The Anglo-Saxon epic Beowulf was completed in England in the eighth century, although the poem is set in the sixth century in what is now known as Denmark and southwestern Sweden. Against a background of feuding and feasting, the young warrior Beowulf kills Grendel, a huge man-like ogre who has been terrorising Hrothgar, King of the Danes. In retaliation Grendel's mother steals one of the Danes, and Beowulf follows him into the monster's lair... Translated by Michael Alexander.

The Anglo-Saxon epic Beowulf was completed in England in the eighth century, although the poem is set in the sixth century in what is now known as Denmark and southwestern Sweden. Against a background of feuding and feasting, the young warrior Beowulf kills Grendel, a huge man-like ogre who has been terrorising Hrothgar, King of the Danes. In retaliation Grendel's mother steals one of the Danes, and Beowulf follows him into the monster's lair... Seamus Heaney's new translation provides an easily accessible version of this early English classic. Winner of the Whitbread Award.

A book about the North - poet Simon Armitage's North. His subjects include a typical Saturday night out in West Yorkshire, Hebden Bridge - the hippy capital of the universe, watching Huddersfield Town on Saturday afternoon, and the electrified East coast line.

Simon Armitage is one of the most widely praised poets of his generation. Here he reads work drawn from his collections 'Kid' (winner of a 1992 Forward Prize), 'Book of Matches', and 'The Dead Sea Poems'. Questions of class, of love and domestic conflict, of language itself and of belief and trust are all given his characteristic spin.

The first collection of poetry from an award winning poet. This audiobook features `It ain't what you do it's what it does to you' and other poems included for study at GCSE. CONTAINS SOME STRONG LANGUAGE.

This audiobook contains fifteen love poems and cabaret songs written in the thirties by W.H. Auden, including 'Funeral Blues', which featured in the film 'Four Weddings and a Funeral'.

W.H. Auden, once described as the Picasso of modern poetry, is both political and personal in these early poems, written between 1927 and 1939 and selected by James Fenton.

W.H. Auden reads a personal selection of 18 poems which cover almost two decades. The recording features 'In Memory of W.B. Yeats', 'In Praise of Limestone', 'The Capital', 'School Children', 'As He Is', 'Five Lyrics', 'Precious Five' and 'Bucolics'.

This audiobook features Pam Ayres live in concert performing a mixture of her most famous poems, hilarious stories and anecdotes. Pam's personal favourites have been divided into twelve sections covering subjects such as love, motherhood, families, gardening, ecology, travel and animals as well as many more unusual topics like climbing Ayres Rock in Australia, the rigours of keeping sheep and the finer points of the Old Gloucester Sausage.

Pam Ayres reads over 50 of her best-known and loved poems, including 'I Wish I'd Looked After Me Teeth', 'I'm a Starling, Me Darling' and 'Thoughts of a Late-Night Knitter'.

The author's vivid recollections and images of the past have been translated into poems which reminisce on her early life in the Caribbean. They are all written in the Caribbean dialect 'Patwa' and express the poetical humour and rhythmical flavour of the language.

A much-loved classic for children and adults alike, this collection of poems is a truly unforgettable book of moral instruction. Take heed from the lessons learnt by Matilda, who told lies and was burned to death, Jim, who ran away from his nurse and was eaten by a lion, and Rebecca, who slammed doors for fun and perished miserably...

The former poet laureate John Betjeman's evocative prose and poetry about his love of Cornwall, in which he first fell in love during his childhood holidays and returned to yearly until his death.

A compilation of poetry from over 30 years of BBC radio programmes. Betjeman reads a selection of his won work.

William Blake was an engraver, painter and visionary mystic as well as a revolutionary poet. This volume contains a selection of lyrical and powerful poems including: 'Songs of Innocence', 'Songs of Experience', 'The Marriage of Heaven and Hell', 'Jerusalem' and a selection from the Prophetic Books.

A collection of more than 40 of Blake's poems including a selection from `Songs of Innocence and Experience', together with other lyrical pieces and `Augeries of Innocence'.

