Epic Poetry

The Fall of Troy - Book IX - How from his long lone exile returned to the war Philoctetes

Sat, 05 Sep 2009 04:49:00 +0000

resposting of dead podcast. The battle on the plain of Troy rages on. Meanwhile, Diomede and Odysseus venture to Lemnos to retrieve Philoctetes, the archer - possessor of the bow and arrows of Hercules

The Fall of Troy - Book XIV - Finale - How the conquerors sailed from Troy unto judgment of tempest and shipwreck.

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 14:35:00 +0000

The Greek celebrate their victory over the Trojans. The shade of Achilles demands the sacrifice of Hecuba's daughter. Athena wrecks vengence on Locrian Aias. The Gods destroy the Greek Bulwarks. The saga has ended.

The Fall of Troy Book XIII - How Troy in the Night was Taken and Sacked with Fire and Slaughter

Fri, 19 Dec 2008 13:10:00 +0000

The Greeks sack Troy. Death of Priam; Hecuba enslaved.

The Fall of Troy - Book I - How died for Troy the Queen of the Amazons, Penthesileia (REDUX)

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 13:20:00 +0000

Penthesileia, daughter of Ares comes to the aid of the Trojans and meets her death at the hands of Achilles, son of Peleus and the Godess Thetis.

The Odyssey Book XII - THE SIRENE, SCYLLA, AND CHARYBDIS

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 19:07:00 +0000

Ulysses relates how, after his return from the shades, he was sent by Circe on his voyage, by the coast of the Sirens, and by the strait of Scylla and Charybdis: the manner in which he escaped those dangers: how, being cast on the island Trinacria, his companions destroyed the oxen of the Sun: the vengeance that followed; how all perished by shipwreck except himself, who, swimming on the mast of the ship, arrived on the island of Calypso. With which his narration concludes.

The Fall of Troy Book XII - How the Wooden Horse was fashioned, and brought into Troy by her people.

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 10:26:00 +0000

Calchas receives a sign from heaven suggesting guile must be used to take Troy. Odysseus conceives the trick of the Trojan Horse. Sinon volunteers to remain outside the horse to fool the Trojans. Laocoon tries to convince the Trojans of the truth; he and his sons are punished by the gods. Cassandra's prophecies ignored.

The Fall of Troy Book III (REDUX) - How by the shaft of a God laid low was Hero Achilles

Sun, 25 May 2008 18:46:00 +0000

Revision of Book III - recorded on proper equipment. Please delete the orginal episode! Achilles falls in battle, slain by the shafts of the God Apollo! Aias (Ajax) and Odysseus fight to rescue his corpse. The grief of Thetis over her son's fall. The funeral pyre.

Revisions - Announcement

Sun, 25 May 2008 18:27:00 +0000

Look for revisions of recording of the Fall of Troy with poor sound quality.

The Odyssey Book XI - THE DESCENT INTO HELL - Pope Translation

Thu, 08 May 2008 19:56:00 +0000

Ulysses continues his narration. How he arrived at the land of the Cimmerians, and what ceremonies he performed to invoke the dead. The manner of his descent, and the apparition of the shades: his conversation with Elpenor, and with Tiresias, who informs him in a prophetic manner of his fortunes to come. He meets his mother Anticles, from whom he learns the state of his family. He sees the shades of the ancient heroines, afterwards of the heroes, and converses in particular with Agamemnon and Achilles. Ajax keeps at a sullen distance, and disdains to answer him. He then beholds Tityus, Tantalus, Sisyphus, Hercules; till he is deterred from further curiosity by the apparition of horrid spectres, and the cries of the wicked in torments.

Dante's Inferno - Cantos I,II, and III - Sayer's Translation

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 16:05:00 +0000

Canto I - Dante lost in a dark wood; the leopard, the lion and the she-wolf; Virgil offers to guide him. Canto II - Virgil explains why he's come; Dante takes courage. Canto III - The Gate of Hell; the vestibule; the indecisive; Charon.

The Odyssey - Book X - ADVENTURES WITH AEOLUS, THE LAESTRYGONS, AND CIRCE - Pope Translation

Fri, 28 Mar 2008 21:08:00 +0000

Ulysses arrives at the island of AEolus, who gives him prosperous winds, and incloses the adverse ones in a bag, which his companions untying, they are driven back again and rejected. Then they sail to the Laestrygons, where they lose eleven ships, and, with only one remaining, proceed to the island of Circe. Eurylochus is sent first with some companions, all which, except Eurylochus, are transformed into swine. Ulysses then undertakes the adventure, and, by the help of Mercury, who gives him the herb Moly, overcomes the enchantress, and procures the restoration of his men. After a year’s stay with her, he prepares, at her instigation, for his voyage to the infernal shades.

The Fall of Troy Book XI - How the sons of Troy for the last time fought from her walls and her towers

Thu, 20 Mar 2008 14:20:00 +0000

Odysseus and his men form a Testudo and attempt to storm the walls of Troy; Aeneas defends the walls by casting down huge stones with his giant might.

