetry Collection 001: a collection of 29 public-domain poems.

Long Poems Collection 1: a collection of 5 public-domain poems longer than 5 minutes in length.

A collection of romantic poems for St Valentine’s day.

A collection of classic Christian hymns spanning the centuries. Some of the hymns are read; others are sung.

A selection of twenty hymns sung in this recording.

This is a sequel of sorts to 37 American Poems, one of my first solos. Concentration here is on late 19th to early 20th Century works by US poets.

In this celebration of diversity, learn about the myriad histories and cultures behind our volunteers.

Ten early Public Domain poems by some of the authors mention of whose most popular works is most likely to come in close proximity to the word “sorry” in the LV forums. Included are: JRR Tolkien, Aldous Huxley, George Orwell, Dorothy L Sayers, CS Lewis, William Faulkner, Kahlil Gibran, DH Lawrence, Robert Graves and Ernest Hemingway.

A collection of children’s alphabet rhymes including Footsteps On the Road to Learning – a short text from 1850 which teaches children the English alphabet in rime–so that a child may not become a dunce! The Anti Slavery Alphabet – a book prepared to encourage young children to speak against the institution of slavery in 19th century United States. The method used is an alphabetical listing of the evils of slavery. The Peter Pan Alphabet and The Alphabet of Celebrities – Oliver Herford’s teaching guides to the English alphabet–using Peter Pan and famous names!

This is a collection of short poems and readings, both religious and secular, on death and bereavement.

The Library of the World's Best Literature, Ancient and Modern, is a work of enormous proportions. Setting out with the simple goal of offering "American households a mass of good reading", the editors drew from literature of all times and all kinds what they considered the best pieces of human writing, and compiled an ambitious collection of 45 volumes (with a 46th being an index-guide). Besides the selection and translation of a huge number of poems, letters, short stories and sections of books, the collection offers, before each chapter, a short essay about the author or subject in question...

Robert Burns, the national bard (poet) of Scotland was born on the 25th January, 1759. This is a collection of his poems and songs. This collection also includes works from other poets and writers who have written about Burns.

Some wonderful poems by Christopher Marlowe and others recorded ‘on location’ – in the churchyard of St Nicholas’, Deptford, and the Greenwich Foot Tunnel.

A collection of poetry selected and performed by Bob Gonzalez, rhapsode. Rhapsodes of Ancient Greece were “song-stitchers,” performing selections from the epics of Homer and Hesiod. The contemporary rhapsode performs the classical poetry of his or her language, culture, and tradition. Any particular collection and arrangement of poems for performance I term a “rhapsody.” In general terms, a rhapsody is an ecstatic expression of feeling and enthusiasm. In music, a rhapsody is an instrumental composition irregular in form and suggestive of improvisation...

"Originally modeled on the Psalms and other poetic passages (commonly referred to as "canticles") in the Scriptures, Christian hymns are generally directed as praise and worship to the monotheistic God. Many refer to Jesus Christ either directly or indirectly. Since the earliest times, Christians have sung "psalms and hymns and spiritual songs", both in private devotions and in corporate worship (Matthew 26:30; 1 Cor 14:26; Ephesians 5:19; Colossians 3:16; James 5:13; cf. Revelation 5:8-10; Revelation 14:1-5)...

A collection in celebration of 2012 Year of Reading Australia. Readers chose fiction, non fiction and poetry - we only asked that the readings should have some sort of Australian hook. So they can be by an Australian author, or about Australia, or just have a prominent bit of Australianess in the plot. Failing that: even being performed by Australians will do! :D .

Spring through Fall 1921 in Poetry, edited by Harriet Monroe. 2012 is the 100th Anniversary of Poetry magazine.

Victor James William Patrick Daley was an Australian poet. He was born in Ireland, and was educated at the Christian Brothers at Devonport in England. He arrived in Australia in 1878, and became a freelance journalist and writer in both Melbourne and Sydney. He is notable for becoming the first author in Australia who tried to earn a living from writing alone. In Sydney in 1898, he founded the bohemian Dawn and Dusk Club, which had many notable members such as writer Henry Lawson. He died at Sydney of tuberculosis...

Victoria Mary Sackville-West, The Hon Lady Nicolson, best known as Vita Sackville-West, was an English author and poet. Her long narrative poem, The Land, won the Hawthornden Prize in 1927. She won it again, becoming the only writer to do so, in 1933 with her Collected Poems. She helped create her own gardens in Sissinghurst, Kent, which provide the backdrop to Sissinghurst Castle. She was famous for her exuberant aristocratic life, her strong marriage, and her passionate affair with novelist Virginia Woolf. Poems of West and East is a short collection of her early work, which was published in 1917. (Summary by Wikipedia and Elizabeth Klett)

Voltairine de Cleyre (November 17, 1866 – June 20, 1912) was an American anarchist. She was skilled in many subjects and wrote essays, poems, letters, sketches, stories and speeches. These are her selected poems.