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Poetry Please

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Poetry Please

By: Adjoa Andoh
Narrated by: Anton Lesser
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About this listen

BBC Radio 4's Poetry Please is the longest-running broadcast of verse anywhere in the world. First aired in 1979, the programme, a request show which broadcasts to two million listeners a week, has become a unique record of best-loved poems over the decades since its inception.
The BBC has looked back through its rich archive of recordings to produce a poll of the most asked for and most broadcast pieces ever. This selection of fifty poems includes works by Elizabeth Barrett Browning, William Blake, Rupert Brooke, Lord Byron, G.K. Chesterton, T.S. Eliot, Robert Frost, John Keats, Edward Lear, Sylvia Plath, Christina Rossetti, William Shakespeare, Dylan Thomas, William Wordsworth, and W.B. Yeats.

Public Domain (P)2014 Faber Audio Collections & Anthologies Poetry
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What did you like most about Poetry Please?

So far I have enjoyed the chosen poems selected, the pace it is read. I kept my attention to the details described, which always a good sign of a good buy.

Who was your favorite character and why?

The poem I enjoyed was not based a particular character but rather the character of the town- Cambridge, the behaviour of the people down the behaviour of the trees branches.

What does Anton Lesser bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?

As he sounds well read, he is able to bring meaning to words making it very clear to imagine. He uses expressions which keeps your ear close and attentive.

If you made a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

Poetry Fans fabulous favourites.

Listen to the words tentively spoken- Poetry

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Great variety of poems but not Index! NO INDEX! So how do you find what you want to listen to?

Great Selection

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I first bought the audiobook and then later the Kindle edition, which has exactly the same cover and exactly the same poems. However, the e-book has an additional 300 poems (350 in total). While the description of the audiobook does say it contains only 50 poems, the more prominent title section says it is unabridged. I had already listened to most of the audiobook before I wanted to check the precise wording of a poem in the e-book. It was only then that I realised 300 poems had not made it into the audio version. If they ever want to put out the audio version of all 350 poems, I will be first in line.

Not unabridged?

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I truly loved it.
Wonderful, clear narration overflowing with emotions.
I would highly recommend to anyone.

Inspiring

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An excellent selection of some of the best poetry. Very well read, in particular by Anton Lesser - a reader who I could listen to all day.

Good

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