Paradise Lost - Book I - Milton

Mon, 03 Mar 2008 03:00:00 +0000

This first Book proposes, first in brief, the whole Subject, Mans disobedience, and the loss thereupon of Paradise wherein he was plac't: Then touches the prime cause of his fall, the Serpent, or rather Satan in the Serpent; who revolting from God, and drawing to his side many Legions of Angels, was by the command of God driven out of Heaven with all his Crew into the great Deep. Which action past over, the Poem hasts into the midst of things, presenting Satan with his Angels now fallen into Hell, describ'd here, not in the Center (for Heaven and Earth may be suppos'd as yet not made, certainly not yet accurst) but in a place of utter darkness, fitliest call'd Chaos: Here Satan with his Angels lying on the burning Lake, thunder-struck and astonisht, after a certain space recovers, as from confusion, calls up him who next in Order and Dignity lay by him; they confer of thir miserable fall. Satan awakens all his Legions, who lay till then in the same manner confounded; They rise, thir Numbers, array of Battel, thir chief Leaders nam'd, according to the Idols known afterwards in Canaan and the Countries adjoyning. To these Satan directs his Speech, comforts them with hope yet of regaining Heaven, but tells them lastly of a new World and new kind of Creature to be created, according to an ancient Prophesie or report in Heaven; for that Angels were long before this visible Creation, was the opinion of many ancient Fathers. To find out the truth of this Prophesie, and what to determin thereon he refers to a full Councel. What his Associates thence attempt. Pandemonium the Palace of Satan rises, suddenly built out of the Deep: The infernal Peers there sit in Councel.

The Fall of Troy Book X - How Paris was Stricken to Death, and In Vain Sought Help of Oenone

Tue, 26 Feb 2008 19:54:00 +0000

Philoctetes kills strikes Paris with the poisoned arrows of Hercules. Paris begging healing of his true wife, Oenone. She denies the help and Paris dies. Oenone, filled with regret, jumps on his funeral pyre.

Excelsior - Longfellow

Mon, 14 Jan 2008 22:21:00 +0000

Onward and Upward!!

The Fall of Troy - Book IX - How from his long lone exile returned to the war Philoctetes

Mon, 14 Jan 2008 22:17:00 +0000

The battle on the plain of Troy rages on. Meanwhile, Diomede and Odysseus venture to Lemnos to retrieve Philoctetes, the archer - possessor of the bow and arrows of Hercules.

Eldorado - Edgar Allan Poe

Fri, 11 Jan 2008 21:46:00 +0000

Not an Epic Poem but captures the flavor of an epic quest.

Ovid's Metamorphoses - Book XIII - Argument between Ulysses and Ajax Over the Armor of Achilles - Suicide of Ajax

Tue, 25 Dec 2007 16:06:00 +0000

After the death of Achilles and his funeral games a decision must be made as to who will received the magnificent armor and shield. Hear the verbal battle of Brawn (Ajax) against Brains (Ulysses). When the decision goes against him, Ajax commits suicide. From his blood sprang a red flower which bore on its leaves the initial letters of his name Ai (Aias).

Troilus and Criseyde: Book I - Lines 1 to 266 - Chaucer

Sat, 15 Dec 2007 04:28:00 +0000

Troilus and Criseyde is Geoffrey Chaucer's poem in rhyme royal re-telling the tragic love story of Troilus, a Trojan prince, and Criseyde.

The Lays of Ancient Rome - Battle of Lake Regillus

Sat, 01 Dec 2007 04:33:00 +0000

Thomas Babbington Macaulay's fine poem detailing the third and final attempt of the exiled king Tarquin the Proud to reclaim his position in Rome. This battle marks the breaking of the 30 city Latin League by the Romans. At the Lake Regillus Battle, the Romans were led by a dictator, A. Postumius Albus, with Titus Aebutius as master of the horse, and helped by the mythological twins, the Dioscuri, Castor and Pollux, on horseback. The poem celibrates the aniversary of the Battle on the Ides of Quintilis (July for us post Julians)

The Odyssey Book IX - The Cyclops - Pope translation

Thu, 22 Nov 2007 15:47:00 +0000

Ulysses begins the relation of his adventures: how, after the destruction of Troy, he with his companions made an incursion on the Cicons, by whom they were repulsed; and, meeting with a storm, were driven to the coast of the Lotophagi. From there they sailed to the land of the Cyclops, whose manners and situation are particularly characterised. The giant Polyphemus and his cave described; the usage Ulysses and his companions met with there; and, lastly, the method and artifice by which he escaped.

