Synopsis

‘One of the best anthologies of the year… An arresting, deeply moving collection of the best of British poetry read by a star-studded cast.’ The Independent This exceptional anthology, based on Lord Owen’s published anthology Seven Ages – Poetry for a Lifetime, features many of Britain’s leading actors who have all given their services for charity. Shakespeare’s ‘seven ages’ speech (read by Sir Ian McKellen) punctuates the programme which contains over four hundred poems read by forty actors. Michael Caine reads Kipling’s ‘If’; Ralph Fiennes reads Hood’s ‘I Remember, I Remember’; John Cleese reads ‘The Owl and the Pussycat’; Pete Postlethwaite reads ‘Kubla Khan’.

Recommended

John Keats: Poems
John Keats: Poems
by John Keats

This well-edited recording contains Keats's most famous works.

Narrator: Douglas Hodge
Published: 10/10/2005

John Masefield
John Masefield
by John Masefield

John Masefield (1878–1967) was one of the most prolific, popular and successful poets of the twentieth century. Masefield broke upon Edwardian literature with the startling work entitled The Everlasting Mercy, which described the spiritual enl...

Narrator: Ronald Pickup
Published: 07/01/2013

Gerard Manley Hopkins
Gerard Manley Hopkins
by Gerard Manley Hopkins

A collection of the best-known poems by Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844–1889). One of the Victorian era’s greatest writers, Hopkins’ reputation has continued to grow since his death. Our Great Poets series, launched in 2007, has proven...

Narrator: Jeremy Northam
Published: 09/01/2008

Robert Burns a collection of poems and songs
Robert Burns
by Robert Burns

Robert Burns like you've never heard him before.Set within modern and vivid soundscapes, this collection gives Burns' texts new resonance. From the soullessness of a call-centre through the simple joy of a baby’s nursery to the horror of the b...

Narrator: Full Cast
Published: 07/15/2020

Shakespeare's Sonnets
Shakespeare's Sonnets
by William Shakespeare

Savor the most celebrated love poems in the English language. Written almost 400 years ago, the sonnets of William Shakespeare are passionate and exalted, rich in imagery and alliteration, and full of mystery and intrigue.

Narrator: Simon Callow
Published: 10/10/2005

The Great Poets: The War Poetry of Wilfred Owen
The Great Poets: The War Poetry of Wilfred Owen
by Wilfred Owen

No poet is more closely identified with the First World War than Wilfred Owen. His striking body of work, grim to the point of brutality yet, at the same time, majestic and awe-inspiring, defines the war for us. It is in each of these famous poems t...

Narrator: Anton Lesser
Published: 11/04/2013

Samson Agonistes
Samson Agonistes
by John Milton

Samson Agonistes, the 'dramatic poem' by John Milton, was published in 1671, three years before the poet's death. Written in the form of a Greek tragedy, with the Chorus commenting on the action, it follows the biblical story of the blind Samson as ...

Narrator: Iain Glen, and cast
Published: 01/06/2014

A Shropshire Lad
A Shropshire Lad
by A.E. Housman

In A Shropshire Lad, A.E. Housman recreates a nostalgic world of lost love, lost youth, thwarted friendships, unfaithful girls, male bonding, untimely death and the uncertain glories of being a soldier. The poems deal with the exuberance of youth &n...

Narrator: Samuel West
Published: 05/31/2011

W. B. Yeats: Poems
W. B. Yeats: Poems
by William Yeats

This compelling collection spans Yeats's career: from the poems of his early years, which display his interest in Irish myths and his hopeless passion for Irish patriot Maud Gonne, to the soaring, majestic poems of his old age.

Narrator: T.P. McKenna
Published: 06/05/2006
{"id":"1672912","ean":"9789629546441","abr":"Unabridged","title":"Seven Ages","subtitle":"","author":"William Shakespeare; Thom Gunn; Anne Stevenson; Emily Dickinson; Ogden Nash; Edward Lear; Thomas Hood; William Allingham; Robert Louis Stevenson; A. A. Milne; Lewis Carroll; Ted Hughes; G. K. Chesterton; Anonymous; Ted Hughes; Dylan Thomas; Vernon Watkins","rating_average":"0","narrator":"Sir Michael Caine, Dame Judi Dench, Sir Ian McKellen, John Cleese, Catherine McCormack, and Pete Postlethwaite","ubr_id":"1672912","abr_id":"0","ubr_price":"12.00","abr_price":"0.00","ubr_memprice":"7.20","abr_memprice":"0.00","ubr_narrator":"Sir Michael Caine, Dame Judi Dench, Sir Ian McKellen, John Cleese, Catherine McCormack, and Pete Postlethwaite","abr_narrator":"","ubr_length":"Unabridged: 2 hr 34 min","abr_length":"Abridged: "}