The Essential T.S. Eliot
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By:
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T. S. Eliot
About this listen
A selection of the most significant and enduring poems from one of the 20th century’s major writers, chosen and introduced by Vijay Seshadri, performed by T.S. Eliot, Vijay Seshadri, Daniel Halpern, Willem Dafoe, Natasha Trethewey, Meghan O'Rourke, Natalie Diaz, Frank Bidart, Joy Harjo, Rosanna Warren, Emily Jungmin Yoon, Tracy K. Smith, Nicole Sealey, Jorie Graham, Kevin Young, Louise Glück, Eileen Myles, Carol Muske-Dukes, Campbell McGrath, Robert Hass, and Monica Youn.
T.S. Eliot was a towering figure in 20th-century literature, a renowned poet, playwright, and critic whose work - including "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" (1915), The Waste Land (1922), Four Quartets (1943), and Murder in the Cathedral (1935) - continues to be among the most-read and influential in the canon of American literature.
The Essential T.S. Eliot collects Eliot’s most lasting and important poetry in one career-spanning audiobook, with an introduction from Vijay Seshadri, one of our foremost poets.
Performer Table of Contents
"Introduction by Vijay Seshadri" read by Vijay Seshadri
"La Figlia che Piange" read by T.S. Eliot
"Portrait of a Lady" read by Daniel Halpern
"Preludes" read by T.S. Eliot
"Rhapsody on a Windy Night" read by Meghan O'Rourke
"Mr. Apollinax" read by Natalie Diaz
"The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" read by Frank Bidart
"Gerontion" read by Joy Harjo
"Dans le Restaurant" read by Rosanna Warren
"Whispers of Immortality" read by Emily Jungmin Yoon
"The Waste Land" read by Willem Dafoe and Tracy K. Smith
"The Hollow Men" read by Nicole Sealey
"Ash Wednesday" read by Jorie Graham
"Marina" read by Kevin Young
"Journey of the Magi" read by Louise Glück
"Coriolan" read by Eileen Myles
"Choruses from The Rock: I, III, IV, VII" read by Carol Muske-Dukes (III, VII) and Natasha Trethewey (I, IV)
"Old Deuteronomy" read by Campbell McGrath
"Sweeney Agonistes" read by Vijay Seshadri and Rosanna Warren
"From Four Quartets: Burnt Norton; Little Gidding" read by Robert Hass
"Tradition and the Individual Talent" read by Monica Youn
Text from Collected Poems, 1909-1962: copyright 1930, 1940, 1941, 1942, 1943, 1963 by T.S. Eliot; copyright 1954, 1956, 1959, 1963 by Thomas Stearns Eliot; copyright renewed 1958, 1962, 1964 by Thomas Stearns Eliot; copyright 1934, 1936 by Harcourt Brace & Company; copyright 1948 by Faber & Faber Limited; copyright renewed 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1982, 1984, 1991 by Esme Valerie Eliot. Text from Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats: copyright 1939 by T.S. Eliot; copyright renewed 1967 by Esme Valerie Eliot.
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Beloved, profoundly moving account of the author's marriage, the couple's search for faith and friendship with C. S. Lewis, and a spiritual strength that sustained Vanauken after his wife's untimely death.
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Outstanding
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By: Sheldon Vanauken
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Poems of Emily Dickinson: Series 1
- By: Emily Dickinson, Thomas W. Higginson - editor, Mabel Loomis Todd - editor
- Narrated by: Kendra Murray, Nancy Beard, Jennifer Fournier, and others
- Length: 1 hr and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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Emily Dickinson was one of the most reclusive of all poets. She spent much of her life in seclusion in her father’s house in Amherst, and only a handful of her 1800 poems were published in her lifetime. Credit for the posthumous publication of her work must be given to her editor and friend Thomas W. Higginson, who reported that, in spite of the voluminous correspondence which passed between himself and Dickinson, he only met her twice in person.
By: Emily Dickinson, and others
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The King in Yellow
- By: Robert W. Chambers
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki, Gabrielle de Cuir
- Length: 7 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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Story
There is a book that is shrouded in mystery. Some even say it's a myth. Within its pages is a play - one that brings madness and despair to all who read it. It is the play of the King in Yellow, and it will haunt you for the rest of your days. The King in Yellow is a collection of stories interwoven loosely by the elements of the play, including the central figure himself.
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Great Introduction to Robert Chambers
- By David S. Mathew on 11-23-16
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A Happy Death
- By: Albert Camus
- Narrated by: Jefferson Mays
- Length: 4 hrs and 38 mins
- Abridged
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In his first novel, A Happy Death, written when he was in his early 20s and retrieved from his private papers following his death in 1960, Albert Camus laid the foundation for The Stranger, focusing in both works on an Algerian clerk who kills a man in cold blood. But he also revealed himself to an extent that he never would in his later fiction. For if A Happy Death is the study of a rule-bound being shattering the fetters of his existence, it is also a remarkably candid portrait of its author as a young man.
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Camus Secret Masterpiece
- By Samuel Cohen on 08-03-19
By: Albert Camus
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The Great God Pan
- Esoteric Classics: Occult Fiction
- By: Arthur Machen
- Narrated by: Shea Taylor
- Length: 2 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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Machen's novella The Great God Pan is often cited as one of Lovecraft's most notable influences. In it, Dr. Raymond's ultimate goal is to devise a way to open the mind of man so that he may experience all the world has to offer. He calls this "seeing the great god Pan". After much study of the human mind, he devises an experiment that involves minor brain surgery. He performs this experiment on a young woman named Mary, but when she awakens she is terrified and mentally crippled.
