Classic Poetry Aloud Index

Comments

I hope that you have enjoyed your visit to this site.  

Please feel free to add your comments here. If you have comments on a particular poem, you may prefer to add those to the poem itself, on the podcast site.

You can request a reading by mailing classicpoetryaloud [at] yahoo co uk.

30 Comments

30 responses so far ↓

  • Justin O'Callaghan // November 25, 2007 at 8:43 pm

    Just a quick note to say congratulations and keep up the excellent work!
    The note that displays the poem omits certain lines of the conquering worm. Fanatastic poem!
    Justin

  • performancechannel // December 1, 2007 at 10:15 am

    Hi, we’d be grateful if we could put your blog as a link on our blog.

    Keep up the good work.

  • Poet Hound // December 2, 2007 at 5:48 pm

    I featured your site a while back and have a link posted on my blog, please let me know if it’s okay to keep the link up.
    Great site by the way, I’ve listened to several poems and plan to keep listening to more. This is a great service you are providing for poetry readers everywhere.

  • classicpoetryaloud // December 3, 2007 at 6:15 am

    My pleasure! Please link away and listen to your hearts’ content everyone.

    Glad to have been of service.

  • Louise F // December 6, 2007 at 10:16 am

    This is a terrific podcast service for people for whom poetry is important in their lives. Poetry is not just for reading but for listening to and this is a much harder resource to come across than it ought to be. Reading it well is a real skill as there is so much to interpret in the conversion of meaning and feeling from the written word to the spoken. I do hope you are inspired to continue this superb podcast. Many thanks.

  • TAJ // December 11, 2007 at 3:31 am

    Can you direct me to a poem that might be sent to a couple for their anniversary which will be the couples’ last. The husband is dying of cancer.

  • classicpoetryaloud // December 12, 2007 at 9:56 am

    Lousie - thank you for your kind words. Your response inspires me to continue to interpret these wonderful poems as best I can.

    TAJ - there are two poems by John Clare that spring to mind: Love Lives Beyond the Tomb and The Instinct of Hope. They can both be found here: http://www.johnclare.info/default.html

    I will record them both before Christmas, and I hope that your friends will hear them. Clare had a tough life, and the optimism in these poems is inspirational.

  • chrome // December 17, 2007 at 1:08 pm

    How delightful, I’ve just found this site via the Performance Channel blog and will have a good look round and hopefully be able to download something I’d like.

    I don’t know if this is possible but are the podcasts playable via MS Windows Media Player? This way I could listen to them before deciding whether or not to download.

  • classicpoetryaloud // December 17, 2007 at 2:27 pm

    Hi Chrome

    Thanks for the comment. This site is an index for

    http://classicpoetryaloud.podomatic.com/

    If you visit that site, you can play poems by clicking the ‘Play’ button next to each one, without having to download.

    To find a poem, scroll down the list, or use CTRL+F to look for key words.

    Many thanks for the visit.

  • ys // December 18, 2007 at 4:44 am

    Thank you for all the great readings of classic poetry. I never read most of the poems and I’ve certainly never heard them read aloud. Your readings bring the poems to life and have given me a new appreciation for poetry.

  • classicpoetryaloud // December 18, 2007 at 8:11 am

    YS - many thanks for your comments. This is exactly the point of Classic Poetry Aloud. I hope that I will be able to make future readings enjoyable for you, too.

  • Reshma Ravi // January 3, 2008 at 7:37 am

    > > This site is indeed a boon to all lovers of classic poetry.Who miss the presence of such works in this modern world. I wa searching for this poem ‘Death’ by John Doanne for so long because I had read this as a child and then for all these years I could not lay my hands on a copy of this poem. I could recall only the first line ‘Death be not proud’. Thank you for the great service you are extending to classics lovers and spreading real english literature. Thank you more than anything else for all the memories attached with this poem that you have let me relive. Thank you.

  • Kai // January 26, 2008 at 5:41 pm

    Thanks so much for keeping this going. I really enjoy it.

  • Jessica // February 7, 2008 at 2:53 am

    I just wanted to say that I really enjoy your podcast. I am sure to download anew cast every day. I am an English Lit major and was so excited to come across this podcast and am also glad that you also have a website as well. Thanks again! Keep up the great work!

  • classicpoetryaloud // February 7, 2008 at 8:15 am

    Reshma, Kai and Jessica - it is wonderful to hear that you have enjoyed these readings. I trust that future readings will continue to be of value to you.

