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Great Poets of the Romantic Age
Poetry by definition, achieves its effects by rhythm, sound patterns and imagery. One of the most popular areas of audiobooks -- spoken poetic form -- evokes emotions and sensations by bringing the voice of the poet to life in an appropriately intimate way, directly to the ear and mind of the listener.This anthology contains the works of some of the greatest poets of the Romantic Age, including Blake, Wordsworth, Shelley, Coleridge, Keats, Byron and Clare.
3 pages, Audio CD
First published September 1, 1994
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
April 19, 2024
Some of the best Romantic Age poems read really well. What more do you want?
July 3, 2022
I'm making my first steps into poetry and I have to say that this audiobook made it easier for me to get the proper reading rhythm. Very well recited, it was a pleasure to listen to. What made it even more enjoyable to listen to, is to play it while in a park where you can observe the beautiful nature. A real romantic, I know. The book also sparked my curiosity to read more by Lord Byron and Samuel Coleridge.
June 9, 2020
Michael Sheen's voice is heavenly
August 9, 2025
Relaxing and equipped with an excellent narrator.
January 2, 2020
I've never listened to poetry like this before and there were parts, even in such a short space of time, where they all started to blue. I also found it surprisingly difficult to concentrate on some of the more romantic ones because I could just picture Michael Sheen declaiming away to himself in a sound-booth, being so sincere and dramatic, it almost felt too intimate to listen too!
However, as a way in to the romantic poets, big well known verses and some quite beautiful but lesser known poems, this is an excellent start, and I especially enjoyed the Rime of the Ancient Mariner because he got to use his own, lovely Welsh accent!
However, as a way in to the romantic poets, big well known verses and some quite beautiful but lesser known poems, this is an excellent start, and I especially enjoyed the Rime of the Ancient Mariner because he got to use his own, lovely Welsh accent!
March 12, 2021
Great introductory listen to some of the best known poems of the era. Liner notes include brief bios of the poets. Michael Sheen's voice is a perfect match for the subject material.
August 22, 2020
John Clare’s “I Am” is so underrated and I’m glad to hear it done. Perfect!
August 15, 2019
Type: Anthology of Lyric Poems
Unity: Poetry [and hence the human spirit] is for moods, and should not speak reasonably; Nature will tell us all we need to know. Yet the fugue into the woods and meadows leaves behind Christendom, and we feel the loss of spiritual depth as we progress from Blake and Wordsworth to Shelly, Byron, and Keats.
Parts:
* Blake:
* Unity: Childlike, innocent, love is at the center of the Christian doctrine. It comprises man’s salvation, and it must be felt, and cannot be reasoned with.
--
* Wordsworth:
* Unity: Moods, impressions, and sensations can teach us more than mere reasoning — especially when their subject is the Sublime in nature or imagination. As such, the ability to generate a sublime feeling or mood is the proof and standard of good poetry.
* Prompts:
* What was lost in the Poetry of the 17th-century academy? In a word, feeling. Wordsworth seems to have thought that the high-flung poetic diction, rigid structure, and insistence upon Classical and biblical themes had divorced the English from the true source of their poetry — the first-person sensation of the sublime, and the ability of words [but NOT of reason] to capture or imitate that sublimity. Like Blake [though perhaps less zealously], Wordsworth seems to insist that true religion springs from the mind’s own fount.
* Quotes:
* — Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquility.
* — Once again / Do I behold these steep and lofty cliffs, / Which on a wild secluded scene impress / Thoughts of more deep seclusion; and connect / The landscape with the quiet of the sky.
* — And 't is my faith, that every flower / Enjoys the air it breathes.
* — One moment now may give us more / Than years of toiling reason:
* — And bring no book: for this one day / We’ll give to idleness.
--
Shelley:
* Unity: Feeling is the true religion; the aesthetic embrace of love and poetry is eternal, and god-fearing puritans are timid fools, who waste their lives for want of life.
* Prompts:
* What did the earlier Romantics miss? Shelley, like Byron, is bold, youthful, and arrogant. There is so much less humility in his writings than in Blake or Wordsworth, yet there is something irresistible about Shelly’s Aristocratic Ego.
* Quotes:
* My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings! / Look upon my works, ye mighty, and despair.