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classic horror
- By Shantee on 05-04-16
By: Arthur Machen
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The Book of Disquiet
- By: Fernando Pessoa
- Narrated by: Adam Sims
- Length: 17 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Assembled from notes and jottings left unpublished at the time of the author’s death, The Book of Disquiet is a collection of aphoristic prose-poetry musings on dreams, solitude, time and memory. Credited to Pessoa’s alter ego, Bernardo Soares, who chronicles his contemplations in this so-called "factless" autobiography, the work is a journey of one man’s soul and, by extension, of all human souls that allow their minds and hearts to roam far and free.
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The book that saved my life
- By Hutchinson on 03-09-21
By: Fernando Pessoa
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Lilith
- By: George MacDonald
- Narrated by: Rebecca K. Reynolds
- Length: 11 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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It is the story of Mr. Vane, an orphan and heir to a large house - a house in which he has a vision that leads him through a large old mirror into another world. In chronicling the five trips Mr. Vane makes to this other world, MacDonald hauntingly explores the ultimate mystery of evil.
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INACCESSIBLE BOOK BECOMES ACCESSIBLE AND ENJOYABLE
- By Steve on 07-31-19
By: George MacDonald
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E.F. Benson's Ghost Stories
- read by Mark Gatiss
- By: E. F. Benson
- Narrated by: Mark Gatiss
- Length: 5 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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Mark Gatiss ( Sherlock, Doctor Who, Game of Thrones) reads chilling tales by the unsung master of the classic ghost story: E. F. Benson. There's nothing sinister about a London bus. Nothing supernatural could occur on a busy train platform. There's nothing terrifying about a little caterpillar. And a telephone, what could be scary about that? Don't be frightened of the dark corners of your room. Don't be alarmed by a sudden inexplicable chill.
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E.F. Benson Classics Excellently Read by Gatiss
- By Robert on 10-28-17
By: E. F. Benson
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The Fairy Tales of Herman Hesse
- By: Hermann Hesse, Jack Zipes - translator
- Narrated by: Donovan
- Length: 2 hrs and 53 mins
- Highlights
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Step into a world of visions, philosophy, and passion in which dreamers, seekers, princesses, and wandering poets dwell. The 6 wonderful, romantic tales in this collection are reminiscent of ancient Oriental and German fairy tales. The selections, "The Poet," "The Flute Dream," "The Dwarf," "Faldum," "Ziegler," and "Dream of the Gods" were hand-picked by the narrator, legendary folk and rock musician Donovan.
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The reading is quiet and heavenly
- By Atalante Lemuria on 11-12-20
By: Hermann Hesse, and others
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The Celtic Twilight
- By: William Butler Yeats
- Narrated by: Jack Chekijian
- Length: 4 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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One of the best-known collections of W. B. Yeats' prose, The Celtic Twilight explores the old connection between the Irish people and the magical world of fairies. Yeats, by traveling the land in the early 20th century and talking to the common people about their experiences with the creatures, yielded a colorful overview of Celtic fairy folklore.
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A compilation of Irish folklore in prose
- By MolllyT on 07-26-16
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A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
- By: James Joyce
- Narrated by: Colin Farrell
- Length: 8 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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This quintessential coming-of-age novel describes the early life of Stephen Dedalus. It is set in Ireland during the 19th century, which was a time of emerging Irish nationalism and conservative Catholicism. Highly autobiographical in nature, the work is also notable for its being the first one in which Joyce uses innovative “stream of consciousness” writing style. A Portrait... follows Stephen Dedalus from his babyhood into early adulthood.
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Bitterly disappointed
- By James on 01-29-19
By: James Joyce
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These are masterly readings, by renowned thespian Paul Schofield, of two substantial works of poetry by T.S. Eliot.
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What listeners say about The Essential T.S. Eliot
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Michael DeNobile
- 09-28-21
Was hoping for more
As an English major, I thought Eliot's poetry would be so much greater. The Waste Land was good but not exactly what I hoped it would be. He is a great poet but his work was underwhelming.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall
- An Amazonian
- 05-27-22
Important
This production isn't just excellent; it's important.
Seshadri's introduction is an extraordinarily deep and insightful reflection on Elliot which deserves to be listened to more than once.
He has assembled many of the most famous poets living in the United States today as readers. Poets are not always great readers of poetry, but even when they are not, their readings often give insight into their own interpretations of the poems. When Frank Bidart says " Let us GO, and make our visit," his emphasis makes me understand a line from Prufrock, which I have loved for 30 years, in a new way.
On the other hand, the poet Campbell McGrath is perhaps the best reader of poetry I've ever heard in my life. I heard him read once in person and he is simply a knockout.
I wrote a paper on Louise Gluck once which left me afraid of her ruthless austerity, and her reading of The Gift of the Magi here did not alter my feeling.
The only incompetent reading here is by the publisher, who steps in to read one poem, I'm sorry to say.
I prefer the early, hopeless, not yet religious Eliot to the later myth-soaked poet of The Wasteland or the conservative Anglican of Four Quartets, but this is an exemplary collection which does important scholarly work of its own.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Tom
- 06-10-22
As the Title Says: Essential
This collection provides an excellent assortment of Eliot’s most important works enhanced by the reading of the poems by some of our best Poets. As with any group of artists, some do a better job of interpretation than others but overall the quality of the readings is quite good. Very enjoyable. Five Stars. *****
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- Amazon Customer
- 06-25-22
Missed the point of "The hollow men".
some things cannot be felt by amatuers. Try being in "The Shit" before reading this. . .
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