The Poetry Hour - Volume 17

By Alexander Pope, GK Chesterton and Abraham Cowley

Poetry is often cited as our greatest use of words. The English language has well over a million of them and poets down the ages seem, at times, to make use of every single one. But often they use them in simple ways to describe anything and everything from landscapes to all aspects of the human condition. Poems can evoke within us an individual response that takes us by surprise; that opens our ears and eyes to very personal feelings. Forget the idea of classic poetry being somehow dull and boring and best kept to children’s textbooks. It still has life, vibrancy and relevance to our lives today.

Where to start? How to do that? Poetry can be difficult. We’ve put together some very eclectic Poetry Hours, with a broad range of poets and themes, to entice you and seduce you with all manner of temptations.

In this hour we introduce poets of the quality and breadth of Ben Jonson and Jalalludin Rumi as well as themes on The Female Poet, Hell, Victorian Poetry and more.

All of them are from Portable Poetry, a dedicated poetry publisher. We believe that poetry should be a part of our everyday lives, uplifting the soul & reaching the parts that other arts can’t. Our range of audiobooks and ebooks cover volumes on some of our greatest poets to anthologies of seasons, months, places and a wide range of themes. Portable Poetry can found at iTunes, Audible, the digital music section on Amazon and most other digital stores.

This audio book is also duplicated in print as an ebook. Same title. Same words. Perhaps a different experience. But with Amazon’s whispersync you can pick up and put down on any device – start on audio, continue in print and any which way after that.

Portable poetry – Let us join you for the journey.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Portable Poetry
• Release date: Jan 11, 2018
• ISBN: 9781787377059

Alexander Pope

Alexander Pope (1688-1744) was an English poet. Born in London to a family of Catholics who were later expelled from the city during a period of religious persecution, Pope was largely self-educated, and struggled with numerous illnesses from a young age. At 23, he wrote the discursive poem An Essay on Criticism (1711), a manifesto on the art of poetry which gained him the admiration and acclaim of influential critics and writers of his day. His most famous poem, The Rape of the Lock (1712), is a mock epic which critiques aristocratic English society while showcasing Pope’s mastery of poetic form, particularly the use of the heroic couplet. Pope produced highly acclaimed translations of the Iliad and Odyssey, which transformed Homer’s ancient Greek dactylic hexameter into a contemporary rhyming English verse. His work The Dunciad (1728-1743), originally published anonymously in Dublin, is a satirical poem which lampoons English literary society and criticizes the moral and intellectual decay of British life. Second only to Shakespeare for the frequency with which he is quoted, Alexander Pope succumbed to his illnesses at the age of 56 while at the height of his fame and productivity.

Book preview

The Poetry Hour – Volume 17

Poetry is often cited as our greatest use of words.  The English language has well over a million of them and poets down the ages seem, at times, to make use of every single one.  But often they use them in simple ways to describe anything and everything from landscapes to all aspects of the human condition.  Poems can evoke within us an individual response that takes us by surprise; that opens our ears and eyes to very personal feelings.

Forget the idea of classic poetry being somehow dull and boring and best kept to children’s textbooks. It still has life, vibrancy and relevance to our lives today.

Where to start? How to do that? Poetry can be difficult. We’ve put together some very eclectic Poetry Hours, with a broad range of poets and themes, to entice you and seduce you with all manner of temptations. 

In this hour we introduce poets of the quality and breadth of Alexander Pope as well as themes on January, Cavalier Poets, Night and more.

All of them are from Portable Poetry, a dedicated poetry publisher. We believe that poetry should be a part of our everyday lives, uplifting the soul & reaching the parts that other arts can’t.  Our range of audiobooks and ebooks cover volumes on some of our greatest poets to anthologies of seasons, months, places and a wide range of themes.  Portable Poetry can found at iTunes, Audible, the digital music section on Amazon and most other digital stores.

This audio book is also duplicated in print as an ebook. Same title. Same words. Perhaps a different experience. But with Amazon’s whispersync you can pick up and put down on any device – start on audio, continue in print and any which way after that. 

Portable poetry – Let us join you for the journey.

Alexander Pope – An Introduction

Alexander Pope was born on 21st May, 1688 into a Catholic family in London.

His education was affected by the then recent Test Acts, which upheld the status of the Church of England and banned Catholics from teaching.  In effect this meant his formal education was over by the age of 12 but Pope was to immerse himself in classical literature and languages and so, in effect, educate