This audiobook takes us from Robert Browning's earliest work, through the poet's literary successes and critical disappointments, by way of romantic lyrics such as 'Home Thoughts from Abroad'. Explanatory commentaries place the poems in a historical and biographical context.

This recording offers a selection of the work of the versatile English poet Robert Browning, ranging in style from the shorter lyrical poems to the vivid characterisations of his dramatic monologues. Contains 'My Last Duchess', 'How They Brought the Good News from Ghent to Aix', 'Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister', 'Home-Thoughts, from Abroad', 'The Lost Leader', 'Porphyria's Lover', 'Memorabilia', 'Rabbi Ben Ezra', 'The Year's at the Spring', 'The Bishop Orders His Tomb', 'Andrea del Sarto' and 'Fra Lippo Lippi'.

Lucid, tender and strangely troubling, the poems in Burnside's seventh collection are hymns to the tension between the sanctuary of home and the lure of escape. Winner of the Whitbread Poetry Award 2000.

The flamboyant and charismatic Lord Byron produced some of the most daring and exuberant poetry of the Romantic age, from 'To Caroline' and 'To Woman' to his exotic Eastern tales and the colourful narrative of 'Childe Harold's Pilgrimage', the work that made him famous overnight.

In this compilation of the infamous Romantic poet Lord Byron's letters, we follow his colourful life, from his birth in 1788, to his death at Missolongi on April 19th 1824.

A dramatisation that brings to life a beloved author. From Cather's experiences on the prairie come stories about the frontier such as 'O Pioneers!' and 'My Antonia', plus three of her poems: 'Prairie Spring', 'Prairie Dawn' and 'Evening Song'.

Starting with Lucy Terry of the early 18th century and finishing with contemporary poet Rita Dove, this inspiring anthology captures the enormous talent and passion of black poets. Each of the twenty five poets is introduced with a brief biography and poetry notes to help the listener place the work in its context.

Sir Ralph Richardson reads five of Samuel Taylor Coleridge's finest works, from the haunting `The Rime of the Ancient Mariner' to the quietly reflective `Frost at Midnight'.

This collection of poems draws on many themes familiar to the listeners of Catherine Cookson's novels: love, work, class and the beauty of nature. She also shares more personal thoughts, reflections on her own writing, marriage to her beloved Tom and life in the north of England. From the earliest poem included here, written in 1925 aged nineteen, to those written just before her death in 1998, this anthology spans her life and work. She remains one of the nation's favourite storytellers, completing an astonishing 104 works in her lifetime. This audiobook is her final work to be published and shows Cookson at her most intimate and inspirational.

Contemporary sources are used to throw new light on the poems of the last of the great Romantic poets. Cootes reveals John Keates to be an original, challenging and deeply human man.

Wendy Cope is one of our most brilliantly funny, satirical and perceptive poets. This collection reveals a softer lyrical voice, also present in her earlier books, but here given more room to develop in poems about gardens and contentment, and the poignancy of having something to lose.

Wendy Cope's first poetry collection is a comical and irreverent mixture of poems which includes parodies of William Wordsworth, T.S. Eliot and Emily Dickinson, and humorous sonnets, haiku and love poems.

Wendy Cope's second collection of poems tackles the funny side of serious matters like love, friendship, men, money and a whole range of topics that are close to our hearts.

Edited by Wendy Cope, this anthology of 101 humorous poems includes work by Lewis Carroll, W.S. Gilbert, Gavin Ewart, Kit Wright and Sophie Hannah.

'Paradise' is the third and final part of Dante's 'The Divine Comedy'. Led by his guide Beatrice, Dante leaves the Earth behind and soars through the heavenly spheres of Paradise to be granted a vision of God's Heavenly court - the angels, the Blessed Virgin and God himself.

'Purgatory' is the second part of Dante's 'The Divine Comedy'. From Hell, the poet, guided by Virgil, struggles up Mount Purgatory to the Garden of Eden, climbing the terraces populated by souls purging themselves of sin.

