The World's Best Poetry, Volume 4: The Higher Life (Part 2)


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The fourth of ten volumes of poetry edited by Canadian poet laureate Bliss Carman (1861-1929). This collection, the second of two parts, includes many notable religious and devotional poems and hymns from across the centuries, covering subjects such as the human experience; death; immortality; and Heaven. It also includes notable excerpts from John Milton's Paradise Lost and Dante Alighieri's The Divine Comedy. - Summary by Tomas Peter (5 hr 20 min)

Chapters

The Poet's Theme: From 'Paradise Lost,' Book I by John Milton 2:10 Read by Craig Franklin
The Temptation: From 'Paradise Lost,' Book IX by John Milton 11:13 Read by Sonia
The Fall: From 'Paradise Lost,' Book IX by John Milton 4:06 Read by Leanne Yau
Intercession and Redemption: From 'Paradise Lost,' Book XI by John Milton 4:53 Read by LibriVox Volunteers
Eve's Lament: From 'Paradise Lost,' Book XI by John Milton 1:45 Read by Sonia
Eve to Adam: From 'Paradise Lost,' Book XI by John Milton 1:14 Read by Leanne Yau
The Departure from Paradise: From 'Paradise Lost,' Book XII by John Milton 1:28 Read by Craig Franklin
A Psalm of Life by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 2:18 Read by Craig Franklin
The Gifts of God by George Herbert 1:39 Read by Leanne Yau
Duty by Ellen Sturgis Hooper 0:47 Read by Leanne Yau
Ode to Duty by William Wordsworth 3:40 Read by Sonia
Self-Inquiry by Isaac Watts 1:05 Read by Leanne Yau
The Three Enemies by Christina Georgina Rossetti 2:42 Read by LibriVox Volunteers
Said I Not So? by George Herbert 1:42 Read by Leanne Yau
Nothing but Leaves by Lucy E. Akerman 1:45 Read by Tomas Peter
The World by Frederick William Faber 3:14 Read by Jason in Panama
The Cry of the Human by Elizabeth Barrett Browning 7:03 Read by LibriVox Volunteers
The Sifting of Peter (A Folk-Song) by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 2:26 Read by Tomas Peter
Vanity by Anonymous 1:25 Read by Leanne Yau
Different Minds by Richard Chenevix Trench 1:09 Read by Leanne Yau
My Recovery by Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock 2:01 Read by Craig Franklin
The Ladder of Saint Augustine by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 3:05 Read by Craig Franklin
Saint Christopher by Dinah Maria Mulock Craik 2:46 Read by LibriVox Volunteers
Scorn Not the Least by Robert Southwell 2:05 Read by Craig Franklin
The Right Must Win by Frederick William Faber 2:03 Read by Jason in Panama
The Cost of Worth: From 'Bitter Sweet' by Josiah Gilbert Holland 2:01 Read by Jason in Panama
The Laborer by William D. Gallagher 2:41 Read by Tomas Peter
A True Lent by Robert Herrick 1:09 Read by Leanne Yau
From 'The Church Porch' by George Herbert 3:17 Read by Sonia
Briefs by Richard Crashaw 1:14 Read by Tomas Peter
Jewish Hymn in Babylon by Henry Hart Milman 3:42 Read by Jason in Panama
Example by John Keble 1:10 Read by Leanne Yau
Small Beginnings by Charles Mackay 2:36 Read by Sonia
The Rise of Man by John White Chadwick 1:18 Read by Sonia
I Would I Were an Excellent Divine by Nicholas Breton 2:24 Read by Craig Franklin
The Pastor's Reverie by Washington Gladden 4:37 Read by Jason in Panama
The Two Rabbis by John Greenleaf Whittier 5:40 Read by LibriVox Volunteers
Judge Not by Adelaide Anne Procter 1:38 Read by Leanne Yau
To the Unco Guid by Robert Burns 4:19 Read by Craig Franklin
Stone the Woman, Let the Man Go Free by Anonymous (Frances Marcella Attie O'Bri… 2:14 Read by Sonia
In Prison by May Riley Smith 2:58 Read by Sonia
Conscience and Remorse by Paul Laurence Dunbar 1:05 Read by Leanne Yau
Found Wanting by Emily Dickinson 0:44 Read by Leanne Yau
Dallying with Temptation: From the First Part of 'Wallenstein,' Act III. Sc. 4 … 2:13 Read by Tomas Peter
Easy to Drift by Oliver Huckel 1:33 Read by Leanne Yau
Frankford's Soliloquy: From 'A Woman Killed with Kindness' by Thomas Heywood 1:06 Read by Jason in Panama
Conscience: From Satire XIII by Juvenal 4:08 Read by Leanne Yau
The Foolish Virgins: From 'Idylls of the King: Guinevere' by Alfred, Lord Tenny… 2:12 Read by LibriVox Volunteers
Up Hill by Christina G. Rossetti 1:29 Read by Sonia
Per Pacem ad Lucem by Adelaide Anne Procter 1:30 Read by Sonia
On his Blindness by John Milton 1:18 Read by Leanne Yau
The Martyrs' Hymn by Martin Luther 1:06 Read by Sonia
The Pilgrimage by Sir Walter Raleigh 3:42 Read by Jason in Panama
The Master's Touch by Horatius Bonar 1:17 Read by Leanne Yau
The Faithful Angel: From 'Paradise Lost,' Book V by John Milton 1:15 Read by Leanne Yau
Low Spirits by Frederick William Faber 2:55 Read by Tomas Peter
