The Great Poets: Lord Byron

By: Lord Gordon George Byron

Narrated by: Simon Russell Beale

Today Byron is regarded as the ultimate romantic - a rebel, a Casanova, and a man of intense, brooding passion. He was the most famous literary man of his time, and his poetry, endlessly witty and often insightful, was immensely popular and hugely influential. From the delicate romanticism of "She Walks in Beauty" to the evocative reflections of "So We’ll Go No More a Roving", Byron’s poems were unrivaled in their power and potency. Lesser-known poems such as "Destruction of Sennacherib", a reimagining of the biblical story of Sennacherib; "Prometheus", a sardonic poem about the Greek gods; and "Darkness", an apocalyptic story of the last man on earth, also included here, reveal Byron to be a poet of great range and variety. Mad, bad and dangerous to know, Lord Byron was without equal in English literature.

Public Domain (P)2018 Naxos AudioBooks

Only wish more had been recorded

Part of me feels reticent to sing the praises of this knowing that my exposure to Byron is really limited to more time spent reading his biography than his work, (I wanted to make sure I had read his biography first, and I'm glad I did, ) but the truth is I'm restless and give up on books a lot as well as recorded ones, partly my own lack of mental discliple but I'm a tough customer, and I devoured this. and still listen to it over and over, and only wish there were more of them. Mr. Beale's voice had the right cadence for me for this work, enough variety in tone and stress without overdoing it but to diversify the musicality of the words, you can follow the patterns and beats very clearly. All that said, Ode to Napoleon Bonaparte was my third favorite, Darkness the second, and The Dream had clearly won the gold.