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Paradise Lost (version 2)

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Epics, Poetry
Chapter: 13 | Listen: 3

As Vergil had surpassed Homer by adapting the epic form to celebrate the origin of the author’s nation, Milton developed it yet further to recount the origin of the human race itself and, in particular, the origin of and the remedy for evil; this is what he refers to as “things unattempted yet in prose or rhyme.” After a statement of its purpose, the poem plunges, like its epic predecessors, into the midst of the action, shockingly bringing to the front the traditional visit to the underworld, for Satan’s malice is the mainspring of the negative action. But at the center of the poem lies the triumph by the Son of God over the angelic rebels, which counteracts Satan’s evil design. To preview this pattern, the fallen angels’ council in hell is counterbalanced by a council in heaven, in which the Son offers himself as a scapegoat for mankind long before the original sin has been committed. With this background, the narrator introduces us to Eden and our “Grand Parents.” Satan is detected spying on them and is expelled from the garden, after which God sends an angel to tutor Adam and Eve in the history of the heavenly war that has led to the present situation. At Adam’s request, the heavenly guest then recounts the creation of the visible world, explaining also the proper nature of development, whereby all things proceed from lower to higher by refining that which nourishes them. Satan, however, returning in the form of a […]

Song Celestial; Or, Bhagavad-Gîtâ

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Epics
Chapter: 19 | Listen:

This work is a unique rendering of the Bagavad Gita by a well known poet. It is faithful to the text and yet does not read like a translation.The Sanskrit original is written in the Anushtubh metre. It has been cast into flexible blank verse by Sir Arnold, changing into lyrical measures where the text itself similarly breaks. In his autobiography, Gandhi has called this work the book par excellence for the Knowledge of Truth and that it afforded him invaluable help in his moments of gloom. (Summary by Jothi) [chương_files]

Drake

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Epics, Free Verse, Poetry
Chapter: 19 | Listen: 9

Alfred Noyes, in the blank-verse epic “Drake”, fictionalizes the historical Francis Drake, who, during the reign of Elizabeth I of England, sailed (and plundered) on the Spanish Main and beyond. (Summary by Cynthia Moyer) [chương_files]

Ramayan, Book 3

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Epics, Other religions
Chapter: 25 | Listen:

The Ramayan 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 embarks 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, with much Wikipedia help) [chương_files]

Jerusalem – The Emanation of the Giant Albion

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Epics, Poetry, Religion
Chapter: 9 | Listen: 1

The epic poem Jerusalem was in Blake’s own opinion his masterpiece. It is the last of the great prophetic books. Originally produced as an engraved book of 100 pages (only one copy of which was every fully finished in the colouring), the poem develops and unifies many of the themes Blake had been exploring in earlier works. It is a complex and powerful work, full of dramatic imagery and sublime poetry. You might think of it like a poetic version of a Wagner opera. The edition read here is the first printed version of the poem – which was impossibly hard to read in the original. This then was the first opportunity to really explore it. However in his introduction Blake implies that the way to experience this work is to read it aloud rather than in your head. I can only agree, and I can also understand why few will do it. Although, somewhat inevitably, it is hard to do justice to the original, I hope this will give a flavour of this neglected gem. (Introduction by Nick Duncan) [chương_files]

Beowulf (version 2)

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Epics
Chapter: 14 | Listen: 4

Beowulf was composed by an anonymous Anglo-Saxon poet. Francis Barton Gummere translates this beautiful poem. Beowulf is an epic poem. The main character, Beowulf, proves himself a hero as he battles against supernatural demons and beasts. (Summary by Tad E.) [chương_files]

Giaour

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Epics, Poetry
Chapter: 1 | Listen: 2

“The Giaour” is a poem by Lord Byron first published in 1813 and the first in the series of his Oriental romances. “The Giaour” proved to be a great success when published, consolidating Byron’s reputation critically and commercially. (Summary by Wikipedia) [chương_files]

Beowulf (Hall translation)

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Epics
Chapter: 15 | Listen: 3

The most famous piece of Old English literature, Beowulf was written by an unknown poet at least 1000 years ago and tells how the eponymous hero who is a great warrior defeats the monster Grendel and his mother. He later goes on to rule the Geats before dying killing another foe, a dragon. This metered translation was made by John Lesslie Hall – Summary by clarinetcarrot [chương_files]

Sohrab and Rustum: An Episode

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Epics, Narratives
Chapter: 1 | Listen: 4

A young soldier born among Tartars but sired by the mighty Persian lord Rustum, serves in the Tartar army, seeking his great father. To this end, he persuades his general to call a truce and arrange for him to challenge the Persians to single combat. Should he prevail, his father will learn his whereabouts and come to him, or so he thinks, for Sohrab is unaware that his mother, fearing to lose her son, wrote to Rustum that their child was a girl. The Persians agree but have no champion until it is learned that they have recently been joined by Rustum. Although the great hero is contemplating retirement, he reluctantly agrees to be the Persians’ champion provided that he may fight unknown. As a result the two warriors engage in a contest that must lead to their mutual grief regardless of who wins—unless they happen to discover their relationship before it is too late. They continually approach but fail to make this discovery until it can no longer give them joy. This tragic poem, like Oedipus Rex, is a sustained piece of dramatic irony, but it differs from that play both in that it is in epic style (though only a episode) and in that the secret which hovers so close to disclosure would produce a happy ending were it ever to break forth. (Summary by T. A. Copeland) [chương_files]

Jerusalem Delivered

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Epics, Poetry
Chapter: 20 | Listen:

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. The original poem influenced Edmund Spenser, whose unfinished epic, The Faerie Queene, is still more complicated in plot than Tasso’s poem and, being an allegory, affords the supernatural an even greater share in the action. In Milton’s Paradise Lost, the council in hell (first half of Book II) owes much to Tasso’s similar scene in Book IV. (Someone with sufficient background in Old English might profitably compare the tirade of Satan in Book IV to the remarkably similar speech of Satan in the Anglo-Saxon Genesis.) Moreover, Milton’s decision to write in English rather than in Latin, then the language of international discourse, was due in part to his visit to Tasso’s patron, Giovanni Battista Manso, who advised him as he had advised Torquato Tasso before him, to dignify his native language by employing his talents in bold defiance of custom and precedent. Had Petrarch had the benefit of Manso’s advice, his great epic, The Africa, might now eclipse his […]