A Selection from the Sonnets of William Wordsworth


Lu par Bruce Kachuk

(1.8 stars; 2 reviews)

This is a very impressive collection of some of the best sonnets from the pen of the incomparable William Wordsworth. The appreciation that Wordsworth had for the beauty of his surroundings is vibrantly exhibited in these selections, as are his feelings on love, friendship, society, conflict, history, the supernatural and indeed the art of poetry itself. And what better vehicle for the elegant articulation of a master poet's thoughts and inspirations than the sonnet, an art form ideally suited to assertion, verbalization and contemplation.

In these sonnets, we witness Wordsworth's poetic expertise at its best in superb descriptions of nature's splendor which he astutely juxtaposes with his reflections on a world that is "too much with us," a world in which, "man for brother man has ceased to feel."

The sanctuary that Wordsworth found and which forms the basis for the inspiration displayed in many of these sonnets was the magnificent Lake District of England, which he depicted as, "At happy distance from Earth's groaning field, / Where ruthless mortals wage incessant wars." Such a sanctuary the poet would have wished for us all, and indeed provided the means for at least our vicarious enjoyment in the form of these enduring and timeless works of art.
- Summary by Bruce Kachuk (1 hr 56 min)

Chapitres

Nuns fret not at their convent's narrow room 1:20 Lu par Bruce Kachuk
Scorn not the Sonnet; Critic, you have frowned 1:19 Lu par Bruce Kachuk
Written in very Early Youth 1:20 Lu par Bruce Kachuk
I watch, and long have watched, with calm regret 1:26 Lu par Bruce Kachuk
How clear, how keen, how marvellously bright 1:22 Lu par Bruce Kachuk
While not a leaf seems faded; while the fields 1:20 Lu par Bruce Kachuk
There is a pleasure in poetic pains 1:17 Lu par Bruce Kachuk
Oxford, May 30, 1820 1:19 Lu par Bruce Kachuk
A Parsonage in Oxfordshire 1:18 Lu par Bruce Kachuk
Hail, Twilight, sovereign of one peaceful hour! 1:20 Lu par Bruce Kachuk
Mark the concentred hazels that enclose 1:22 Lu par Bruce Kachuk
Composed at Rydal on May Morning, 1838 1:23 Lu par Bruce Kachuk
Though the bold wings of Poesy affect 1:22 Lu par Bruce Kachuk
Pelion and Ossa flourish side by side 1:17 Lu par Bruce Kachuk
To Sleep 1:25 Lu par Bruce Kachuk
Fond words have oft been spoken to thee, Sleep! 1:23 Lu par Bruce Kachuk
The River Eden, Cumberland 1:16 Lu par Bruce Kachuk
Surprised by joy - impatient as the Wind 1:23 Lu par Bruce Kachuk
Her only pilot the soft breeze, the boat 1:19 Lu par Bruce Kachuk
With Ships the sea was sprinkled far and nigh 1:16 Lu par Bruce Kachuk
Where lies the Land to which yon Ship must go? 1:21 Lu par Bruce Kachuk
Sole listener, Duddon! to the Breeze that played 1:17 Lu par Bruce Kachuk
What aspect bore the Man who roved or fled 1:20 Lu par Bruce Kachuk
Hail to the fields - with dwellings sprinkled o'er 1:23 Lu par Bruce Kachuk
The Stepping-Stones 1:18 Lu par Bruce Kachuk
Whence that low voice? - A whisper from the heart 1:22 Lu par Bruce Kachuk
I thought of Thee, my partner and my guide 1:22 Lu par Bruce Kachuk
Brook! whose society the poet seeks 1:22 Lu par Bruce Kachuk
Methinks that to some vacant hermitage 1:20 Lu par Bruce Kachuk
There is a little unpretending Rill 1:20 Lu par Bruce Kachuk
Written upon a Blank Leaf in "The Complete Angler" 1:18 Lu par Bruce Kachuk
Oh Friend! I know not which way I must look 1:24 Lu par Bruce Kachuk
The world is too much with us; late and soon 1:20 Lu par Bruce Kachuk
