Showing results by narrator "Denis Daly" in All Categories

Persuasion was the last novel completed by Jane Austen and was first published posthumously in December, 1817. The story represents an interesting configuration of Austen’s characteristic narrative patterns. The heroine, Anne Eliot, is something of an old maid—she is twenty-seven years old, still single and is considered by family and friends to have lost her youthful beauty. Several years earlier, her engagement to Captain Frederick Wentworth had been broken off, due to the insistence of her family that the Captain lacked the wealth and status needed for a suitable husband.

The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus is one of the earliest and most compelling presentations of the story of a man who sold his soul to the Devil. It is based on the popular history of Johann Georg Faust (1466–1541) a German chemist and magician, allegedly perished in an explosion during an alchemical experiment. In the theologically charged world of early reformation Germany, a report spread that his violent death was a demonstration that the devil had come to collect his soul. The legend spread quickly and has formed the basis of many later literary and dramatic works.

In this collection, the authors were striving for a natural and unaffected style of verse that sought to avoid the elaborate structures and artifice that they considered had characterized much of the poetry of the 18th century. Of the 23 poems, only four are by Coleridge, including "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner", which is the most famous poem in the collection. The most notable contribution by Wordsworth is the concluding poem, "Tintern Abbey".

This collection of 35 poems is a sequel to a volume of lyrical ballads first published in 1798. While the first volume was a collaboration between Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, this anthology contains verses by Wordsworth only. Generally, the poems are less well-known than those of the earlier volume but do include major narrative pieces, like "The Pastoral Epics", "The Brothers", and "Michael".

Little is known of the life of Zen master Huang-Po (Obaku in Japanese). He was born in Fuzhou, China, and died about 850 AD. His main teacher was Pai Chang (Hyakujo) (720 - 814). The main source for Huang-Po's teaching is the Treatise of the Essentials of the Transmission of the Mind, compiled by his student, Pei Xiu. Huang-Po's teaching is focused on the concept of Mind, the essence of intrinsic Buddahood. According to the master, the search for enlightenment was a useless distraction, as seeking for something inevitably separates the seeker from what is being sought.

Although unfamiliar with the Persian language, the eminent English poet and critic Richard le Gallienne had a profound interest in the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. In 1901 he published a collection of 261 quatrains, which was based on earlier English translations, in particular the prose version by Justin Huntly McCarthy. In his introduction, Le Gallienne suggests that his ignorance of Persian was in fact an advantage as it allowed him to focus on producing good poetry rather than merely an accurate translation.

Keats commenced writing his epic poem, Hyperion, in 1818 and ceased working on it in the spring of 1819. He said that he gave the project up for having "too many Miltonic inversions." The unfinished poem, which ceases in the middle of the third canto, was published in 1820. The narrative is based on the Titanomachia, or War of the Titans, and describes the aftermath of their fall to the Olympian Gods.

This full cast presentation includes Part 1 and Part 2 of Shakespeare’s Henry IV.

Norman Lindsay’s classic tale about an anthropomorphic pudding and its band of protectors was written in 1917, in response to an argument between Lindsay and the critic and anthologist Bertram Stevens about the types of stories that would appeal most to children. In retrospect it appears that Lindsay clearly won the argument. The book has never been out of print in Australia and has been adapted for presentation as a film, a stage play, and an opera. It has been described by eminent children’s author Philip Pullman as "the funniest children's book ever written."

Sir Walter Raleigh (1552 - 1618) was one of the most prominent political figures in the Elizabethan era. He was also a soldier, explorer, and prolific author. Although, like John Donne, Raleigh did not primarily consider himself a poet, he left a small collection of verse, notable for its pithiness and mordant wit. This collection includes 21 of the most popular poems attributed to Raleigh.

Lady Susan Vernon, middle-aged and recently widowed, has retained her looks and appealing vivacity. She makes use of her bereavement and her loss of wealth by imposing herself on the hospitality of relatives, and by amusing herself in flirtation with the various men who fall under her spell. Lady Susan has a daughter, Frederica, who is bashful and innocent—in stark contrast to her unfeeling and manipulative mother. Her mother is anxious to marry Frederica off to a spouse of appropriate wealth and social standing, and also, perhaps, to capture a new mate for herself.

Unlike Peacock's other novels, Maid Marian has a substantial plot, based on the romantic legend of Robin Hood. As is usual with Peacock, the violence is presented in a rather humorous fashion and the characters indulge lavishly in eating and drinking. Beneath the veneer of this well-known and innocuous narrative, Peacock finds ample opportunity to satirize the foibles of church and secular government.

Lady Susan is an epistolary novel by Jane Austen about a beautiful and manipulative widow scheming to arrange wealthy marriages for herself and her daughter. This book is the basis for the film Love & Friendship, written and directed by Whit Stillman, and starring Kate Beckinsale and Chloe Sevigny. This dramatized production is presented by the Online Stage.

Rosmersholm is a play surrounding the deep and intense political and cultural change in Norway in the middle of the 1880s, a period during which the traditional ruling class were forced to relinquish their right to impose their ideals on the rest of society. We follow Johannes Rosmer, a pastor who has resigned from his position; Rebecca West, a woman who sees Rosmer's potential and believes she can help him to realize his dream of creating a world of "happy, noble people"; and Headmaster Kroll, Rosmer's former best friend.

Troward delivered these lectures at the Doré Gallery, Bond Street, London, in 1909. They were published in book form in the same year. Troward's basic thesis is that while the laws of the universe can never be broken, they can be made to work under special conditions, which will produce unexpected and remarkable results. The achievement of these results require the activation of what Troward terms the "personal factor", that, namely, of an intelligence which sees beyond the present limited manifestation of the law and thus enables the exploration of its infinite possibilities.

First published in 1711, An Essay on Criticism was one of Pope's earliest major poems. As the title suggests, it is an exploration of what Pope considered to be the essential aspects of good critical writing.

In this recording are presented readings of all five editions of Omar Khayyam's Rubaiyat, translated by scholar Edward Fitzgerald, as well as biographical material about Fitzgerald and Omar Khayyam and a laudatory poem by Andrew Lang.

In recent times the philosophy and practices promoted by the New Thought movement have attracted much attention through the burgeoning of the self-help industry and films such as "The Secret." Among New Thought authors, William Walker Atkinson was not only one of the most eminent, but also one of the most prolific. One of his most notable works is the mental training manual, Your Mind and How to Use It, first published in 1911. A new recording of a self-help classic, narrated by Denis Daly.

Accusation is the unperceived catalyst for this dramatic narrative; Job is framed by the accusation that his self-invested allegiance to God will evaporate if he is exposed to adversity. Job is unaware that this wager against his integrity has taken place. The drama that ensues on an epic scale resonates with universal experiences of human suffering - from Job's searching questions, to the grating interventions of Job's friends, and the sense that human misfortune can seem contingent on the whim of unseen powers.

This anthology of 140 poems, published in 1921, features the work of 97 British and American poets who were active in the early 20th century. Among the more famous names are John Masefield, Rupert Brooke, Walter de la Mare, William Butler Yeats, Robert Graves, Amy Lowell, Carl Sandburg, Edna St Vincent Millay, Joyce Kilmer and Witter Bynner.