A celebration of English poems

Read by Richard Mitchley, Robert Maskell, Ghizela Rowe (Unabridged: 1hr 23mins)

Featuring poems by Sir Walter Raleigh, Sir Phillip Sydney, Sir Thomas Wyatt & many more

Poetry. A form of words that seems so elegantly simple in one verse and so cleverly complex in another.  Each poet has a particular style, an individual and unique way with words and yet each of us seems to recognise the path and destination of where the verses lead, even if sometimes the full comprehension may be a little beyond us.

Through the centuries every culture has produced verse to symbolize and to describe everything from everyday life, natural wonders, the human condition and even in its more hubristic moments, the crushing triumph of an enemy.

In the volumes of this series, we take a look at poetry through the prism of individual regions of England, or sometimes more quaintly known as ‘Albion’, or ‘Blighty’, through the centuries of its gloried history.

England, despite its perception of reserve and under-statement has, in reality, strode the global stage at various time in many things, both good and bad, from Empire to long distance running. Here our focus in on its literature.  Famed for its fiction and dramas, it is equally admired for its plethora of gifted poets and the dazzling verse which has added so much to its artistic legacy.  These classic poets are wonders of their age and of their art.  Genius is written in their names.

In this volume we have collected verse from poets born in the East of England.  These flat lowlands face out towards Europe yet within their counties are centuries of poetical history that indelibly mark out their talents as among our very best.

In this compilation - 

1 - Born in England - Exploring English Poetry - The Lords, Knights & Gentlemen of the Realm - An Introduction

2 - My True Love Hath My Heart and I Have His by Sir Phillip Sidney

3 - Ode by Sir Philip Sidney

4 - Sonnet I from Astrophil and Stella by Sir Philip Sidney

5 - Farewell Love and All Thy Laws Forever by Sir Thomas Wyatt

6 - They Flee From Me by Sir Thomas Wyatt

7 - What Needeth These Threat'ning Words by Sir Thomas Wyatt

8 - Farewell To The Court by Sir Walter Raleigh

9 - My Last Will by Sir Walter Raleigh

10 - Life by Sir Walter Raleigh

11 - Love Turned to Hatred  by Sir John Suckling

12 - If You Refuse Me Once and Think Again by Sir John Suckling

13 - I Prithee Send Me Back My Heart by Sir John Suckling

14 - Ladies In Arms by William Davenant

15 - To A Mistress Dying by William Davenant

16 - Praise and Prayer by William Davenant

17 - Man by Sir John Davies

18 - Taste by John Davies

19 - A Lover Out of Fashion by Sir John Davies

20 - Of Tears by John Beaumont

21 - Of His Dear Son Gervase by Sir John Beaumont

22 - The Glance by Francis Beaumont

23 - On the Tombs at Westminster Abbey by Francis Beaumont

24 - Beauty by Sir John Harrington

25 - Ingratitude by Sir John Harrington

26 - Pro Patria by Owen Seaman

27 - The Avengers by Owen Seamen

28 - Sing A New Song by Sir Francis Bacon

29 - The Life of Man by Sir Francis Bacon

30 - Love Like An April Day Beguiles by James Bland Burgess

31 - Celia, Sleeping or SInging by Thomas Stanley

32 - A Rose by Sir Richard Fanshawe

33 - Philomel in London by Edmund William Gosse

34 - A Cross in Flanders by G Rostrevor Hamilton

35 - Home Service by Geoffrey Faber

36 - Badmington by Sir A C Lyall

37 - Shall We Not Love Thee Mother Dear by Henry Williams Baker

38 - Slavery by John Bowring

39 - The Suicide's Grave by W S Gilbert

40 - Sonnet of Black Beauty by Lord Edward Herbert of Cherbury

41 - Tears Flow No More by Lord Edward Herbert of Cherbury

42 - The Vampiress by Lord Lytton

43 - To Shakespeare by Lord Alfred Douglas

44 - Impression de Nuit (London) by Lord Alfred Douglas

45 - Remember Thee! Remember Thee! by Lord Byron

46 - Lines Written Beneath An Elm in the Churchyard of Harrow On The Hill Sept 2nd 1807 by George Gordon Byron

47 - Darkness by Lord Byron

48 - A Song of a Young Lady to Her Ancient Lover by John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester

49 - Absent of Thee I Languish Still by Lord John Wilmot

50 - Ulysses by Alfred Lord Tennyson

51 - The Lady of Shalott by Alfred Lord Tennyson

52 - Now Sleeps the Crimson Petal from The Princess by Alfred Lord Tennyson