* I never was attached to that great sect, / Whose doctrine is, that each one should select / Out of the crowd a mistress or a friend,/ And all the rest, though fair and wise, commend / To cold oblivion
* True Love in this differs from gold and clay, / That to divide is not to take away. / Love is like understanding, that grows bright, / Gazing on many truths;
--
Byron:
* Unity: Byron is the logical conclusion of the Romantics — sex and scandal, told as a baudy tale — all of which is exhilarating and bad, but rarely sublime. Byron’s works on love (e.g. She Walks in Beauty, and Don Juan] have feeling, but it is erotic and does not go deeper.
* Prompts:
* How can I write poetry to get myself bitches? Write about sex, drugs, and rock and roll.
* Quotes:
* (About Byron]: Byron is “mad, bad, and dangerous to know”
--
Coleridge:
* Unity: Poetry is to communicates passion, and passion is found most often in dreams or in the mouths of peasants. Something feels incomplete about Coleridge’s works. If they were more polished, he would be the best lyric poet.
--
* Implications: The Romantics are onto something essential: Language can communicate more than logic — words are not ’terms’ — namely, the feeling of the sublime. In fact, the Sublime — as embodied in Nature and Love — is the fount that distinguishes poetry from mere rhetoric. But, as the second generation of Romantics show, this emphasis on impression and imagination over reason quickly leads to ribald and low themes — Political Immortality, not eternal salvation; Sex, not love.
* The shift to common Language that Wordsworth and Coleridge fought so hard for ended up shifting the conceits of poetry as well. No more were they concerned — as Blake and Wordsworth seem to be — with a Romantic/Existential “Metaphysic."
* Rating: 4/5
* This anthology was a great selection from across the Romantic period, and listening to these poems was a great way to consume them! For all my criticism of Shelly and Byron, there are no unworthy poems on this list.
Unity: Poetry [and hence the human spirit] is for moods, and should not speak reasonably; Nature will tell us all we need to know. Yet the fugue into the woods and meadows leaves behind Christendom, and we feel the loss of spiritual depth as we progress from Blake and Wordsworth to Shelly, Byron, and Keats.
Parts:
* Blake:
* Unity: Childlike, innocent, love is at the center of the Christian doctrine. It comprises man’s salvation, and it must be felt, and cannot be reasoned with.
--
* Wordsworth:
* Unity: Moods, impressions, and sensations can teach us more than mere reasoning — especially when their subject is the Sublime in nature or imagination. As such, the ability to generate a sublime feeling or mood is the proof and standard of good poetry.
* Prompts:
* What was lost in the Poetry of the 17th-century academy? In a word, feeling. Wordsworth seems to have thought that the high-flung poetic diction, rigid structure, and insistence upon Classical and biblical themes had divorced the English from the true source of their poetry — the first-person sensation of the sublime, and the ability of words [but NOT of reason] to capture or imitate that sublimity. Like Blake [though perhaps less zealously], Wordsworth seems to insist that true religion springs from the mind’s own fount.
* Quotes:
* — Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquility.
* — Once again / Do I behold these steep and lofty cliffs, / Which on a wild secluded scene impress / Thoughts of more deep seclusion; and connect / The landscape with the quiet of the sky.
* — And 't is my faith, that every flower / Enjoys the air it breathes.
* — One moment now may give us more / Than years of toiling reason:
* — And bring no book: for this one day / We’ll give to idleness.
--
Shelley:
* Unity: Feeling is the true religion; the aesthetic embrace of love and poetry is eternal, and god-fearing puritans are timid fools, who waste their lives for want of life.
* Prompts:
* What did the earlier Romantics miss? Shelley, like Byron, is bold, youthful, and arrogant. There is so much less humility in his writings than in Blake or Wordsworth, yet there is something irresistible about Shelly’s Aristocratic Ego.
* Quotes:
* My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings! / Look upon my works, ye mighty, and despair.
* I never was attached to that great sect, / Whose doctrine is, that each one should select / Out of the crowd a mistress or a friend,/ And all the rest, though fair and wise, commend / To cold oblivion
* True Love in this differs from gold and clay, / That to divide is not to take away. / Love is like understanding, that grows bright, / Gazing on many truths;
--
Byron:
* Unity: Byron is the logical conclusion of the Romantics — sex and scandal, told as a baudy tale — all of which is exhilarating and bad, but rarely sublime. Byron’s works on love (e.g. She Walks in Beauty, and Don Juan] have feeling, but it is erotic and does not go deeper.
