The Caedmon Poetry Collection: A Century of Poets Reading Their Work

by W.B. Yeats

The Caedmon Poetry Collection is an exceptional audio anthology of some of the twentieth century's greatest poems, read by the poets who wrote them.

Featuring rare recordings of William Butler Yeats reading "The Song of the Old Mother" and "The Lake Isle of Innisfree," e.e. cummings reciting "darling! because my blood can sing," and more than two dozen classics, this three-CD collection is a listening experience beyond compare.

Listeners will delight in hearing these preeminent poets, both contemporary and past, reading their own work the way it was intended.

Genres: Poetry

3 pages, Audio CD

First published April 26, 2000

About the author

William Butler Yeats was an Irish poet and dramatist, and one of the foremost figures of 20th century literature. A pillar of both the Irish and British literary establishments, in his later years Yeats served as an Irish Senator for two terms. He was a driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival, and along with Lady Gregory and Edward Martyn founded the Abbey Theatre, serving as its chief during its early years. In 1923 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature for what the Nobel Committee described as "inspired poetry, which in a highly artistic form gives expression to the spirit of a whole nation." He was the first Irishman so honored. Yeats is generally considered one of the few writers who completed their greatest works after being awarded the Nobel Prize; such works include The Tower (1928) and The Winding Stair and Other Poems (1929).

Yeats was born and educated in Dublin but spent his childhood in County Sligo. He studied poetry in his youth, and from an early age was fascinated by both Irish legends and the occult. Those topics feature in the first phase of his work, which lasted roughly until the turn of the century. His earliest volume of verse was published in 1889, and those slow paced and lyrical poems display debts to Edmund Spenser and Percy Bysshe Shelley, as well as to the Pre-Raphaelite poets. From 1900, Yeats' poetry grew more physical and realistic. He largely renounced the transcendental beliefs of his youth, though he remained preoccupied with physical and spiritual masks, as well as with cyclical theories of life.
--from Wikipedia

Reviews

[Donna · Rating 2 out of 5]

I borrowed this in an attempt to gain an appreciation for poetry...I thought listening might help...it didn't, for me poetry must be read.

[Ke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although I didn't love every poem and poet, I recommend this collection to everyone interested in modern and contemporary poetry in English. You may learn something about yourself, like how you love Robert Frost.

[Ever · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this up primarily to hear W.B. Yeats read The Lake Isle of Innisfree, but there are quite a few other great voices in this collection. I very much enjoyed hearing Carl Sandburg, Anne Sexton, and Sylvia Plath. I would like to see a little more diversity in future editions.

[Linda Orvis · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not a favorite, but it's interesting to see how poetry has advanced (or sometime declined) through the ages.

[Barbara · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not my type of poetry I guess.

[Julia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stunning to hear the voice of Yeats from a hundred years ago, the exquisitely lyrical Dylan Thomas, even the rhythms of Gertrude Stein are much more tangible when heard rather than read. Loved it.