  • Brenne // February 28, 2008 at 7:05 am

    Dearest Sir,
    Thank you for reaching out to touch the hearts of so many of us with your beautiful readings. You have granted me an excuse to indulge my romantic imagination. Listening to you read aloud, inspires an innocent excitement, allowing me to temporarily escape into a nineteenth century salon.
    With warmest appreciation,
    Ms. Brenne Meyro

  • classicpoetryaloud // February 29, 2008 at 12:56 pm

    Brenne

    You are more than welcome - I hope that future poetry readings on Classic Poetry Aloud will continue to excite your imagination and give you cause for reflection.

  • Caitlin // March 21, 2008 at 5:05 pm

    Thank you so much for your podcast. I enjoy listening to it everyday. You truly interpret the poems and express the emotion within the poem through your voice. I enjoy listening to the familiar poems of the past and as well as new poems which I have never heard. Keep up the good work.

    - Caitlin from Louisville, KY, USA

  • classicpoetryaloud // March 28, 2008 at 6:27 pm

    Caitlin

    Thank you for your support. I will do my best to continue to provide enjoyment, and some cause for reflection.

  • Donald Harbour // April 11, 2008 at 12:39 am

    What a great site to have on ones list. Now I can lean back in my chair and hear the poetry of the greats read to me. To me. Marvelous. What an inspiration to hear. Thank you.

  • JoAnn // April 28, 2008 at 2:55 pm

    I am searching for a poem to go along with my local ladies’ book club for May. I love to add a poem to the selection to create a theme and perhaps add some more “food for thought” while reading.

    I have selected the biblical story of Mary and Martha as the theme, hoping to created a dialog about how we women frequently spend so much time taking care of everyone else that we neglect ourselves. I thought of the “Song of the Shirt” by Thomas Hood (one of my new favorites, thanks to you-isn’t the rhythm and imagery great?), but it’s not quite right. It doesn’t inspire me to take time for myself.

    Any suggestions?

    Mothers and Daughters is an additional theme.

    Thanks.

  • classicpoetryaloud // April 28, 2008 at 4:27 pm

    JoAnn

    The Song of the Shirt is a great poem of injustice, but that focus doesn’t sound quite right for your group. How about Woman Work by Maya Angelou ? This is still in copyright, so it doesn’t fall under the remit of Classic Poetry Aloud, but you can find it here:

    http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/woman-work/

    Or perhaps Overheard in County Sligo by Gillian Clarke, which you can find here:

    http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=_Wb1aKmJezAC&pg=PA778&lpg=PA778&dq=%22+married+a+man+from+County+Roscommon%22&source=web&ots=GGXJikyWha&sig=cz4JdHJPOXbaeIw2Zq1yMTCTFcw&hl=en

    Have a great book club this month!

  • Marie McAllister & students // May 2, 2008 at 2:25 pm

    Thank you for this site. We have created links on Eighteenth-Century Audio (a web site for audio poetry published between 1660-1800) for each of your recordings that fits our dates, and hope to steer still more listeners to your lovely recordings.

  • Sarah Morris // May 8, 2008 at 11:02 pm

    I would love to hear Some Edna St. Vincent Millay aloud; I did not see her among the archives.

    Thank you for everything you do.

    Sarah

  • Andy // May 14, 2008 at 2:01 pm

    Happy Birthday!
    Congrats on one year of wonderful poetry. I’m a new listener and very excited to hear more readings.
    Congrats again and keep up the great work.

    Andy C.
    Minneapolis, MN, USA

  • classicpoetryaloud // May 14, 2008 at 9:49 pm

    Marie - thank you for your kind comments. I have also replied by e-mail.

    Sarah - Edna St. Vincent Millay wrote some wonderful verse, but her work is still, sadly, in copyright, so I cannot read it. I will write to her estate, but on previous experience, I do not hold out much hope.

    Andy - thank you very much for the birthday wishes. I aim to continue for another year, and hope it will be as productive as the last.

  • Jamie // May 18, 2008 at 5:49 pm

    Every Sunday, I download the previous week’s poems and listen to them on my way to work on Monday morning. Thank you for giving my week such a wonderful start!

  • angelika // July 1, 2008 at 2:10 pm

    I love the voice of the reader and I can’t help but think I’ve heard him somewhere before. Who is he? His voice reminds me of Ted Hughes.

  • classicpoetryaloud // July 9, 2008 at 9:54 pm

    Dear everyone - many thanks for the kind comments. I’m quietly pleased by the idea that I sound like Ted Hughes, but believe me, I’m just a poetry fan like yourself, and delighted if you enjoy a reading or two.

  • Angelika // July 15, 2008 at 3:00 pm

    I’m glad not only I worship the soft lilt of Ted Hughes. I take it the reader’s identity is a matter of National Security, is it?
    At least tell me if the ’sessions’ are recorded in the UK, they musty be!

    Thanks for your reply!

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