The first part of Dante's 'Divine Comedy', an extraordinary vision of Hell, with all its terror, pathos and humour. Inferno is the first part of the long journey which continues through Purgatory and Paradise. In this translation by Benedict Flynn, Dante's images are as vivid as when the poem was first written in the early years of the 14th century.

This collection of John Donne's poetry contains love poems, elegies and metaphysical verse, as well as selections from the `Satires' and the `Epithalamions'. It includes a biographical narrative placing each poem in context and illuminating its significance.

Duffy's fourth collection dramatises scenes from childhood, adolescence and adulthood. These are powerful poems of loss, betrayal and desire. This audiobook features 39 poems including 'Valentine', 'Havisham', 'Before You Were Mine' and 'Never Go Back'.

The second collection of Duffy's poetry. This audiobook features 44 poems including 'Stealing', 'Selling Manhattan', 'Every Good Boy' and 'Homesick'.

The first collection of Duffy's poetry. This audiobook features 49 poems including 'War Photographer', 'Head of English', 'Borrowed Memory' and 'Someone Else's Daughter'.

The third collection of poetry from Carol Ann Duffy takes us to 'the other country' - the places we visit in fantasy, memory and imagination. 44 poems including 'In Mrs Tilcher's Class', 'Survivor' and 'Who Loves You'.

Originally published in 1939 and dedicated to Eliot's godchildren, this book was the inspiration behind the Andrew Lloyd-Webber musical 'Cats'. Amongst its delightful rogues gallery of felines are the Rum Tum Tugger, whose disobliging ways are a matter of habit, Mr Mistoffelees the Original Conjuring Cat and Macavity the Mystery Cat, the master criminal who can defy the law.

Eliot reads some of his most important poems. 'The Wasteland' expresses his view that the Western city had become a stale and sterile desert, and 'The Four Quartets' describes his wholehearted acceptance of the Christian faith.

Ursula Fanthorpe was born in 1929 and became a leading contender for the post of Poet Laureate in 1999. Her poems are easily accessible and this is a selection of her work.

A collection of Fanthorpe's poetry, including `Not My Best Work', `Rising Damp', `Women Laughing', `Dear Dr Lee', 'Felicity and Mr Frost', 'A Wartime Education' and 'The Beasts'.

The first side of this audio book deals with military life, including the brutal treatment of Canadian soldiers at the hands of the Japanese. The second side - 'The Terracotta Army' - is much lighter and won 'The Americas Region Best Book Award' in the 'Commonwealth Poetry Competition' in 1985 and was adapted for Radio 3.

In 1864, W. S Gilbert wrote a humourous article and sent it to the recently launched paper 'Fun'. Over the next ten years, Gilbert contributed articles, dramatic criticism and humourous verse to the magazine, compiled in this audiobook as 'The Bab Ballads'. Reader Jim Broadbent is directed here by Mike Leigh.

A collection of Thomas Hardy's poems, including 'The Man He Killed', 'The Darkling Thrush' and 'The Subalterns'.

This selection of Hardy's poetry and prose ranges from charming anthology pieces such as 'Weathers' to the great love poems he wrote after the death of his first wife and meditations on war and philosophy.

This collection of poetry takes the reader through Hardy's long and prolific career and contains some of his best-loved poetry, including 'The Darkling Thrush' and 'Overlooking the River Stour'.

This selection of Tony Harrison's poems includes sixty-three poems from his famous sonnet sequence 'The School of Eloquence' and the remarkable long poem 'V', a meditation inspired by Harrison's visit to the graves of his parents in a vandalised Leeds graveyard, written during the miners' strike of the 1980s.

The title poem of this collection is set on an island which has been a site of pilgrimage in Ireland for over 1000 years. It describes the autobiographical quest concerned with the growth of the poet's mind.

This selection of Heaney's work is drawn from nine collections and provides the perfect introduction to his poetry. It includes the works 'Mossbawn', 'Sunlight', 'Personal Helicon', 'Bogland' and 'The Tollund Man'.