* Prompts:
* How can I write poetry to get myself bitches? Write about sex, drugs, and rock and roll.
* Quotes:
* (About Byron]: Byron is “mad, bad, and dangerous to know”
--
Coleridge:
* Unity: Poetry is to communicates passion, and passion is found most often in dreams or in the mouths of peasants. Something feels incomplete about Coleridge’s works. If they were more polished, he would be the best lyric poet.
--
* Implications: The Romantics are onto something essential: Language can communicate more than logic — words are not ’terms’ — namely, the feeling of the sublime. In fact, the Sublime — as embodied in Nature and Love — is the fount that distinguishes poetry from mere rhetoric. But, as the second generation of Romantics show, this emphasis on impression and imagination over reason quickly leads to ribald and low themes — Political Immortality, not eternal salvation; Sex, not love.
* The shift to common Language that Wordsworth and Coleridge fought so hard for ended up shifting the conceits of poetry as well. No more were they concerned — as Blake and Wordsworth seem to be — with a Romantic/Existential “Metaphysic."
* Rating: 4/5
* This anthology was a great selection from across the Romantic period, and listening to these poems was a great way to consume them! For all my criticism of Shelly and Byron, there are no unworthy poems on this list.
July 11, 2021
I am mildly interested in classic poetry, and I found the reading to be terrific. Listening to these poems in Michael Sheen (an accomplished theatre actor)'s a mellifluous and emotionally rich voice is far better than what I would get if I had read them on paper and in my own inner voice. I especially love that the he even put on different voices for different characters (the narrator, the Mariner, the wedding guest, two supernatural spirits, the Hermit, etc) in last famous poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, making the story more dramatic and much easier to follow. A strong finish!
Contrary to some other CDs by Naxos, the titles are clearly announced at the beginning, and the album also has a bit of nice background music when the section of a new author starts. Minor caveat for audiophiles: if you are using very good headphones, you may hear that there was a low hum of background noise in a couple of short sections and the recording booth sounds a bit boxy.
Contrary to some other CDs by Naxos, the titles are clearly announced at the beginning, and the album also has a bit of nice background music when the section of a new author starts. Minor caveat for audiophiles: if you are using very good headphones, you may hear that there was a low hum of background noise in a couple of short sections and the recording booth sounds a bit boxy.
September 27, 2020
Honestly, I'm just not that into poetry (save few exceptions) and listening to an audio made it more difficult.It might be much better than my review. I listened to this two times and each time found mys mind wandering off or even falling asleep. Great for putting one to sleep. I want to like poetry, but with a couple exceptions I really have a hard time. Furthermore I do better when I read it in a book rather than listening to audio. Sorry this isn't the best objective review about the book itself, this is more my subjective experience.
January 30, 2019
Having never liked poetry, I thought I would see if having it read aloud was any better.... Sadly no. Nice dramatic reading though.
July 24, 2020
I loved the reading of these poems. So much emotion.
September 20, 2020
7.0/10– Byron and Coleridge top notch, the rest flop
July 11, 2021
Great poems that have been remembered for a good reason and Michael Sheen performed them brilliantly.
August 7, 2023
Michael Sheen does an amazing job narrating this collection of poems. His voice fits so well with each one and I will definitely be looking for more narrated by him.
December 30, 2025
Dramatic and haunting which Michael Sheen delivered perfectly. This was quite enjoyable and I can’t wait to listen again.
September 16, 2017
This is a great sample of various English poets of 19th century . William Wordsworth in my favorite but I loved just about the whole book . Thsi is an aduio book and Im working on my farm listening to it ..IT IS GOOD ! and the secondtime through is better
Yes ! I loved it . Highly recommend. It an audio so listen to it when in nature ....
September 20, 2015
I have been testing poetry. I have to admit that poetry has never been my favorite (other than Shel Silverstein). So far, this has been my favorite. I especially enjoyed the lovely descriptions of nature.
November 2, 2008
Wonderful!
August 11, 2011
Good selection and good performances, as usual with Naxos.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews