Showing results by narrator "Mitchley Richard" in All Categories

As private as she was eccentric, Emily Dickinson published only a handful of poems in her lifetime. Most of her work, much of which dealt with themes of death and immortality, was published posthumously, to mixed reviews. But it would be her unconventional poetic style, which was most criticized early on, that would ultimately gain her recognition as one of the greatest American poets of all time. Here, a lovely sampling of the poems of Emily Dickinson is presented for your listening pleasure.

November - the 11th month of the year in the Gregorian calendar, when the land becomes bleaker, harsher but no less beautiful for that. For our poets, including Hood, Arnold, Melville, Alford, and Hardy, there is much to write and comment on.

I think I'm going to be a Fortune again,' Lolly said. I mean really a Fortune. I think I'm going to be called Fortune like you...'Ten-year-old Loreli Bancroft has always longed to be part of the Good Fortunes Gang - a real Fortune, just like her four cousins, Tracey, Jackson, Tessa and Pete. After all, she's still their cousin, even if her mother, a Fortune, did marry a Bancroft. But then her parents have a terrible argument - a real, hot Fortune kind of fight - and her father leaves home.

M R James is widely regarded as THE master of the ghost story. His stories abound with spectres skulking in the shrubbery, in shadowy corners and dark recesses. 'The Mezzotint' is a whimsical and apparently supernatural tale of art on the move; a dying man devises a gruesome plan for testing his heirs in 'The Tractate Middoth', and something is lurking under the bedclothes in 'Rats'.

Michael Drayton was born in 1563 at Hartshill, near Nuneaton, Warwickshire, England. The facts of his early life remain unknown. Drayton first published, in 1590, a volume of spiritual poems: The Harmony of the Church. Ironically the Archbishop of Canterbury seized almost the entire edition and had it destroyed. In 1593 he published Idea: The Shepherd's Garland, nine pastorals celebrating his own love-sorrows under the poetic name of Rowland. This was later expanded to a 64-sonnet cycle.

When the wind blows and the rain lashes, our emotions can become dulled and our thoughts depressed but sometimes these swirling conditions can excite and invigorate. Whether we shut the door physically or delight in watching nature's displays, we cannot ignore the weather. It’s the natural topic of conversation for the British. Summer breezes and spring showers can elevate our senses, bringing a thump to the heart, a grin to the face and an abandon to immerse yourself in nature's ever changing wonders.

In this collection of short stories some of our most popular and well-known authors are grouped together with an unfortunate tag: dead at 44. These authors are not run-of-the-mill or ten a penny; they are literary leviathans who left enduring works of literature and sadly may have left us many more had they lived. We will never know.

Shipwrecked and washed up on an island, Titch and Mitch discover a whole new world of adventure, danger, and wonderful new friends - from yellow seagulls to flying bicycles, talking turkeys to dragonmice with toothaches.... Enjoy making friends? Going on visits? Helping others? Adventure? Then welcome to the world of Titch and Mitch. This is a charming and humorous story about the exploits of two lively pixies, from début author Garth Edwards.

The Elizabethan age had almost departed, and the world had seen the rise of great European empires that continued to hunt with mischief between themselves as they traversed the globe in search of more spoils and territories. In England, the Civil War had brought about the will of Parliament and the replacement of the Crown as the governing body. But with these Puritan times, and the subsequent Restoration, poetry had entered a golden age. John Milton, John Dryden and Ben Jonson are but a few of the luminaries whose great verse followed in the wake of the immortal William Shakespeare.

There is a day in March when people of Irish descent, in whole or part, and those who just wish to partake of the Shamrock Isle’s legendary hospitality, come together the world over to celebrate the world’s most popular national festival: St Patrick’s day. That day is March 17th, the traditional anniversary of his death in 561. Saint Patrick is the patron saint of Ireland and is acknowledged as the one who brought Christianity to its shores and drove out the snakes.

The ships of Europe explore the globe. The Age of Mercantilism sets the stage for centuries to come. The Reformation is underway, and scientific thinking begins to challenge the Church even as nation falls upon nation. In the Americas and Asia, ancient empires clash. Cultures resonate and express themselves with the fruit of the Ottoman, Safavid, Moghul and Chinese expansion. In England, the Elizabethan age of Shakespeare, Marlowe, Donne, Jonson and Spenser dawns.

CHARLES DICKENS enjoyed entertaining his friends with readings of ghost stories, especially at Christmas time. In his classic tale The Signalman, the then high technology world of steam railway comes to contact with what looks like a good old fashioned haunting. A night at a desolate country inn dramatically changes Tom Smart's fortunes in The Bagman's Story. Together with Christmas Ghosts and Mr Testator’s Visitation, these tales are fine examples of Dickens’s spine-chilling talents.

In this volume we examine some of the short stories of William Makepeace Thackeray. The great author of Vanity Fair and The Luck of Barry Lyndon was born in India in 1811. At age five his father died, and his mother sent him back to England. His education was of the best, but he himself seemed unable to apply his talents to a rigorous work ethic. After a few years of marriage his wife began to suffer from depression and over the years became detached from reality.

Here, a simplified version of Shakespeare’s Timon of Athens is presented for your entertainment. Listeners are free to enjoy the all the action and drama that the Bard intended, without getting bogged down with complex dialogue and difficult language. Free of original text, this production is suitable for all listeners, including children.

Toby Tucker is an orphan with a secret. He owns a chest filled with torn paper, and a strange message: Piece your family tree together and you'll find out who you are and when you come from. When he manages to put together a name, the most incredible magic happens. Toby travels back in time and becomes his ancestor! This time Toby hurtles back to ancient Rome, into Titus's life, and finds himself sludging through a sewer in search of riches.

As the sun lengthens its days to summer, so a sport begins to dominate the thoughts and actions of many people. This game, which so encapsulated the village greens and evening song of Middle England, has now spread across the world.

John Galsworthy was born in Kingston Upon Thames in Surrey, on August 14th 1867. The family was wealthy and well established. John was schooled at Harrow and New College, Oxford, before training as a barrister. But law was not for him. Galsworthy first published in 1897 with a collection of short stories entitled The Four Winds. Initially he published as John Sinjohn, but after the death of his father in 1904 he published as John Galsworthy. Much of his early work was as plays for which he dealt with social issues and the class system.

Marguerite Radclyffe-Hall was born on August 12th, 1880 to wealthy parents who separated while she was still an infant. Her parents thereafter paid little attention to her. Hall was educated privately, and then at King’s College London. Later she travelled to Europe, settling in Dresden, Germany. With the death of her paternal grandfather she inherited a large estate and was then able to live as she pleased. In Germany, Hall met Mabel Batten and fell in love despite the 23 year age difference.

Rudyard Kipling was one of the most popular writers of prose and poetry in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He was awarded the Nobel prize for literature in 1907. Born in Bombay on December 30, 1865, both he and his sister were sent back to England when he was five, as was the custom of the British ruling elite in India. The ill-treatment and cruelty by the couple they boarded with in Portsmouth had one useful effect that Kipling himself suggested; it gave him an early impetus for a literary life.

Ifor is the gardener at Nanagalan, a manor house on the Welsh borders. When he falls in love with Ella, the daughter of the house, Ifor must stifle his passion for the lines between social classes are rigidly drawn. He marries local librarian Jenny, but his love for Ella casts a shadow over the relationship. When war breaks out, Ifor enlists and is one of the small number of soldiers left in France after the evacuation at Dunkirk. The Lancastria is sent to recover them but is bombed by the Germans.