Wordsworth

Selected Poems

By: William Wordsworth

Narrated by: Frederick Davidson

William Wordsworth (1770 -1850) is one of the most popular and enduring of the English poets. His poetry is beloved for its deep feeling, its use of ordinary speech, and its celebration of nature and of the beauty and poetry in the commonplace. Together with his friend, the poet and political activist Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Wordsworth helped launch the romantic age in English literature. These poems demonstrate the astonishing range and beauty of Wordsworth’s work and his sustained, coherent vision.

William Wordsworth was a defining member of the English Romantic Movement. Like other Romantics, his personality and poetry were deeply influenced by his love of nature.

Public Domain (P)2012 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

“[Wordsworth’s poetry] is great because of the extraordinary power with which [he] feels the joy offered to us in nature, the joy offered to us in the simple elementary affections and duties.” (Matthew Arnold)

Narrator ruins everything

I wasn’t sure if I was listening to lord farquad on Shrek or if this was actually serious…bummed out that my favorite writer’s works were unbearable to listen to more than five seconds
Booooooo

Hard to follow

I struggled to follow the readings of these poems. I know that Wordsworth is a well respected poet, but I’m not used to the sort of flowery, superfluous language or the didst, thy, hath type of language. I found many times listening to this where my mind drifted off and I had to put in an effort to focus back in. The best audio books are the ones where I have to give very little effort to focus and be drawn in.

I don’t get a lot of time to read so I didn’t feel like putting that effort in. So listening was a bit of an experiment to see if I would enjoy the poetry read aloud enough to listen again or actually take time to get a book in front of me.

Part of it was also the fairly monotone voice that the reader used. And frequent feedback sounds. It was not a quality recording compared to newer recordings or made for Audible options

Less drawl, more rapture

I think the reader of any Romantic poet needs to have more rapture in his voice than Davidson provides. There’s a tired and slightly slimy drawl here that might be suited to later, more decadent poetry. I like his attempts at a northern country shepherd accent in “Michael, however, and on the while enjoyed listening.

An excellent collection

I feel sure that this collection of poems does an excellent job of presenting the full spectrum of William Wordsworth poetry. There is quite a variety of themes and styles. This is my first significant experience of Wordsworth so my opinion is of limited value. However, I do feel confident that I have been well exposed to the man and his work.

A marvellous collection, beautifully read.

TABLE OF CONTENTS:
My Heart Leaps Up
To a Butterfly
Alice Fell, or Poverty
Lucy Grey, or Solitude
We Are Seven
To HC, 6 yrs. old
Elegiac Stanzas
The Lucy Poems
- Strange fits of passion have I known
- She dwelt among the untrodden ways
- I travelled among unknown men
- Three years she grew in sun and shower
- A slumber did my spirit seal
The Green Linnet
To the Small Celandine
The Seven Sisters
To the Cuckoo
Nutting
She was a Phantom of delight
The Daffodils
The Reverie of Poor Susan
Tintern Abbey
Expostulation and Reply
The Tables Turned
To a Young Lady, who had been reproached…
Vernal Ode
Humming Bee
It is a beauteous evening
The world is too much with us
Scorn not the Sonnet
With how sad steps, o Moon
Composed Upon Westminster Bridge
On the Extinction of the Venetian Republic
Thought of a Briton on the Subjugation of Switzerland
Milton
To the Men of Kent
The Solitary Reaper
Yarrow Unvisited
Yarrow Visited
Yarrow Revisited
Lines Written in Early Spring
Ode to Duty
Character of the Happy Warrior
Ode, Composed on May Morning
Ode: Intimations of Immortality
Michael
To a Skylark
Selections form the Prelude:
1. Childhood
2. Residence at Cambridge
3. Residence in London
4. Retrospect
5. Imagination and Taste
6. Conclusion
French Revolution
Goody Blake and Harry Gill
Surprised by Joy
Fragment: Redundance
Great men have been among us

Flawed audio clips and cuts throughout

Well read, nice collection, but the audio needs to be fixed. I almost gave up but the whole thing is so short I bore through it. It clips regularly and often.

Poor rendition

The accent and reading is unbearable. Every word and stanza seems labored and joyless. Leaves me wondering if the reader ever considered listening back to himself or even have someone advise him.