A collection of poems from the winner of the 1995 Nobel Prize for Literature. The poems discover the possibility of a new beginning in many subjects and circumstances. Private memories, classical scenes and humble domestic objects are endowed with talismanic significance and friends and relatives are invoked for their promise and steadfastness.

A collection of poems ranging in mood from pathos to broad comedy. Some of them are read by the author in live performances throughout Britain and on radio and television. Subjects include Luton, string, dogs and logs, trains and Roman remains.

Homer's epic poem tells the story of the darkest episode in the Trojan War. At its centre is Achilles, the greatest warrior-champion of the Greeks, and his refusal to fight after being humiliated by his leader Agamemnon. But when the Trojan Hector kills Achilles' close friend Patroclus, he storms back into battle to take revenge - although knowing this will ensure his own early death. Homer also illuminates the domestic world inside Troy's besieged city of Ilium, and the conflicts between the Gods on Olympus as they argue over the fate of mortals.

With the Trojan war finally over after many long years, Odysseus longs for a swift journey home where his throne and beloved wife, Penelope, await him. But Poseidon, the sea god, bears a grudge against him and plans to prevent his return across the wine-dark sea to Ithaca. Many tests of strength and character ensue as Odysseus's journey stretches out over the years, taking in a multitude of strange and wonderful places and creatures.

First published in 1896, 'A Shropshire Lad' contains sixty-three poems on the nature of friendship, the passing of youth, the vanity of dreams and other human concerns. They are long prized by literary scholars for their perfection of form and feeling and loved by generations of readers for their simplicity, sensitivity and direct emotional appeal.

A collection of poems focusing on the central figure of the crow, predatory, mocking and indestructible. 'Crow' is read here by the author, with narrative links between the poems.

Ted Hughes, one of England's foremost poets, and Poet Laureate from 1984 to 1998, is also a haunting reader of his own work. On this recording he reads his own choice of more than fifty poems from the first twenty years of a literary career that began with the publication of 'Hawk in the Rain' in 1957. In particular, the programme includes a generous selection from two of his most powerful and distinctive works: 'Wodwo' (1967) and 'Crow' (1970).

This audiobook examines all the phases of Kipling's poetic career, from his charming poetry for children to his political satire, and argues for him to be acknowledged as one of the most important English poets of the 20th century.

This collection of Keats' work begins with `Imitation of Spenser', his first known poem, through to his more familiar poetry, including `The Eve of St Agnes' and `Odes'. It includes a biographical narrative placing each poem in context.

This collection provides a sensitive reading of Keats' great odes and sonnets, together with other lyrical pieces, and the long narrative poem `The Eve of St Agnes'.

One of the nation's most popular poets, Rudyard Kipling spoke with the voice of the underdog and defied the view of the poet as intellectual and elitist. This audiobook contains a selection of his work including 'If', 'Gunga Din', 'A School Song' and 'Tommy'.

A collection of twenty-seven poems by Rudyard Kipling concerning humankind, nobility, reflected glory and the futilities of our own time. Includes 'If', 'The Way through the Woods', 'The Ballad of East and West', 'Gunga Din', 'Mandalay', 'Tommy', 'Chapter headings from The Jungle Books' and 'The Female of the Species' amongst others.

Many of the poems in this collection, notably `The Old Fools', show a preoccupation with death and transience, and this was Larkin's final collection of poems before his own death. However, they are also full of the poet's trademark melancholy wit and this collection is considered by some to be his finest work.

A selection of poems from this `tenderly observant' poet who writes about what all of us can understand. The title poem describes the poet's journey by train from Hull to London, using the tones and rhythms of ordinary speech and focusing on the urban landscape of the industrial north.

Lawrence's work in verse is a very important part of his literary achievement. He said something in his verse that he could never have said in prose, and his best poems are among the most valuable and significant in the English language written in the 20th century.

A delightful collection of stuff and nonsense chosen by Brian Alderson. Poetry to amuse young, old and those in between, this is a collection of lyrics and prose aiming to display a wide range of 'bosh'. As well as limericks and nonsense songs, there are `eggstrax' from Edward Lear's letters and a dictionary of his `wurbal inwentions'.

