Poetry
The Ballad of Reading Gaol
Wilde’s meditation on capital punishment, the Ballad of Reading Gaol comes after he was convicted and imprisoned under charges of gross inde…
Holy Sonnets
John Donne (1572 – March 31, 1631) was a Jacobean poet and preacher, representative of the metaphysical poets of the period. His works, nota…
The Raven and Other Poems
"Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary, Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore—While I nodded,…
Pioneers of Science
This book takes its origin in a course of lectures on the history and progress of Astronomy arranged for Sir Oliver Lodge in the year 1887. …
The Faerie Queene
"The First Book of the Faerie Queene Contayning The Legende of the Knight of the Red Crosse or Holinesse".The Faerie Queene was ne…
The Lay of the Last Minstrel
An aging minstrel seeks who hospitality at Newark Castle and in recompense tells a tale of a sixteenth-century Border feud. In the poem, Lad…
The Freedmen's Book
Lydia Maria Child, an American abolitionist, compiled this collection of short stories and poems by former slaves and noted activists as an …
Spirits in Bondage
Spirits in Bondage is C.S. Lewis’s first book and the first of his works to be available in the public domain. It was released in 1919 unde…
Robert Browning Collection
Celebrate the legacy of Robert Browning with this curated collection of his poetry and prose, brought to life by LibriVox volunteers. This a…
The Divine Comedy
The Divine Comedy (Italian: Commedia, later christened "Divina" by Giovanni Boccaccio), written by Dante Alighieri between 1308 an…
The Hunting of the Snark
This is a whimsical poem that takes the reader on a sailing hunt for the mythical Snark. The Bellman, the Butcher, the Baker, the Beaver and…
Morning and Evening Thoughts
James Allen was a British philosophical writer known for his inspirational books and poetry and as a pioneer of the self-help movement. Alle…
Childe Harold's Pilgrimage
Childe Harold's Pilgrimage is a lengthy narrative poem in four parts written by Lord Byron. It was published between 1812 and 1818 and is de…
Hymns and Spiritual Songs
In sending forth a new collection of Hymns, I feel it necessary to preface the work by a few words of explanation. The volume now in the re…
The Iliad
The Iliad, together with the Odyssey, is one of two ancient Greek epic poems traditionally attributed to Homer. The poem is commonly dated t…
Absalom and Achitophel
John Dryden published Absalom and Achitophel: A Poem in 1681. It is an elaborate historical allegory using the political situation faced by …
Diary of an Old Soul
George MacDonald, a Scottish pastor, wrote these short poems, one for each day of the year, to help him with the severer misfortune he was e…
Paradise Regained
Paradise Regained is a poem by the 17th century English poet John Milton, published in 1671. It is connected by name to his earlier and more…
The Island
Written late in his career, Byron's narrative poem The Island tells the famous story of the mutiny on board the Bounty, and follows the muti…
Samson Agonistes
“The Sun to me is darkAnd silent as the Moon,When she deserts the nightHid in her vacant interlunar cave.”Milton composes his last extended …