Epics
Showing all 7 results
Achilleid
The Achilleid is the third and unfinished work by the Roman poet Publius Papinius Statius. In its introduction, it promises to present the life of the hero Achilles from his youth as a pupil under the centaur Chiron to his death at Troy. The author died however before writing most of the poem, leaving only one and a half books completed. The part that remains though holds interest for being unusual, bringing an account of the hero’s early life and an episode in which his mother, Thetis, disguised him as a girl on the island of Scyros before he joined the Greek expedition against Troy. (Summary by Leni)
Adam and Eve
LibriVox volunteers bring you 15 recordings of Adam and Eve (From ?Paradise Lost,? Fourth Book) by John Milton. This was the Weekly Poetry project for Paradise Lost is an epic poem in blank verse by the 17th-century English poet John Milton. It was originally published in 1667 (though written nearly ten years earlier) in ten books, with a total of over ten thousand individual lines of verse. A second edition followed in 1674, redivided into twelve books (in the manner of the division of Virgil’s Aeneid) with minor revisions throughout and a note on the versification; most of the poem was written while Milton was blind, and was transcribed for him. Milton first presents Adam and Eve in Book IV with impartiality. The relationship between Adam and Eve is one of “mutual dependence, not a relation of domination or hierarchy.” While the author does place Adam above Eve in regard to his intellectual knowledge, and in turn his relation to God, he also grants Eve the benefit of knowledge through experience. ( Summary from Wikipedia)
Aladdin, Or, The Wonderful Lamp (A Dramatic Poem, in Two Parts)
This retelling of Aladdin in dramatic verse begins in the humble home of a tailor, whose son spends his days in idleness and brings his parents nothing but grief. Soon, however, this son is brought to a magical grotto, where he finds a great treasure which will bring him his fortune. This story will have some twists and turns that are almost certain to be different from the story you know. – Summary by Devorah Allen Cast: Tomas Peter: Aladdin Jenn Broda: Gulnare, the Princess Michele Eaton: Nurse to Gulnare Availle: Morgiana, Aladdin’s Mother Algy Pug: Soliman, the Sultan Tommy Hersant: Vizir to Soliman Adrian Stephens: Saladin, betrothed to Gulnare ToddHW: The Enchanter, Noureddin VocalPenguin: Hindbad, Noureddin’s brother Sonia: Spirit of the Lamp Phil Schempf: Spirit of the Ring Donzo: Selim Tindra: Slave Gerald Moe: Jester HelenaDiamandiz: Court Jew Diane Castillo: Old Man czandra: Second Courtier Chuck Williamson: Servant of the Court Anya: Captain of the Body Guard Eleonora Bettenzoli: Spider Kristine Wales: Voice of the Trees Linda Olsen Fitak: First Fairy Twinkle: Peasant; Second Fairy ambsweet13: Zephyr; Second Elf FreckleFriday: Bedreddin; Lympha, a Fairy Thoria: Master Mason; First Courtier; Deathwatch Pier: First Lord of the Treasury; Strength, a Giant Michael L. Hooper: Second Lord of the Treasury Tchaikovsky: Architect; Apothecary; Owner of the House Lydia: Zulima, Soliman’s Wife; Peribanou, Queen of the Fairies; Fatima Doug Fajardo: Sindbad; Grocer; Sentinel; Laborer; Headsman David Purdy: Ali; Casem; Goldsmith; Sculptor; First Elf; Good Spirits Devorah Allen: Nightingale; Melpomene; Female Bird; Beauty, a Fairy Alan Mapstone: Mustapha, Aladdin’s Father; An Old Jew; Ali Baba, an Astrologer; Coppersmith; Headsman’s Assistant; Minstrel; Male Bird; The Water Spirit; Wicked Spirits Wayne Cooke: Narrator
The Aeneid
The Aeneid is a Latin epic written by Virgil in the 1st century BC that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Trojan who traveled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of the Romans. The first six of the poem?s twelve books tell the story of Aeneas? wanderings from Troy to Italy, and the poem?s second half treats the Trojans? ultimately victorious war upon the Latins, under whose name Aeneas and his Trojan followers are destined to be subsumed. The poem was commissioned from Vergil by the Emperor Augustus to glorify Rome. Several critics think that the hero Aeneas? abandonment of the Cartheginian Queen Dido, is meant as a statement of how Augustus? enemy, Mark Anthony, should have behaved with the Egyptian Queen Cleopatra. (Summary by Wikipedia and Karen Merline)
The Aeneid of Virgil (Version 2)
The Aeneid is a Latin epic written by Virgil in the 1st century BC that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Trojan who traveled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of the Romans. The first six of the poem?s twelve books tell the story of Aeneas? wanderings from Troy to Italy, and the poem?s second half treats the Trojans? ultimately victorious war upon the Latins, under whose name Aeneas and his Trojan followers are destined to be subsumed. The poem was commissioned from Virgil by the Emperor Augustus to glorify Rome. Several critics think that the hero Aeneas? abandonment of the Carthaginian Queen Dido, is meant as a statement of how Augustus? enemy, Mark Anthony, should have behaved with the Egyptian Queen Cleopatra. (Summary by Wikipedia and Karen Merline)
The Aeneid, prose translation
The Aeneid is the most famous Latin epic poem, written by Virgil in the 1st century BC. The story revolves around the legendary hero Aeneas, a Trojan prince who left behind the ruins of his city and led his fellow citizens to Italy, where he became the ancestor of the Romans. The first six of the poem?s twelve books tell the story of Aeneas? wanderings from Troy to Italy, while the poem?s second half treats the Trojans? victorious war upon the Latins. This is the recording of J.W.MacKail’s prose translation. (Summary by Leni)
The Faerie Queene (version 2)
Spenser planned a 24-book romance-epic consisting of two parts, of which he completed half of the first. The first twelve books were to illustrate the development of virtues within the individual soul, and the second twelve were to depict the application of these moral virtues to remedying evils that afflict the world. Each of the first set of quests was to begin at the court of the Fairy Queen, Gloriana, and the knights were to return thither after having defeated some foe representing a personal weakness. Having thus proved themselves, they were qualified to undertake the second quests, in the world. The neat plan becomes somewhat muddled by Book 3, which nevertheless contains the philosophical core of the poem’s allegorical structure: the Platonic notion that love (grace) unifies the cosmos and draws the will, through the pursuit of beauty, into virtuous action, returning to God at last in worship. The plot structure of the poem is rich and complex, with many strands interlinked and overlapping, each replete with allegorical significance. (Summary by Thomas Copeland)