Showing results for "John" in Literary History & Criticism

An account of the origins of the wine industry in Victoria, Australia. Born in Neuchatel, Switzerland, Hubert de Castella was one of a number of friends of Governor Latrobe's wife to emigrate to Victoria. Finding the soil and climate suited to the production of fine wines, de Castella pioneered the growth of the wine industry in the state. - Summary by Philip Benson

LibriVox volunteers bring you 17 recordings of To An April Daisy by John Clare. This was the Fortnightly Poetry project for April 13, 2025. ------ John Clare was an English poet. His biographer Jonathan Bate called Clare "the greatest labouring-class poet that England has ever produced. No one has ever written more powerfully of nature, of a rural childhood, and of the alienated and unstable self." - Summary by Wikipedia

LibriVox volunteers bring you 15 recordings of Charming May by John Hartley. This was the Fortnightly Poetry project for April 24, 2025. ------ John Hartley was an English poet who worked in the Yorkshire dialect. He wrote a great deal of prose and poetry – often of a sentimental nature – dealing with the poverty of the district. - Summary by Wikipedia

LibriVox volunteers bring you 24 different recordings of Sea Fever by John Masefield. This was the weekly poetry project for the week of September 16th, 2007.

John Donne was an English poet and cleric in the Church of England. He is considered the pre-eminent representative of the metaphysical poets. His works are noted for their strong, sensual style and include sonnets, love poems, religious poems, Latin translations, epigrams, elegies, songs, satires and sermons. His poetry is noted for its vibrancy of language and inventiveness of metaphor, especially compared to that of his contemporaries. Donne's style is characterised by abrupt openings and various paradoxes, ironies and dislocations. These features, along with his frequent dramatic or ...

"I have written this Gossip not only for the edification of those to whom a portion, more or less, may be news, but for those who, like myself, have lived through the whole of Queen Victoria's reign, to whom the remembrance of things, almost forgotten, may bring pleasure and excite interest. The items, herein displayed, have been gathered from many sources, and their authenticity is guaranteed by giving the name of the authority whence they were taken, in very many instances ipsissima verba, as paraphrasing would rob them of their freshness and individuality. (From Author’s Preface) Gossip ...

A continuation of United States history, Volume 12 discusses key US leaders in the time up to and including the Civil War. In this volume are presented Andrew Jackson, Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, John C. Calhoun, Abraham Lincoln and Robert E. Lee. As noted in the Publisher's Preface, the discussion regarding Lee was written by Dr. E. Benjamin Andrews from the University of Nebraska. - Summary by KHand

Endymion is a poem by John Keats first published in 1818. Keats based the poem on the Greek myth of Endymion, the shepherd beloved of the moon goddess Selene. The poem elaborates on the original story and renames Selene "Cynthia" (an alternative name for Artemis). The poem is written in rhyming couplets in iambic pentameter (also known as heroic couplets). Keats dedicated this poem to the late poet Thomas Chatterton. The poem begins with the famous line "A thing of beauty is a joy for ever". (Summary by Alan Mapstone and Wikipedia)

John Dryden was an English poet and playwright who was the first person to hold the title of Poet Laureate. Many of Dryden's lyrics were designed to be set music and this was done by a number of composers including Henry Purcell and George Frederick Handel. - Summary by Alan Mapstone

The English poet John Clare was the son of a farm labourer and was often referred to as "the Northamptonshire Peasant Poet". His work is mostly inspired by the English countryside and the rural way of life. In "To the Rural Muse" he explains how he regarded some aspects of the rural life as a kind of Poetic Muse. Clare originally wrote in Northamptonshire dialect with little or no punctuation. Modern editions of his work often revise these aspects. (Summary by Alan Mapstone)

LibriVox volunteers bring you 15 different recordings of Ode to Autumn by John Keats. This was the weekly poetry project for the week of November 11th, 2007.