A collection of Edward Lear's hugely popular nonsense verse for everyone, old and young.

The glorious story of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table with its timeless themes of the Quest of the Holy Grail and the love between Sir Launcelot and Queen Guinevere is one of the great legends of the Western world. The original account, written by the 15th-century knight Sir Thomas Malory, remains the definitive version. Accompanied by Gregorian chant.

Irreverent, sardonic, funny and sad, these are the poems that echo the mood of the sixties. A collection of poetry from Roger McGough, Brian Patten and Adrian Henri.

The comic genius of Spike Milligan changed the face of radio comedy through 'The Goon Show', but there was more to Spike at the Beeb. Here, Milligan chooses and introduces classic clips from an astonishing BBC career which includes 'The Last Goon Show of All' and Spike performing his own verse in 'Spike's Poems'.

A poem of epic scale, which conjures up a vast, awe-inspiring cosmos and ranges across huge tracts of space and time. Milton tells the story of man's creation, fall and redemption, the plight of Adam and Eve and the ambition and vengefulness of Satan and his cohorts.

Dramatic monologues, elegies, poems of social and political observation and love lyrics are all part of the repertoire of Andrew Motion, who was appointed Poet Laureate in 1999. His work is praised not only for its humanity but its imaginative range and technical versatility.

An intimate reading by the electrifying poet who has amassed a rich and inventive body of work. This selection offers highlights from all his collections including 'New Weather' and 'The Annals of Chile'.

These First World War poems are interspersed with extracts from Wilfred Owen's letters from the trenches and from hospital. The compilation is arranged in chronological order, and reveals Owen's transformation from innocent cadet to war-weary soldier.

Poets have been fascinated and challenged by the sonnet ever since it was imported from Italy to England in the 16th century. With its fourteen lines, inexhaustibly variable, the sonnet has met the particular needs of almost every major poet from Thomas Wyatt to Paul Muldoon.

Tom Paulin illustrates the development of his poetry over twenty years with poems from his most recent collection 'Walking a Line', and his four earlier volumes. A special poem, 'The Wind Dog', is also included.

In this anthology, prolific writer Harold Pinter presents a selection of his own work, including `A Note on Shakespeare' (1950), the short stories `Kullus' (1949) and `Girls' (1995), poetry from `School Life' (1948), and a range of political pieces - including many letters to the press - on the United States, Cuba, Kurdistan and Nicaragua.

Sylvia Plath reads a selection of her poetry. This audiobook features poems from throughout her short career, including 'Sow', 'Ariel', 'Lady Lazarus' and 'Daddy'.

As well as selections from Pope's shorter poems and epistles, this audiobook includes the full texts of 'An Essay on Criticism', 'The Rape of the Lock' and 'Eloisa to Abelaird', and excerpts from 'The Dunciad', 'An Essay on Man' and his translations of the 'Iliad' and 'Odyssey'.

An economical and resonant appraisal of the 20th century, written by its most independent and visionary observers - poets. With a contemporary poem chosen for each year from 1900 to 1999, Simon Rae's anthology gives a provocative report on the often violent impact of modern life.

An audiobook about one of the most memorable war poets of the 20th century, including Brooke's poetry, plus a newly discovered poem, rare archive recordings of close friends such as Cathleen Nesbitt and relatives, as well as details of his relationship with a Hawaiian girl and their children. Includes readings of 'The Soldier', 'The Fish', 'The Old Vicarage, Grantchester' and 'Safety'.

Irreverent, sardonic, funny and sad, these early poems of three of our best-known poets, Adrian Henri, Roger McGough and Brian Patten, echo the mood of the sixties. Innovative in both form and style, they bring poetry down from the dusty shelf and on to the street.

Christina Rosetti was one of the finest poets of the Victorian age. Her words, both simple and profound, lyrical and thought-provoking, are ideally suited to being read aloud. This audiobook contains a stimulating mixture of her writing, together with a biographical narrative.

With their devastating depiction of lust, jealousy, desire and love tangled with hate, Shakespeare's sonnets are among the most breathtaking and mysterious love poems ever written.

