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Satires of Circumstance, Lyrics and Reveries, with Miscellaneous Pieces

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Poetry, Single Author
Chapter: 107 | Listen: 5

Published in 1914, this is a compilation of 107 poems by Thomas Hardy (1840-1928), who is probably better known as the author of such famous novels as Tess of the d’Urbervilles and Far from the Madding Crowd. Similar to his novels, the underlying themes of the majority of the poems in this collection are death, departure and unfulfilled love, while the central piece is comprised of the 15 short “Satires of Circumstance,” funny poems with a bittersweet touch. The poems have been recorded by our trio of readers John Burlinson, Tomas Peter and Sonia. As an interesting touch, some poems can be considered short dramatic readings, and as such have been performed as dialogues. [chương_files]

23/07/2024

A Problem in Modern Ethics

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Essay/Short nonfiction, Fiction, Literature, Non-fiction, Politics, Psychology, Science
Chapter: 22 | Listen: 4

“Society lies under the spell of ancient terrorism and coagulated errors. Science is either wilfully hypocritical or radically misinformed.” John Addington Symonds struck many an heroic note in this courageous (albeit anonymously circulated) essay. He is a worthy Virgil guiding the reader through the Inferno of suffering which emerging medico-legal definitions of the sexually deviant were prepared to inflict on his century and on the one which followed. Symonds pleads for sane human values in a world of Urnings, Dionings, Urano-Dionings and Uraniasters – in short, the whole paraphernalia of Victorian taxonomies and undigested Darwinism which, superimposed on the “terrorism” of religion, labelled and to some extent created the specimen “homosexual.” A discussion of the “manly love” poems of Walt Whitman leads the author to speculate on a better future for the criminalised mutual passions of men; yet he is obliged to defer the dream, for “the world cannot be invited to entertain it.” (Introduction by Martin Geeson) [chương_files]

Vigils

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Poetry
Chapter: 30 | Listen: 1

This is a volume of poetry by American poet Aline Murray Kilmer, widow of the poet Joyce Kilmer. These poems have been published several years after Joyce Kilmer’s death in 1918 while he was deployed in France, and their daughter Rose’s death in 1917. Many of the poems in this collection thus also center around a motive of grief and loss, and set these emotions into poetry of heartbreaking beauty. – Summary by Carolin [chương_files]

Poems of Pleasure

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Poetry
Chapter: 77 | Listen: 3

This is another volume in Ella Wheeler Wilcox’s famous series of poetry. This volume bears the topic “pleasure”. – Summary by Carolin [chương_files]

23/07/2024

Not That It Matters

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Essay/Short nonfiction, Fiction, Short Stories
Chapter: 45 | Listen: 5

More of the witty, wry, and deliciously wicked essays and articles written by Milne. Most people know him as the creator of Winnie The Pooh, but he worked for many years as editor of Punch Magazine and these are some of his best. Not That It Matters is a collection of over 40 of these short stories and articles. Not That It Matters collects his columns for Punch, which include poems, essays and short stories, from 1912 to 1920. Most of his writing pokes fun, both gentle and not so gentle at a variety of topics. They vary greatly in length so there should be something for everyone. Milne wrote in a thoroughly British atmosphere and for a thoroughly British audience so some of his references may need a bit of research for those ‘not of the Empire’ (like me) to understand. [chương_files]

23/07/2024

Lancashire Characters and Places

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Essay/Short nonfiction, Fiction, Non-fiction
Chapter: 14 | Listen:

An eclectic collection of essays on late 19th-century Lancashire culture and life, including essays on the poets John Critchley Prince and Edwin Waugh. Thomas Newbigging was born in Glasgow and died in Knutsford, Chesshire, living in between in Rossendale, Pernambuco, and Manchester. A gas manager by profession and writer-historian by inclination, his two major works were the Handbook for Gas Engineers and Managers (1889) and the History of the Forest of Rossendale (1893). [chương_files]

23/07/2024

The Toys of Peace

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Essay/Short nonfiction, Fiction, Humor, Literature
Chapter: 33 | Listen:

This is the fifth collection of short stories by Saki (H.H. Munro), and was published posthumously in 1923. Even so, many of the stories are quite up to the standard of those collected earlier. [chương_files]

Andromeda, and Other Poems

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Poetry
Chapter: 85 | Listen: 3

This is a collection of the most famous poems of Charles Kingsley. Kingsley was an extremely versatile man, Wikipedia lists him as “broad church priest of the Church of England, a university professor, social reformer, historian and novelist. He is particularly associated with Christian socialism, the working men’s college, and forming labour cooperatives that failed but led to the working reforms of the progressive era. He was a friend and correspondent with Charles Darwin.” All those varied interests and backgrounds are reflected in his poetry, which is as versatile as the author himself. – Summary by Carolin [chương_files]

Rose Leaf and Apple Leaf

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Poetry
Chapter: 32 | Listen: 3

This is the first volume of poetry published by Rennell Rodd, British diplomat, poet and politician. Rodd received help publishing this volume from his friend Oscar Wilde, who also wrote the introduction for this volume. – Summary by Carolin [chương_files]

Custer, and Other Poems

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Poetry
Chapter: 64 | Listen: 4

This is a volume of poems by Ella Wheeler Wilcox. The final poem of this volume is an epic narrative poem glorifying the life and deeds of George Armstrong Custer (1839-1876), who served in the American Civil War and the American Indian Wars. – Summary by Carolin [chương_files]