When John Muir was a student in the University of Wisconsin he was a frequent caller at the house of Dr. Ezra S. Carr. The kindness shown him there, and especially the sympathy which Mrs. Carr, as a botanist and a lover of nature, felt in the young man's interests and aims, led to the formation of a lasting friendship. He regarded Mrs. Carr, indeed, as his "spiritual mother," and his letters to her in later years are the outpourings of a sensitive spirit to one who he felt thoroughly understood and sympathized with him. These letters are therefore peculiarly revealing of their writer's ...

Sometime religious outsider and social disaster, sometime celebrity preacher and establishment darling, John Donne was incapable of being just one thing. He was a scholar of law, a sea adventurer, an MP, a priest, the Dean of St Paul's Cathedral—and perhaps the greatest love poet in the history of the English language. He converted from Catholicism to Protestantism, was imprisoned for marrying a high-born girl without her father's consent, struggled to feed a family of 10 children and was often ill and in pain.

LibriVox readers bring you 19 recordings of The Red Cross Spirit Speaks by John H. Finley.At this time of year, all around the world, we remember the fallen and those who served their countries in time of war and other calamity. This poem reminds us of the dedication of the Red Cross, and the comfort they brought and, together with the Red Crescent, still bring, to the wounded, dying and distressed. John Huston Finley headed the Red Cross Commission in Palestine during the First World War.

LibriVox volunteers bring you 15 recordings of Early Rising by John Godfrey Saxe. This was the Fortnightly Poetry project for December 31, 2010.The words "dutiful" and "pious" never applied to the aspiring satirist. Bored by his legal work, Saxe began publishing poems for The Knickerbocker, of which "The Rhyme of the Rail" is his most famous early work. He soon caught the attention of the prominent Boston publishing house, Ticknor and Fields. Though he received no royalties for his first volume, it ran to ten reprintings and eventually outsold works by Hawthorne and Tennyson.

This book is part history and part travelogue, an account of a brief visit by a wealthy, white U.S. politician during a lamentable time in Haiti’s history of its invasion and occupation by the U.S. military. Dryden offers his views of elements of Haitian culture such as education, religion and commerce, with some optimism but with the shallow understanding of a casual observer who has not been immersed in the culture enough to provide truly insightful understanding. One chapter is an account of his duck hunting expedition. This is, nonetheless, valuable in helping us understand how many ...

The following pages contain an account of the principles upon which the public and political life of our Anglosaxon forefathers was based, and the institutions in which those principles were most clearly manifested. The subject is a grave one: it is the history of the childhood of our own age--the explanation of its manhood. (From the Preface)

John Hall Wheelock is an American poet who during his student years at Harvard University was editor-in-chief of The Harvard Monthly, and began to publish his first poems. He later worked for publisher Charles Sribner and Sons finally becoming senior editor. He received many awards for his poetry including the Golden Rose in 1936 for the most distinguished contribution to American poetry of that year. The poems in The Black Panther reveal a deep spirituality but also a strong humanistic reach, sometimes dark and sometimes celebratory and full of joy. The collection begins with the powerful ...

Step into a world where imagination reigns supreme with 'Andiron Tales' by John Kendrick Bangs. Follow the journey of a young boy whose vibrant imagination transforms the ordinary into the extraordinary. Each story invites listeners to experience whimsical adventures that spark creativity and wonder. From flying through enchanted skies to meeting fantastical creatures, these tales inspire children to embrace their own imaginative powers. Bangs masterfully crafts a narrative that speaks to the hearts of both young readers and those young at heart. Perfect for bedtime stories or family listening...

Introductory Note: I have called these essays and lectures by a title that some people may think presumptuous: first, because it is the title of a book by Ben Jonson, and second, because it could be interpreted as meaning that I think there is something final in the results of these explorations of mine. For the first, I believe the fine ghost of Ben Jonson will forgive me. For the second, I do not believe there is anything final in criticism, But I wanted my title to contain a suggestion of the curious elation which criticism sometimes brings to me. " To me," I insist, because I subscribe ...