Product Description

Born in 1770, Wordsworth was and remains Britain's most celebrated poet. This splendid anthology features poems from the "Lyrical Ballads", his famous collection written in collaboration with Samuel Taylor Coleridge; from "The Prelude", the autobiographical work that explores the development of the man and the poet; and his personal and lyrical poems, including "I wandered lonely as a cloud" and "Composed upon Westminster Bridge". Includes poems in their entirety and unabridged excerpts.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2107522 in Books
• Published on: 1998-12-01
• Formats: Abridged, Audiobook, Unabridged
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 2
• Binding: Audio Cassette

From Library Journal
Listening to the Wordsworth tapes is enticing. It's hard to discern if this is a poetry reading with biographical notes or a biography with examples of the poetry. Either way, it works. And it is easier to listen to the poetry than to read it. The one problem is that employing six readers, plus a narrator, is confusing, especially since one of the stated aims of this program is to show the cohesiveness and progression in Wordsworth's work. Still, all readers (men and women) seem adeptly chosen. The same six readers tend to overdramatize Shelley's poems. The selections are for the most part fragmentary, skipping from long work to long work, with slighter, shorter poems used almost as fillers. As to biography, surely there must have been more to Shelley's life than love affairs and the deaths of children. By structuring everything around his romances and his friendships with fellow poets (especially Byron), this tape does little to enhance either the poetry or the biography. One hopes libraries will already have the now out-of-print 1985 program of Shelley's work narrated by Vincent Price. Meanwhile, purchase of William Wordsworth: Poems is recommended.?Rochelle Ratner, formerly with "Soho Weekly News," New York
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From AudioFile
Probably the most accessible and popular of the romantic poets, Wordsworth (1770-1850) was Eng-land's poet laureate from 1843 until his death. This random selection from his long career features stuffy, albeit informative, introductions to each work setting it in context. The six British readers admirably deliver the music and meaning, thereby giving listeners their words worth of Wordsworth. Y.R. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine

Customer Reviews

Seeing into the life of things
Wordsworth's poetry, at times, seems to be the most beautiful in English. This collection provides an ample audio companion to the text. There is a nice balance of selections from the "great" poems (1797-1807) that account for Wordworth's esteem, as well as juvenile and late works. Both versions of the Prelude are represented (1805 and 1850), some of the Lucy poems, Tintern Abbey, The Leech-Gatherer, the Immortality Ode, excerpts from ballads, and numerous short pieces as well. The reading of Tintern Abbey alone is worth the price of these cassettes: the unidentified male reader captures the music, the cloistered beauty, and the extraordinary depth of this poem. Bravo! Although the readers are named, one would hope that a future edition would specify who reads what.

Good introduction to Wordsworth
It includes some of his most famous work, interspersed with biography and commentary on its origins, read well and entertainingly, by several different English actors. Good for those who prefer poetry read to them, but will inspire them to do further reading themselves.

Wordsworth was meant to be read aloud!
This is an excellent recording of Wordsworth's poetry. It made me realize that his poetry is really meant to be heard, rather than read. All the vocal actors are very good, and I particularly enjoyed the narration of Wordsworth's life by Jeremy Northam. A very enjoyable set of audiotapes.