An anthology of Shakespeare's work selected by the HRH the Prince of Wales and performed by such figures as John Gielgud, Glenda Jackson, Alan Bates, Maggie Smith and Juliet Stevenson. The selections are divided into categories such as extraordinary people, public life and humour.

This anthology of Shelley's work includes his long mythical poem 'Queen Mab', his political allegory 'The Revolt of Islan' and the autobiographical 'Epipsychidion'.

An anthology of the poetry of Stephen Spender, one of the Modernist poets of the 1930s.

This remarkable poem, dedicated to Queen Elizabeth I, was the first epic poem in modern English. 'The Faerie Queen' combines dramatic descriptions of chivalrous adventure with picturesque episodes of pageantry, whilst at the same time presenting a deeply-felt allegory of the eternal struggle between Truth and Error.

The selection of poetry in this audiobook includes `The Lady of Shalott', `Ulysses', `Tears, Idle Tears', `Merlin and the Gleam', `The Revenge', 'In Memoriam' (Prologue, Cantos VI, VII, XI, LIV, L, CXIX, CVI), 'Morte d'Arthur' (lines 213-323), `Now Sleeps the Crimson Petal' and `Crossing the Bar'.

Because Dylan Thomas often wrote as much for the sound of his poetry as for its meaning, he was well-suited to the task of interpreting his own works on audio, due to his unforgettably rich voice and dramatic style. These recordings are a fascinating introduction to the complete experience of Dylan Thomas' manipulation of language. The poems included in this collection are those that he most often chose for his famous public readings.

The 1963 radio dramatisation, with Richard Burton as the narrator, of Dylan Thomas's play for voices, about the inhabitants of a small Welsh village.

A funny and touching account of a mythical village and it's people as seen through their own thoughts and conversations. 'Under Milk Wood' recreates a spring day in the lives of the people of Llareggub, a Welsh village situated under Milk Wood. There is no plot, but a wealth of characters who dream aloud.

'Under Storm's Wing' contains all that Helen Thomas wrote about her husband, the poet Edward Thomas. It also includes the celebrated volumes 'As It Was' and 'World Without End', her letters to Edward and separate memoirs of her meetings with people such as D. H. Lawrence. The book has been assembled by Edward and Helen's daughter Myfanwy, who includes her own account of an enchanting childhood with her father and the tragedy of his death at the Battle of Arras in 1917.

Dylan Thomas reads poems by Vernon Watkins, W. H. Davies, Alun Lewis, Edward Thomas, Wilfred Owen, W. B. Yeats, Gerard Manley Hopkins and D. H. Lawrence; as well as extracts from John Milton's 'Comus' and 'Paradise Lost' (with Thomas as Satan).

Ted Hughes' collection of personal favourites including poems by Robert Frost, Coleridge, Shakespeare, T.S Eliot and Emily Dickinson.

This is a performed selection of some of the great English narrative poems of the 19th century. The readings are supplemented by music from Schumann, Brahms, Raff and Cui and include 'The Eve of St Agnes', 'Le Morte d'Arthur' and 'Peter Grimes'.

A collection of 40 of the best works of Romantic poets such as Blake, Shelley, Coleridge, Wordsworth and Byron including 'The Tyger', 'I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud', 'Ode to the West Wind', 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner', 'Ode to a Nightingale', 'We'll go no more a-roving' and 'The Peasant Poet'. Supplemented with music from Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Schubert, Schumann and Brahms.

A collection of extracts from Gielgud's radio performances spanning many years. They include 'The Importance of Being Earnest' with Edith Evans, 'Arms and the Man', 'Richard II' and 'Measure for Measure', as well as poetry readings and conversations. Commentary by Gielgud links the extracts.

This anthology includes works by Coleridge, Wordsworth, Keats, Blake, Owen, Dylan Thomas, Burns, Byron, Shelley, Yeats and others.

The first volume of the Penguin English Verse series focuses on the 16th Century, and contains traditional madrigals and ballads, whose writers are unrecorded, as well as the poems of Shakespeare.