I Saw Thee by Ray Palmer 2:08 Read by Jason in Panama
Losse in Delayes by Robert Southwell 2:36 Read by Sonia
The Seed Growing Secretly by Henry Vaughan 1:08 Read by Leanne Yau
Patience by Paul Hamilton Hayne 2:01 Read by Craig Franklin
Sometime by May Riley Smith 3:06 Read by Craig Franklin
Father, Thy Will be Done! by Sarah Flower Adams 1:33 Read by Jason in Panama
The Prospect by Elizabeth Barrett Browning 1:19 Read by Tomas Peter
The Lost Pleiad by William Gilmore 3:53 Read by Craig Franklin
Passing Away by John Pierpont 4:22 Read by Leanne Yau
Lines found in his Bible in the Gate-house at Westminster by Sir Walter Raleigh 1:02 Read by Leanne Yau
My Ain Countree by Mary Lee Demarest 2:47 Read by Tomas Peter
Coming by Barbara Miller MacAndrew 5:46 Read by LibriVox Volunteers
Euthanasia by Willis Gaylord Clark 2:09 Read by Tomas Peter
The Last Man by Thomas Campbell 4:20 Read by Leanne Yau
When by Sarah Woolsey (Susan Coolidge) 2:57 Read by Sonia
Burial of Moses by Cecil Frances Alexander 4:26 Read by Jason in Panama
The Resignation by Thomas Chatterton 2:13 Read by Tomas Peter
'Only Waiting' by Frances Laughton Mace 2:00 Read by Jason in Panama
Hopefully Waiting by Anson D.F. Randolph 3:10 Read by Tomas Peter
Sit Down, Sad Soul by Bryan Waller Procter (Barry Cornwall) 1:28 Read by Leanne Yau
It Kindles All My Soul by Casimir of Poland 1:34 Read by Tomas Peter
Epilogue by Robert Browning 1:37 Read by Sonia
Crossing the Bar by Alfred, Lord Tennyson 1:14 Read by Leanne Yau
The Dying Christian to His Soul by Alexander Pope 1:29 Read by Sonia
Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood by Willia… 11:29 Read by LibriVox Volunteers
Soliloquy: On Immortality (from 'Cato,' Act V. Sc. 1) by Joseph Addison 3:05 Read by Sonia
Edwin and Paulinus: The Conversion of Northumbria by Anonymous 2:52 Read by LibriVox Volunteers
The Undiscovered Country by Edmund Clarence Stedman 1:31 Read by Jason in Panama
Song of the Silent Land by Johann Gaudenz von Salis 1:32 Read by Jason in Panama
The Other World by Harriet Beecher Stowe 2:33 Read by Craig Franklin
Heaven by Emily Dickinson 0:48 Read by Leanne Yau
Thoughts of Heaven by Robert Nicoll 3:29 Read by Tomas Peter
Nearer Home by Phoebe Cary 1:36 Read by Jason in Panama
Meeting Above by William Leggett 1:55 Read by Leanne Yau
My Days among the Dead by Robert Southey 1:43 Read by Craig Franklin
The Future Life by William Cullen Bryant 2:39 Read by Jason in Panama
Heaven by Anonymous 2:33 Read by Craig Franklin
The Two Worlds by Mortimer Collins 3:20 Read by Jason in Panama
The Answer by Anonymous 2:01 Read by Sonia
Forever with the Lord by James Montgomery 2:46 Read by Jason in Panama
To Heaven Approached a Sufi Saint by Jalal ad-Din Rumi 1:44 Read by LibriVox Volunteers
Matter and Man Immortal: From 'Night Thoughts,' Night VI by Dr. Edward Young 3:37 Read by Craig Franklin
Life: From 'Festus,' Scene: 'A Country Town' by Philip James Bailey 2:27 Read by LibriVox Volunteers
Heaven by Jeremy Taylor 1:49 Read by Jason in Panama
The Spirit-Land by Jones Very 1:19 Read by Sonia
Heaven by Nancy Amelia Woodbury Priest 1:56 Read by Tomas Peter
Tell Me, Ye Wingèd Winds by Charles Mackay 2:46 Read by LibriVox Volunteers
Heaven by Isaac Watts 1:37 Read by Sonia
Peace by Henry Vaughan 1:22 Read by Tomas Peter
Star-Mist: From 'Stars' by John Keble 1:20 Read by Leanne Yau
The Ministry of Angels: From 'The Faërie Queene,' Book II. Canto 8 by Edmund Sp… 1:43 Read by Tomas Peter
Saint Agnes by Alfred, Lord Tennyson 2:06 Read by Sonia
Praise of the Celestial Country by Bernard de Morlaix 10:27 Read by Sonia
The New Jerusalem; or, The Soul's Breathing after the Heavenly Country by Anony… 12:00 Read by Sonia
Paradise by Frederick William Faber 3:24 Read by Tomas Peter
Inscription over the Gate: From 'The Divine Comedy: Hell,' Canto III by Dante A… 1:20 Read by Craig Franklin
Prayer: From 'The Divine Comedy: Purgatory,' Canto VI by Dante Alighieri 2:18 Read by Jason in Panama
Prayer of Penitents: From 'The Divine Comedy: Purgatory,' Canto XI by Dante Ali… 2:12 Read by Jason in Panama
Man's Free-Will: From 'The Divine Comedy: Purgatory,' Canto XVI by Dante Alighi… 1:52 Read by Craig Franklin
Fire of Purification: From 'The Divine Comedy: Purgatory,' Canto XXVII by Dante… 4:23 Read by LibriVox Volunteers
Sin and Redemption: From 'The Divine Comedy: Paradise,' Canto VII by Dante Alig… 4:35 Read by Tomas Peter
The Triumph of Christ: From 'The Divine Comedy: Paradise,' Canto XIV by Dante A… 4:07 Read by Sonia
The Saints in Glory: From 'The Divine Comedy: Paradise,' Canto XXXI by Dante Al… 4:10 Read by Craig Franklin