The Poetry of My Oxford Year

by Julia Whelan

Featuring an original foreword and 32 classic Victorian poems with individual commentary. Read by the author.

An audio anthology of the poems that appear in the international bestseller, My Oxford Year. Edited and read by Julia Whelan, it features an original Introduction about the writing and selection process, as well as individualized context and commentary for 30+ poems. Whether you're new to poetry, intimidated by poetry, don't see the point of poetry, or are looking for a deep-dive into the Victorian classics, there's something here for everyone.

Genres: Poetry

Audible Audio

Published April 18, 2025

About the author

Dubbed "The Adele of Audiobooks" by The New Yorker, Julia Whelan is a writer, lifelong actor, and acclaimed audiobook narrator. Her performance of her own debut novel, the international bestseller My Oxford Year, garnered a Society of Voice Arts award. Her 2022 novel, Thank You For Listening, was a Best-of-the-Year pick at Amazon, Audible, and NPR as well as a Goodreads Choice Award nominee and winner of the CALIBA. She is the founder of Audiobrary, a new human-only audio publishing company and app, and her new book, the 8-part audio series Casanova LLC, debuted exclusively on Audiobrary Valentine's Day, 2024. She is also a Grammy-nominated audiobook director, a former writing tutor, a half-decent amateur baker, and a certified tea sommelier.

Reviews

[Cait's Reading Nook · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Poetry of My Oxford Year, edited and narrated by Julia Whelan, compiles the poems that start each chapter of the novel and includes background on the selection of the poem, the poet, its meaning, and its connection to the novel.

Poets included in this collection Alfred Lord Tennyson, Bronte, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Robert Browning, Edward Lear, William Morris, Matthew Arnold, Christina Rossetti, and William Butler Yeats (just to name a few!).

The Audiobrary version contains supplemental PDFs with the whole poem and highlights of the excerpt. The narration is stellar, and Whelan shares all of the work and research to find the poem to meet the moment. It’s a wonderful behind the scenes of the book and what the poems mean to Whelan and her time at Oxford. The collection discusses how poetry differs from prose and how powerful poetry can be.

Poetry is among my favorite genres! I highly recommend if you’ve read My Oxford Year, enjoy poetry or have just started or haven’t considered reading poetry before. Whelan makes poetry accessible in this collection.

[ErinNoelle Blanton · Rating 5 out of 5]

My Oxford Year surprised me with how much heart it carried. On the surface, it feels like a romantic story about an American student spending a year at Oxford, but what stayed with me were the quiet moments of poetry, both literal and emotional. The main character’s love of literature and her connection to poetry made me reflect on how words can shape the way we see our own lives.

What I loved most was how the novel balanced joy and heartbreak—it wasn’t just a light study-abroad romance. The story dug deeper into choices, sacrifices, and how love can change the way we understand ourselves. The references to poetry, especially Tennyson, felt like an anchor tying the whole book together.

For me, reading it was both comforting and bittersweet—it reminded me that beauty and pain often live side by side, and that sometimes the most fleeting experiences can leave the biggest imprint.

[Alison · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this companion pieces to My Oxford Year! Whelan could probably read an old-fashioned phone book, and I'd be happy. But hearing her interpret these poems was delightful. Of course, the ones I already knew were my favorites - "When You Are Old" by Yeats, "Song" by Christina Rossetti, and of course "The Lady of Shallot" by Tennyson (thanks to L.M. Montgomery). I enjoyed learning about the unfamiliar works as well, along with Whelan's commentary on the authors, their subjects, and her Oxford experience.

[Janet · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am not a poetry person, so please take this with a grain of salt. I liked hearing the full poems when they were short, but I get lost in the long ones. I would have loved to hear more of Julia's commentary on the poems, and how she picked them. I am truly amazed at her breadth of knowledge of the literary works and how much time it must have taken to find each bit of poetry to go along with each chapter. The original book was amazing. Julia, thank you for your hard work!