Comfort Poems

Poetry

My Fav Poetry Readings

spoken word

Readings

Poems, poets

Poetics

POETRY READINGS

Background, context, and highlights from the transcript: http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2013/07/16/sylvia-plath-ted-hughes-bbc-interview-1961/

Rare 1961 BBC interview with Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes

Background, context, and transcript: http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2013/07/09/sylvia-plath-spoken-word-tulips-bbc/

Sylvia Plath reads "Tulips": A Rare BBC Recording

The Applicant by Sylvia Plath, read by Autumn Royal

Moon-Ravens by Ted Hughes, read by sidekick

When I Heard the Learned Astronomer — by Walt Whitman, read by Chuck Guilford

A subtle yet powerful call to arms, methinks.

Read it here: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/175884

"Harlem" by Langston Hughes (read by David Ong)

Background and context: http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2013/09/27/anais-nin-reads-from-diary/

Anaïs Nin reads from her famous diary (1966)

Mark Curran discusses 'The Normalisation of Deviance: constructing The Market' at The Theatre of Memory Symposium at the Abbey Theatre.

[17 January 2014]

The Theatre of Memory Symposium - Mark Curran on 'The Normalisation of Deviance'

"I will be the first man to kiss you, to bed you, whether you come willingly or not. You'll be mine, and mine alone. Do you understand?"

I Will Be The First Man To Kiss You

Ted Hughes reads an extract from The Waste Land by T.S. Eliot. Part of The Waste Land app for iPad, now available to download in the App Store: http://bit.ly/kJATn3

Ted Hughes reads The Waste Land (A Game of Chess, extract)

Recorded this with a sore throat and cold, but I did commit to putting one reading up a week. Yes, I know these are not daffodils. Let's just call them Chinese daffodils. The sentiments remain the same.

Read by Robert Lindsay - check out Soundcloudpoems.wordpress.com

Daffodils - William Wordsworth

Sylvia Plath reads her poem "The Disquieting Muses" – background and full text here: http://www.brainpickings.org/2014/10/27/sylvia-plath-reads-the-disquieting-muses-bbc/

MORE / TEXT

The Disquieting Muses

Ted Hughes 'On Thinking'

The acclaimed actors Helena Bonham Carter, Bill Nighy, Tom Hiddleston and Harry Enfield bring poems alive with the iF Poem iPhone/iPad App. 10% of all sales goes to the Save The Children Charity.

The iF Poems App is available here on iTunes: 
For the iPad: http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/if-poems/id474446630?mt=8 
For the iPhone: http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/if-poems-for-the-iphone/id476329476?mt=8

For more information, visit us on our website: 
http://ifpoems.com/

Tom Hiddleston - If Music Be The Food of Love - (Download our app for more audio!)

Tom Hiddleston - Stories Before Bedtime - The Kingdom of Earth - [MP3JUICES.COM]

On the afternoon of June 14, 1956, Senator John F. Kennedy addressed the Harvard Alumni Association in Harvard Yard.

John F. Kennedy, 1956 - Harvard Voices

'The Thought-Fox' by Ted Hughes, taken from Poems for Children, read by the author.

Some of the most delightful poems ever written for children, brought evocatively to life in this wonderful new audio edition. Ted Hughes' poetry for children is as rich, powerful and magical as anything he wrote. This new recording consists of a collection of the children's poems of Ted Hughes, introduced and selected by acclaimed writer Michael Morpurgo, and read by both Morpurgo and actor Juliet Stevenson.
More information about the audiobook here: http://faber.co.uk/work/poems-for-children/9780571259496/

The Thought-Fox by Ted Hughes

The Harvest Moon by Ted Hughes, taken from Poems for Children, read by the author.

Ted Hughes' poetry for children is as rich, powerful and magical as anything he wrote. This new recording consists of a collection of the children's poems of Ted Hughes, introduced and selected by acclaimed writer Michael Morpurgo, and read by both Morpurgo and actor Juliet Stevenson.
For more information on the audiobook: http://faber.co.uk/work/poems-for-children/9780571259496/

The Harvest Moon by Ted Hughes

For full poem text, plus Eliot on idea-incubation and the mystical quality of creativity, go here: http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/09/26/t-s-eliot-on-creativity/

MORE / POEM TEXT

T.S. Eliot Reads "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"

Sylvia Plath reads "A Birthday Present." Written in September of 1962, recorded in October. Background and full text: http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/10/29/sylvia-plath-reads-a-birthday-present-1962/

Sylvia Plath Reads "A Birthday Present" (1962)

"The arrows of adverse criticism cannot scratch, let alone pierce, the shield of what disappointed archers call my 'self-assurance.'"

Background and context:  http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2013/01/18/vladimir-nabokov-james-mossman-interview/

Vladimir Nabokov on literature and life (1969)

Excerpt from a Cornell University reading courtesy of PennSound. Background and context: http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/12/14/adrienne-rich-on-love-loss-happiness-creativity/

Adrienne Rich reads from "Twenty-One Love Poems" (1985)

Her wonderful 1993 children's verses, illustrated by Jean-Michel Basquiat: http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2013/05/03/life-doesnt-frighten-me-maya-angelou-basquiat/

Maya Angelou reads "Life Doesnt Frighten Me"

Patti Smith reads her stirring remembrance of Robert Mapplethorpe. Background, poem text, and original handwritten manuscripts here: http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2013/05/31/patti-smith-the-coral-sea-reading/

Patti Smith reads from The Coral Sea

Background and transcript: http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2013/05/31/james-earl-jones-reads-walt-whitman/

James Earl Jones reads Walt Whitman

Faber and Faber is one of the great independent publishing houses in London. We were established in 1929 by Geoffrey Faber and our first editor was T. S. Eliot. We are proud to publish prize-winning fiction and non-fiction, as well as an unrivalled list of modern poets and playwrights. Among our list of writers we have five Booker Prize winners and twelve Nobel Laureates, and we continue to seek out the most exciting and innovative writers at work today. 

The Thought-Fox by Ted Hughes

FaberBooks