The Rime of The Ancient Mariner - 1798 version

Tue, 06 Nov 2007 23:50:00 +0000

This a is reading of the seldom heard (or read) 1798 version of Samuel Taylor Coleridge's wonderful poem. Possibly inspired by Captain James Cook's second voyage of exploration of the South Seas and the Pacific Ocean this tells the tale of the Mariner's voyage to Antartica, where the ship becomes stranded in the ice. While stranded the Mariner kills an albatross. The other sailors are angry with the Mariner, as they thought the albatross brought the South Wind that led them out of the Antarctic. However, the sailors change their minds when the weather becomes warmer and the mist disappears. The crime arouses the wrath of supernatural spirits who then pursue the ship "from the land of mist and snow"; the south wind which had initially led them from the land of ice now sends the ship into uncharted waters, where it is becalmed. Here, however, the sailors change their minds again and blame the Mariner for the torment of their thirst. Eventually, in an eerie passage, the ship encounters a ghostly vessel. On board are Death (a skeleton) and the "Night-mare Life-in-Death" (a deathly-pale woman), who are playing dice for the souls of the crew. With a roll of the dice, Death wins the lives of the crew members and Life-in-Death the life of the mariner, a prize she considers more valuable. Her name is a clue as to the mariner's fate; he will endure a fate worse than death as punishment for his killing of the albatross. One by one all of the crew members die, but the Mariner lives on, seeing for seven days and nights the curse in the eyes of the crew's corpses, whose last expressions remain upon their faces. Eventually, the Mariner's curse is lifted when he sees sea creatures swimming in the water. He suddenly sees their true beauty and blesses them; suddenly, as he manages to pray, the albatross falls from his neck and his guilt is partially expiated. The bodies of the crew, possessed by good spirits, rise again and steer the ship back home, where it sinks in a whirlpool, leaving only the Mariner behind. As penance for his deed, the Mariner is forced to wander the earth and tell his story, and teach a lesson to those he meets.

Sigurd the Volsung - part 1 - Sigmund - Of the dwelling of King Volsung, and the wedding of Signy his daughter

Sat, 27 Oct 2007 15:57:00 +0000

The epic tale of the Volsungs. The source of Richard Wagner's Der Ring Des Nibelungen. The reading is of the marvelous verse rendition of William Morris. In Part I Signy, daughter of Volsung marries the treacherous Siggeir, King of the Goth-folk. Odin, the All-Father appears at the wedding in disguise and plunges a mighty sword in the depths of the center tree of Volsung's hall. All the men attempt to pull it free but fail. Only the intrepid Sigmund the Volsung succeeds, thus giving rise to the envy of Siggeir...

The Fall of Troy - Book VIII - How Hercules' Grandson perished in fight with the Son of Achilles

Thu, 20 Sep 2007 03:02:00 +0000

The son of Achilles and grandson of Hercules meet in battle. Ares, God of War enters the fray on the side of the Trojans; Athena counters him for the Greeks...until Zeus intervenes.

The Fall of Troy Book VII - How the Son of Achilles was brought to the War from the Isle of Scyros

Wed, 19 Sep 2007 21:30:00 +0000

Diomedes and Odysseus return from Scyros with Neoptolemus, son of Achilles. His mother weeps over his leaving. They return to Troy in time to repulse the attacking Trojans who are led by Eurypylus, grandson of Hercules.

The Fall of Troy Book VI - How came for the helping of Troy Eurypylus, Hercules' grandson

Sun, 12 Aug 2007 00:06:00 +0000

Odysseus and Diomedes leave Troy for Scyros to bring back Neoptolemus, the son of Achilles to fight for the Achaens. Eurypylus, grandson of Hercules comes to Ilium to aid the Trojans. Description of Eurypylus' shield, whereon is depicted the labors and feats of mighty Hercules. Eurypylus nearly defeats the Achaens as night falls.

The Fall of Troy Book V - How the Arms of Achilles were cause of madness and death unto Aias

Sat, 11 Aug 2007 21:35:00 +0000

Aias (Ajax) and Odysseus contend over the magnificent arms of Achilles, offered as a gift by his mother, the Godess Thetis. Description of the shield of Achilles - thereon is portrayed the world; scenes of war and peace depicted. Agamemnon, Menalaus, and Nestor decline to judge and allow the Trojan prisoners to decide who is most worthy. Aias argues the his might and battle prowess make him the most worthy; Odysseus claims his cunning should decide the case in his favor. When the Trojans chose Odysseus, Aias is driven mad and attempts to kill all the Greeks. Athena saves them by making Aias think the sheep and oxen are the Grecian lords. When she clears his vision his great shame leads him to commit suicide.

The Fall of Troy Book IV - How in the Funeral Games of Achilles heroes contended

Sat, 11 Aug 2007 21:00:00 +0000

The Greeks complete at the Funeral Games for gifts provided by Thetis. Nestor sings the deeds of Achilles. Foot races, Boxing, Wrestling, Archery. All gifts given but the armor and shield of Achilles.

The Fall of Troy Book II - How Memnon, Son of the Dawn, for Troy's sake fell in the Battle

Sat, 11 Aug 2007 18:21:00 +0000

Episode Two - Grieving for the fall of Penthesileia, the Trojans find hope with the coming of Memon - King of the Ethiopians, son of Eos Godess of the Dawn. Memnon slays Antilochus, son of Nestor but is in turn slain by Achilles. Eos, grieving for her son refuses to light the morning sky - until Zeus threatens her with his thunderbolt.