Milton! thou shouldst be living at this hour 1:28 Lu par Bruce Kachuk
Great men have been among us; hands that penned 1:22 Lu par Bruce Kachuk
It is not to be thought of that the Flood 1:19 Lu par Bruce Kachuk
When I have borne in memory what has tamed 1:16 Lu par Bruce Kachuk
Near Dover 1:22 Lu par Bruce Kachuk
Vanguard of Liberty, ye men of Kent 1:22 Lu par Bruce Kachuk
Thought of a Briton on the Subjugation of Switzerland 1:25 Lu par Bruce Kachuk
An Invasion Being Expected, October 1803 1:22 Lu par Bruce Kachuk
Composed in the Valley near Dover, on the Day of Landing 1:28 Lu par Bruce Kachuk
Not Love, not War, nor the tumultuous swell 1:22 Lu par Bruce Kachuk
To Toussaint L'Ouverture 1:16 Lu par Bruce Kachuk
When Philoctetes in the Lemnian Isle 1:19 Lu par Bruce Kachuk
When haughty expectations prostrate lie 1:21 Lu par Bruce Kachuk
O'er the wide earth, on mountain and on plain 1:21 Lu par Bruce Kachuk
On the Extinction of the Venetian Republic 1:18 Lu par Bruce Kachuk
By Grasmere Lake 1:21 Lu par Bruce Kachuk
Composed by the Sea-Side, Near Calais 1:24 Lu par Bruce Kachuk
As leaves are to the tree whereon they grow 1:25 Lu par Bruce Kachuk
Adieu, Rydalian Laurels! that have grown 1:20 Lu par Bruce Kachuk
The Trosachs 1:19 Lu par Bruce Kachuk
Admonition 1:19 Lu par Bruce Kachuk
The forest huge of ancient Caledon 1:19 Lu par Bruce Kachuk
Aix-la-Chapelle 1:05 Lu par Bruce Kachuk
Between Namur and Liège 1:18 Lu par Bruce Kachuk
Composed on Westminster Bridge, Sept. 3, 1802 1:18 Lu par Bruce Kachuk
Roman Antiquities 1:14 Lu par Bruce Kachuk
The Monument commonly called Long Meg and Her Daughters, near the River Eden 1:12 Lu par Bruce Kachuk
There! said a Stripling, pointing with meet pride 1:10 Lu par Bruce Kachuk
Mary Queen of Scots 1:09 Lu par Bruce Kachuk
In sight of the Town of Cockermouth 1:18 Lu par Bruce Kachuk
A Place of Burial in the South of Scotland 1:19 Lu par Bruce Kachuk
Most sweet it is with unuplifted eyes 1:11 Lu par Bruce Kachuk
In King's College Chapel, Cambridge 1:18 Lu par Bruce Kachuk
They dreamt not of a perishable home 1:14 Lu par Bruce Kachuk
Rural Ceremony 1:12 Lu par Bruce Kachuk
Places of Worship 1:18 Lu par Bruce Kachuk
Who but is pleased to watch the moon on high 1:13 Lu par Bruce Kachuk
The Shepherd, looking eastward, softly said 1:16 Lu par Bruce Kachuk
With how sad steps, O Moon, thou climb'st the sky 1:23 Lu par Bruce Kachuk
The stars are mansions built by Nature's hand 1:21 Lu par Bruce Kachuk
To a Snow-drop 1:16 Lu par Bruce Kachuk
Hark! 'tis the Thrush, undaunted, undeprest 1:25 Lu par Bruce Kachuk
I dropped my pen; and listened to the Wind 1:17 Lu par Bruce Kachuk
It is a beauteous evening, calm and free 1:14 Lu par Bruce Kachuk
To the Cuckoo 1:18 Lu par Bruce Kachuk
Near Anio's stream, I spied a gentle Dove 1:20 Lu par Bruce Kachuk
Composed on a May Morning 1:18 Lu par Bruce Kachuk
Personal Talk 1:14 Lu par Bruce Kachuk
Yet life, you say, "is life; we have seen and see" 1:17 Lu par Bruce Kachuk
Wings have we - and as far as we can go 1:17 Lu par Bruce Kachuk
Nor can I not believe but that hereby 1:17 Lu par Bruce Kachuk
How sweet it is, when mother Fancy rocks 1:21 Lu par Bruce Kachuk
Why art thou silent? Is thy love a plant 1:18 Lu par Bruce Kachuk
To the Planet Venus, an Evening Star 1:18 Lu par Bruce Kachuk
Valedictory Sonnet 1:24 Lu par Bruce Kachuk

Critiques


(3 stars)

I love Wordsworth and I appreciate the effort the reader has put in but it is very hard to listen too. Perhaps it's an accent. There's a lot of energy but your tone is flat.