Narratives
The Island
Read by Elizabeth Klett
George Gordon, Lord Byron
Written late in his career, Byron's narrative poem The Island tells the famous story of the mutiny on board the Bounty, and follows the muti…
Venus and Adonis (dramatic reading)
Read by LibriVox Volunteers
William Shakespeare
Venus and Adonis is Shakespeare's narrative poem about the love of the goddess Venus for the mortal youth Adonis, dedicated partly to his pa…
The Rape of the Lock
Read by Rhonda Federman
Alexander Pope
The Rape of the Lock is a mock-heroic narrative poem written by Alexander Pope, first published anonymously in Lintot's Miscellany in May 17…
Evangeline
Read by Leonard Wilson (1930-2024)
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Evangeline is one of Longfellow’s most popular poems and was once a great favorite with the American people. For many years almost every sch…
The Courtship of Miles Standish
Read by Leonard Wilson (1930-2024)
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
During the late nineteenth century and until the middle of the twentieth, many elementary classrooms in America featured (along with a Gilbe…
The Lays of Ancient Rome
Read by Nathan
Thomas Babington Macaulay
The Lays of Ancient Rome comprise four narrative poems comprised by Lord Thomas Babington Macaulay: recalling popular episodes from Roman hi…
Samson Agonistes
Read by Martin Geeson
John Milton
“The Sun to me is darkAnd silent as the Moon,When she deserts the nightHid in her vacant interlunar cave.”Milton composes his last extended …
The Lord of the Isles
Read by Nathan
Sir Walter Scott
In stunning narrative poetry, the story begins during the time when Robert Bruce, Earl of Carrick has been hunted out of Scotland into exile…
The Wanderings of Oisin
Read by Nathan
William Butler Yeats
This narrative poem is composed in three parts, and consists of a dialogue between the aged Irish hero Oisín and St. Patrick. Oison r…