The second volume of the Penguin English Verse series contains the most popular verse of the 17th Century Restoration period including that of Donne, Marvell, Dryden and Milton.

The third volume of the Penguin English Verse series. This volume comes from the 18th century, often referred to as the Age of Reason, an age of urban satire and rural dreaming. The poets covered include Thomas Gray, Jonathan Swift, Oliver Goldsmith and Alexander Pope.

The fourth volume of the Penguin English Verse series. This volume concentrates on the English Romantic poetry which flourished between 1780 and 1830, as political and cultural revolutions were taking hold throughout Europe. The romantic sensibility continues to have contemporary relevance, particularly in the value these poets give to their feeling for nature under threat from mass industrial society.

The fifth volume of the Penguin English Verse series, which covers Victorian poetry. Doubt, self-questioning and `thinking aloud' are keynotes in the poetry of the period. The poets covered include William Barnes, Christina Rossetti, Emily Bronte, Lewis Carroll and Edward Lear.

The sixth volume of the Penguin English Verse series. This volume concentrates on the turn of the century, the years 1880-1918, in which Kipling's poetry came to embody the contradictions of Empire and some oustanding poetry was inspired by the horror of war.

Moved by the plight of the Afghan refugees, actress Pippa Haywood contacted leading names in the Arts and asked them to choose a poem in response to September 11th and the ensuing Afghan crisis. Over 80 diverse poems were chosen, including: 'The Trees' by Philip Larkin; 'Dulce et Decorum Est' by Wilfred Owen, 'All You Who Sleep Tonight' by Vikram Seth and 'Fidele' by William Shakespeare. Readers include Bono, Stephen Fry, Michael Palin and Benjamin Zephaniah.

Rediscover the fun of reading poetry aloud with this anthology full of literary landmarks and children's rhymes, classics and modern verses. Here are over 100 lyrics, limericks, ballads, raps and other poems that come alive when read aloud. Accompanying each poem are background notes, introductions to basic poetic terms and hints on reading aloud. The first two tapes cover war poetry, tapes three and four cover the work of Rudyard Kipling and tapes five and six contain 'classic' poems.

Linked to the Radio 4 series of the same name, this audiobook features readings of some of the poems which are most frequently requested for the programme. They include work by Shakespeare, Marvell, Keats, Kipling, Chesterton, Betjeman and Causley.

Linked to the Radio 4 series of the same name, this audiobook features readings of some of the poems which are most frequently requested for the programme. They include work by Arnold, Wordsworth and Stevenson.

Poems from the top 15 winners of this award, aged between 11 and 18. Poems include 'Fairy Tale Matches', 'Passing the Time' and 'Water Lights'.

A collection of poetry by the generation who fought during the Great War. The poets include Siegfried Sassoon, Wilfred Owen and Rupert Brooke as well as lesser-known poets such as Isaac Rosenberg and Edith Nesbit. Britten's War Requiem and music by Elgar and Parry is also featured.

With more than 80 of the most popular and loved poems in the English language, this collection is one of the most comprehensive anthologies of its kind. It covers a remarkable range, from the striking visions of Blake and Shelley and the insights of Keats to lighter but equally memorable verse by Tennyson, Kipling, G K Chesterton and Edward Lear.

With more than 80 of the most popular and loved poems in the English language, this collection is one of the most comprehensive anthologies of its kind. It covers a remarkable range, from the striking visions of Blake and Shelley and the insights of Keats to lighter but equally memorable verse by Tennyson, Kipling, G.K. Chesterton and Edward Lear.

This entertaining anthology of verse is the comic, tragic, tender and telling story of life's seven ages - from childhood to old age. Included are 150 great poems from all ages from Chaucer to Ted Hughes. They are presented by one of the finest casts on one recording.

An anthology which aims to show how a short poem (defined here as shorter than a sonnet, and in some instances no more than a single line) can tell a story, present a complicated argument, or be packed with passion and vision, as effectively and memorably as any of its more long-winded relations.

