Sign In Join Now
User Accessibility
  • Increase Font

  • Invert Colours

Search for a Book Browse Books Menu
The Prelude, Complete Series Cover Play Sample

Sample may contain unsuitable content.

Open Audiobook

Audiobook streaming provided by:

OverDrive Logo

Share this book:

The Prelude, Complete Series

AuthorWilliam Wordsworth

NarratorIan Mckellen

Duration1h 53m

CategoriesAdult Fiction, Poetry

PublisherAudio Go Ltd

VersionUnabridged

  Save to Wish List
  Add to Favourites List

William Wordsworth's autobiographical poem The Prelude is arguably the most important piece of poetic writing in our language. Recorded in Wordsworth's home in Grasmere, Cumbria, Wordsworth looks back over events in his early life. Wordsworth believed that poetry should be written in the natural language of common speech, and in that way it was revolutionary in its time. Parts of the poem are famous, with lines quoted often such as the description of the young Wordsworth stealing a boat. Other parts are more introspective. The young poet leaves Grasmere to go to University in Cambridge, and is homesick. Wordsworth grapples with his political feelings - travelling to France at the time of the French revolution. He enjoys the hustle and bustle of London, and is euphoric when crossing the Alps. All the time this poem is accessible, bursting with colour and description, full of gripping storytelling. The Prelude is read by Sir Ian McKellen with specially composed music by John Harle, performed by John Harle on Saxophone and Neill MacColl on guitar. The Prelude is directed in Manchester by Susan Roberts.

0 (0 Reviews)
0
0
0
0
0

Related Titles

Old Toffer's Book of Consequential Dogs Cover

Old Toffer's Book of Consequential Dogs

Author: Christopher Reid

Old Toffer's Book of Consequential Dogs

Author Christopher Reid

Narrator Robert Bathurst

Duration 51m

T. S. Eliot's best-selling collection of practical cat poems has been one of the most successful poetry collections in the world. For the first time in company history a companion volume will be published. Originally conceived by Eliot himself, Old Toffer's Book of Consequential Dog poems are a witty, varied and exquisitely compiled as Eliot's cats...

View Book
Chasers of the Light Cover

Chasers of the Light

Author: Tyler Knott Gregson

Chasers of the Light

Author Tyler Knott Gregson

Narrator The Author

Duration 56m

Penguin presents the unabridged, downloadable, audiobook edition of Chasers Of The Light, written and read by Tyler Knott Gregson. I would love to say that you make me weak at the knees, but to be quite upfront and completely truthful, you make my body forget it has knees at all. One day, while browsing an antique store in Helena, Montana, photogra...

View Book
September 1, 1939 Cover

September 1, 1939

Author: Ian Sansom

September 1, 1939

Author Ian Sansom

Narrator Ian Sansom

Duration 9h 44m

This a book about a poet, about a poem, about a city, and about a world at a point of change. More than a work of literary criticism or literary biography, it is a record of why and how we create and respond to great poetry.This a book about a poet - W. H. Auden, a wunderkind, a victim-beneficiary of a literary cult of personality who became a scap...

View Book
Beowulf Cover

Beowulf

Author: By Benedict Flynn Translated

Beowulf

Author By Benedict Flynn Translated

Narrator Crawford Logan

Duration 2h 24m

The oldest long poem in Old English, written about 1000 A.D., Beowulf tells the story of a great warrior in Southern Scandinavia in both youth and maturity. The monster Grendel terrorises the Scyldings of Hrothgar's Danish Kingdom until Beowulf defeats him. As a result he has to face her enraged mother. Beowulf dies after a battle against a fierce...

View Book
Poetry of the British Isles Cover

Poetry of the British Isles

Author: Various

Poetry of the British Isles

Author Various

Narrator Various

Duration 1h 2m

A delightful collection from around the British Isles including Dover Beach by Matthew Arnold, Leisure by W. H Davis and To Autumn by John Keats. Featuring classic recordings by Richard Burton, Sir John Gielgud and Sir Ralph Richardson.

View Book
William Wordsworth. Cover

William Wordsworth.

Author: William Wordsworth

William Wordsworth.

Author William Wordsworth

Narrator Jasper Britton

Duration 1h 18m

William Wordsworth (1770-1850) was born in Cockermouth, in the Lake District. His Lyrical Ballads, written in collaboration with Coleridge, was published in 1798, and shortly afterwards he settled in Dove Cottage, Grasmere, with his sister Dorothy. Inspired in his early manhood by the French Revolution, he grew disillusioned with revolutionary poli...

View Book
The Prelude, Episode 2 Cover

The Prelude, Episode 2

Author: William Wordsworth

The Prelude, Episode 2

Author William Wordsworth

Narrator Ian Mckellen

SeriesThe Prelude, Book 2

Duration 57m

William Wordsworth's autobiographical poem The Prelude is arguably the most important piece of poetic writing in our language. Recorded in Wordsworth's home in Grasmere, Cumbria, Wordsworth looks back over events in his early life. Wordsworth believed that poetry should be written in the natural language of common speech, and in that way it was re...

View Book
Rough Music Cover

Rough Music

Author: Fiona Sampson

Rough Music

Author Fiona Sampson

Narrator Fiona Sampson

Duration 1h 9m

Rough Music is the old English name for a custom of public scapegoating. This collection, read here by the author, is full of disturbing musical echoes, in which brilliant renewals of carol, charm, folksong and ballad explore themes of violence, loss and belonging. Fiona Sampson's characteristic lyric intensity deftly fuses metaphysics and politics...

View Book
The Prelude, Episode 1 Cover

The Prelude, Episode 1

Author: William Wordsworth

The Prelude, Episode 1

Author William Wordsworth

Narrator Ian Mckellen

SeriesThe Prelude, Book 1

Duration 56m

William Wordsworth's autobiographical poem The Prelude is arguably the most important piece of poetic writing in our language. Recorded in Wordsworth's home in Grasmere, Cumbria, Wordsworth looks back over events in his early life. Wordsworth believed that poetry should be written in the natural language of common speech, and in that way it was re...

View Book
Introducing George the Poet Cover

Introducing George the Poet

Author: George Mpanga

Introducing George the Poet

Author George Mpanga

Narrator George Mpanga

Duration 1h 8m

Search Party is a thought-provoking and deeply autobiographical collection. From the overtly political 'Go Home' to the deeply personal 'Full-time'; the narrative poems that offer vivid and unapologetic snapshots of inner-city life, such as 'His Mistakes', 'Believer' and the anthemic 'My City'; to the provocative social commentary in 'Lazy Dog' and...

View Book