The Classical Monologues
About this audiobook
Even as a child, Tennyson loved the Classical world of ancient Greece and Rome. When he grew up, he often wrote about that world. In Demeter and Persephone, Tiresias, The Hesperides, Tithonus, Oenone, Ulysses, St. Simeon Stylites, and St. Agnes’ Eve, he allowed characters from the ancient world to utter their thoughts directly in dramatic monologues. Such monologues are most often associated with Robert Browning, but in these poems, Tennyson shows that he himself could write with a Browningesque ear for the varied quirks and oddities, superstitions and hypocrisies, hopes and possible triumphs of human beings.
About the author
Alfred Tennyson (1809–1892) was the most famous British poet of his era, with a unique ability to write verse that embodied the thoughts and feelings of the nation on important occasions. He was the country’s Poet Laureate from 1850 until his death. Today, he is admired particularly for In Memoriam, Idylls of the King, and the Classical monologues recorded in this collection.
Marie and Evan Blackmore have worked as editors and translators of classic works of literature and philosophy, and have published audio recordings of many poems ranging in date from the Middle Ages to the twentieth century.
Marie and Evan Blackmore have worked as editors and translators of classic works of literature and philosophy, and have published audio recordings of many poems ranging in date from the Renaissance to the twentieth century.