A selection of poetry and prose written between 1550-1650. This work was recorded at Westminister Abbey on 30th March 2000 especially for Listening Books.

A collection of 46 poems which were chosen as favourites in a BBC listeners' poll. They include Kipling's 'If', which received the highest number of votes, Wordsworth's 'Daffodils', Tennyson's 'The Lady of Shallot', and contemporary works such as Wendy Cope's 'Bloody Men'.

Following the appointment of Andrew Motion as Poet Laureate, this audiobook celebrates the best of all the Poets Laureate from John Dryden to Ted Hughes. Each poet has a short biography and review of his work as a poet and as Laureate read by Bill Paterson, which is followed by readings of the poems by Derek Jacobi and Diana Quick.

This unique collection features original recordings from 1908-1947, and includes Booker T. Washington's Atlanta Exposition Address, the poetry of Paul Laurence Dunbar and Langston Hughes, the rarely heard humour of Charley Case and readings from 'God's Trombones' by James Weldon Johnson.

This anthology includes poems of war from the Napoleonic era to present day conflicts. The collection includes Wilfred Owen's 'Dulce et Decorum Est' as well as work by Anne Finch, Louisa Costello, Byron, Tennyson, Kipling, Hardy, Graves, Sassoon, Brooke, Jessie Pope, May Wedderburn Cannan, Walt Whitman, Henry Reed, Adrian Mitchell and Roger McGough.

This collection of poetry, from the earlier writings in English to the work of contemporary poets, has been chosen on a basis of popular acclaim. They include works by Coleridge, Wordsworth, Keats, Blake, Owen, Dylan Thomas, Burns, Byron, Shelley, Yeats and others.

After a century of civil strife in Rome and Italy, Virgil wrote 'The Aeneid' to honour the emperor Augustus by praising Aeneas, Augustus' legendary ancestor. A patriotic epic imitating Homer, 'The Aeneid' tells of Aeneas, survivor of the sack of Troy, and of his seven year journey to Carthage, where he falls tragically in love with Queen Dido; then to the underworld, in the company of the Sibyl of Cumae; and finally to Italy, where he founded Rome.

Renowned for his wit and bons mots, Wilde also had a deep understanding of the human condition, as revealed with moving simplicity in 'The Ballad of Reading Gaol'.

'Sacred Elephant' explores the lives of elephants both in their natural habitat and in captivity, and details their destruction at the hands of man. The readings are supplemented by music from Ciurlionis, Brahms, Bruneau, Rubinstein, Saint-Saens and Mussorgsky.

Part natural history, poetry and ecological statement, listeners will learn and think about whales as never before. Commentary and prose combines with historical reference and facts.

From 1800 to 1803, whilst living with her brother at Dove Cottage near Grasmere, William Wordsworth's sister Dorothy kept a journal. She combined an intense observation of nature with a poetic imagination whose influence can be seen in many of Wordsworth's poems.

This anthology contains poetry from the `Lyrical Ballads', Wordsworth's famous collection written in collaboration with Coleridge. It also has poems from 'The Prelude', his autobiographical work; and personal and lyrical poems. The poems themselves are placed into context by an informative commentary.

This audiobook includes sonnets and lyrical pieces, Wordsworth's longer masterpieces `Tintern Abbey' and `Intimations of Immortality' and extracts from `The Prelude' in which he endeavoured to trace the development of his own mind.

This audiobook is a compilation of witty and provocative works from a poet and performer who, in the 1980s, worked professionally alongside artists as diverse as Gil Scott-Heron, Level 42, The Specials, XTC and Adam Ant. It showcases the range of Mark Yakes' talent as a writer and musician who, at the age of 25, was playing at Ronnie Scott's in London and two years later recorded an album for the Dutch jazz label 'Keytone'.

A selection of Yeats's poetry including 'No Second Troy', 'The Wild Swans at Coole', 'The Second Coming', 'Byzantium', 'Why Should Not Old Men Be Mad', 'Lake Isle of Innisfree', 'The Cat in the Moon' and 'Leda and the Swan'.