Celtic Poets

by Jonathan Swift, Robert Burns, Oscar Wilde

Celtic Poets breathes vitality into the works of Swift, Burns, Wilde, and more. Cosham's finely honed delivery brings verdant valleys, quaint villages, and drunkards' and maidens' conversations to listeners' ears. What is not to love?!

Genres: Poetry, Scotland, Ireland, Audiobook

Audio CD

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Jonathan Swift was an Anglo-Irish satirist, author, essayist, political pamphleteer (first for the Whigs, then for the Tories), poet, and Anglican cleric who became Dean of St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, hence his common sobriquet, "Dean Swift".
Swift is remembered for works such as A Tale of a Tub (1704), An Argument Against Abolishing Christianity (1712), Gulliver's Travels (1726), and A Modest Proposal (1729). He is regarded by the Encyclopædia Britannica as the foremost prose satirist in the English language. He originally published all of his works under pseudonyms—such as Lemuel Gulliver, Isaac Bickerstaff, M.B. Drapier—or anonymously. He was a master of two styles of satire, the Horatian and Juvenalian styles.
His deadpan, ironic writing style, particularly in A Modest Proposal, has led to such satire being subsequently termed "Swiftian".

Reviews

[Jason Koivu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Is there anything more lyrical than a "Celtic" poet? No, this isn't Gaelic or the songs of golden torque-clad Gaulish warriors. It's mostly a collection of 18th to 20th century Irish, Scots and Welsh poems. I listened to the audiobook version to hear expert narrator Ralph Cosham's accented versions. He did these justice. Yeats, Burns, Swift and a whole lot more are well-represented here.

[Ashly Cuthbert · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m not a person who reads poetry and then analyzes it to death. I never studied poetry. I just like to read it (or listen in this case) and see how it makes me feel. I love when poetry can make you feel. Most of these did. That in addition to the accents of the narrator, I felt in part transported to another time and place. I found myself wishing the audiobook had been more than just a couple hours long!

[Lorelei Jaramillo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love narrator Ralph Cosham’s voice and the different accents, my favorite being Scottish. The poems that made me giggle were:

The Agricultural Irish Girl:
She was only seventeen last grass, and still improving greatly;
I wonder what she’ll be at when her bones are set completely,
You’d think your hand was in a vice the moment that she shakes it,
And if there’s any cake around, it’s Mary Ann that takes it!

Devil and the Farmer’s Wife:
"Now I've been a devil most of my life
But I ne'er was in Hell 'til I met with your wife"

Some say that the women are better than men
For they went to Hell and they came out again.

[Mel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not usually a poetry person, but I do like to listen to accents and the flow of poetry in its native language. I was surprised how many of poems I already knew. Many have portions referenced in other literature, music, or media. Most surprising was that The Skye Boat Song (Outlander) is actually Robert Louis Stevenson's poem.

Apparently I'll have to keep reading and close more of my knowledge gaps. :-)

[Marlee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don’t often read poetry. I chose this for something different. I did enjoy it. I probably would have enjoyed it more if I had been a poetry lover. There were parts that I wanted to listen to over and over. Some of it was beautiful.

[Mary]

Sometimes the accent was hard to understand (I am American, the audiobook was narrated by a guy with a thick Irish/Scottish accent), but overall the book was good. Some of the poems were funny, others happy or even sad.

[HF]

Audiobook via Libby App

[Melita · Rating 5 out of 5]

As expected, the lilting rhythm of these Celtic poets was soothing to listen to. They content of the poems was also engaging.

[Kathleen Newton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent recording. Wish there were a print version or at least a table of contents. I had to stop at each poem and make note of the poet and title to look it up later.

[Heather Caldwell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Easy to listen to and was a good "listen" because of the accent of the reader and the correct pronunciation of the places, names, etc. ONLY good if you actually like poetry.

[Andrew Ten broek · Rating 3 out of 5]

The real Celtic poems were in the tail of this audiobook, as the last few ones were written by Welsh poets. (The Briton Celtics). These were also immediately the best poems in quality in my opinion and moreover fitted the title much better. A large part of the first half consisted of Irish poems and except for fitting the title far less, since technically these would be Gaelic poems, I also thought they were pretty average and didn´t invoke much in symbolism that reflect the reality in a philosophical way. In fact the poems were pretty much rooted in a mainstream kind of life and the passing of time in a regular way. That´s why I thought this collection was a middle of the road thing. I had expected some more mythology as well since Celtic culture is known for that, but that wasn´t to be found here either.

[Jack Alexander · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read for devotees of poetry and/or Celtic literature. For all that and all that...

[rinabeana]

The poems were read in a steady stream and many of them were not attributed to an author (even "author unknown"). I enjoyed the Yeats and Burns selections.

[Erika · Rating 5 out of 5]

Diving into the rich culture of the Celts. Among them, Jonathan Swift, Oscar Wilde, and Robert Burns.

[Rebecca]

I do love the melodic structure of the poetry itself, but the subject matter didn’t appeal to me, and majority of the poetry was narrative in nature, which is not my preference in poetry.