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The Essays of Francis Bacon

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

Among the many ideas explored in this book are beauty, gardens, honor and reputation, cunning, nobility, friendship and many others. Authored by the man who is credited with having invented the essay form in English, The Essays of Francis Bacon was written over an extended period, ranging from the mid sixteenth century. They were compiled in a single edition in 1597 and later re-written, enlarged and added to in other editions in 1612 and 1625. However, their compelling and insightful quality still appears fresh and appealing to modern day readers. Francis Bacon, Lord Verulam, the 1st Viscount St Albans, was a distinguished genius whose wide-ranging interests covered philosophy, literature, science, politics, economics, civics, administration and art. He was also a gifted speaker, writer and musician. He had a brilliant political career and served as the Lord Chancellor and Attorney General of England during the reign of Elizabeth I. His career extended into the reign of the next monarch James I. He is also credited with having introduced the scientific method of testing a hypothesis. One of his books, The New Atlantis, explores the idea of creating a Utopian world in the New World, America. An enduring mystery about Francis Bacon is that he is speculated to have been the master playwright who wrote under the pseudonym “William Shakespeare.” Though Bacon’s career ended in disgrace and disappointment due to the machinations of his rivals, he remained at heart, a compassionate and gracious man. This is reflected in these essays. The Essays […]

Hunting of the Snark

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Poetry
Chapter: 1 | Listen: 4

This is a whimsical poem that takes the reader on a sailing hunt for the mythical Snark. The Bellman, the Butcher, the Baker, the Beaver and others named and unnamed provide a fast-paced, almost maniacal, romp to find the elusive Snark. In the reading, you begin to suspect that Dr. Seuss may have found some inspiration from Carroll. The reading is a fast ride of thirty minutes and is suitable for children and adults alike. (Review written by Robert Garrison) [chương_files]

Short Poetry Collection 019

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Poetry
Chapter: 20 | Listen: 2

LibriVox’s Short Poetry Collection 019: a collection of 20 public-domain poems. [chương_files]

The Sadhana: Realisation of Life

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Essay/Short nonfiction, Fiction, Non-fiction, Philosophy, Religion
Chapter: 8 | Listen: 3

Rabindranath Tagore was a Bengali poet, philosopher, visual artist, playwright, composer, and novelist whose work reshaped Bengali literature and music in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He became Asia’s first Nobel laureate when he won the 1913 Nobel Prize in Literature. Sadhana is a collection of essays, most of which he gave before the Harvard University, describing Indian beliefs, philosophy and culture from different viewpoints, often making comparison with Western thought and culture. [chương_files]

A Short History of England

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Essay/Short nonfiction, Fiction, History, Non-fiction
Chapter: 18 | Listen: 4

Gilbert Keith Chesterton was a prolific writer on many topics. His views of history were always from the standpoint of men and their interactions, and it may fairly be said he saw all of history as a battle between civilization and barbarism. So it has always been, and that remains true even today. “But it is especially in the matter of the Middle Ages that the popular histories trample upon the popular traditions. In this respect there is an almost comic contrast between the general information provided about England in the last two or three centuries, in which its present industrial system was being built up, and the general information given about the preceding centuries, which we call broadly mediaeval. “ As this quotation taken from the Introduction clearly shows, he is no mere pedant reciting dry dates and locations, but a profound thinker flooding new light onto those modern “myths” that have filled our historys. He is a master of paradox, and the techique of reducing his opponents arguments to the logical absurdity they have inherent in them. He often turns them upside down. All of which makes his work both a sound subject for reflection and highly entertaining all the while it remains permanently timely. [chương_files]

Country House

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Published 1800 - 1900
Chapter: 31 | Listen: 3

In “The Country House”, John Galsworthy explores many of the themes he would later expand upon in his better known, nine-novel, “The Forsyth Saga”. This is a novel of English society as 1900 approaches. A divorce is being threatened in the Pendyce family, whose members are of the landed gentry. Such an event would be an enormous scandal. There is little action. The story paints, in exquisite language, the feelings of each of the six or so main characters. These feelings concern the necessity for family honor and the horror of scandal; the stifling effect of the social mores of the time; the ridiculous complications of the law; and, the threat of the many changes in the social order which seem to be coming. Galsworthy was himself of this privileged class. While he was extremely critical of the social structure of the time, he shows sympathy for those caught in it. Each is constrained to his or her niche; only by major changes in the social code will that be changed. Gaslworthy was very much a social activist in life, as well as on the printed page. He was quite successful in showing the reader how it must have felt to live in one of those social niches. (Summary by BobR) [chương_files]

Congo

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Poetry
Chapter: 1 | Listen: 3

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. (Summary by Kathy Thile) [chương_files]

A Discourse Upon the Origin and the Foundation of the Inequality Among Mankind

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Essay/Short nonfiction, Fiction, Non-fiction, Philosophy, Politics
Chapter: 6 | Listen: 3

This work presents Rousseau’s belief in the profoundly transformational effects of the development of civilization on human nature, which Rousseau claims other political philosophers had failed to grasp. Specifically, before the onset of civilization, according to Rousseau, natural man lived a contented, solitary life, naturally good and happy. It is only with the onset of civilization, Rousseau claims, that humans become social beings, and, concomitant with their civilization, natural man becomes corrupted with the social vices of pride, vanity, greed and servility. [chương_files]

15/07/2024

Ballad of Reading Gaol, (version 2)

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Poetry
Chapter: 1 | Listen:

In 1895, Oscar Wilde was sentenced to 2 years of hard labor for acts of ‘gross indecency’. During his time at Reading Gaol, he witnessed a rare hanging, and in the three years between his release and his untimely death in 1900, was inspired to write the following poem, a meditation on the death penalty and the importance of forgiveness, even for (and especially for) something as heinous as murdering one’s spouse; for even the murderer, Wilde argues, is human and suffers more so for being the cause of his own pain, for ‘having killed the thing he loved’; for everyone is the cause of someone else’s suffering and suffers at the hands of another. It is this that Jesus Christ could see; he could continue to see the beauty of our humanity, despite all that we may do to each other, and encouraged us to love each other just the same “The Ballad of Reading Gaol” was published in 1898 and would gain Wilde greater recognition as a poet (in addition to being a great playwright); although his only other volume of poetry, one of his earliest works that he’d published, was also well-received. Sadly, ‘The Ballad’ would be his last. (Summary by Linda Leu). [chương_files]

Cornhuskers

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Poetry, Single Author
Chapter: 5 | Listen: 4

Carl Sandburg’s collection of 103 poems that earned a Pulitzer Prize Special Letters Award in 1919. [chương_files]