Virgil has 6 audiobooks on Listento.it, narrated by 8 narrators, with an average listener rating of 4.5★ across 27 ratings. The most-rated is The Aeneid.
The Aeneid
Summary
Here is the much-anticipated new translation of Virgil's epic poem from the award-winning translator Robert Fagles. The publication of a new translation by Fagles is a literary event. His translations of both the Iliad and Odyssey have sold hundreds of thousands of copies and have become the standard translations of our era. Now, with this stunning modern verse translation, Fagles has reintroduced Virgil's Aeneid to a whole new generation, and completed the classical triptych at the heart of Western civilization. The Aeneid is a sweeping epic of arms and heroism and a searching portrait of a man caught between love, duty, and the force of his own destiny. Here, Fagles brings to life the timeless journey of Aeneas as he flees the ashes of Troy to found Roman society and change forever the course of the Western world. Fagles' translation retains all of the gravitas and humanity of the original as well as its powerful blend of poetry and myth. PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.
©2006 Robert Fagles (P)2006 Penguin Audio, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc. All rights reserved.
The Aeneid
Summary
The masterpiece of Rome's greatest poet, Virgil's Aeneid has inspired generations of readers and holds a central place in Western literature. The epic tells the story of a group of refugees from the ruined city of Troy, whose attempts to reach a promised land in the West are continually frustrated by the hostile goddess Juno. Finally reaching Italy, their leader, Aeneas, is forced to fight a bitter war against the natives to establish the foundations from which Rome is destined to rise. This magnificent poem, in the modern translation by Cecil Day Lewis, is superbly read by David Collins.
Public Domain (P)2015 Naxos AudioBooks
The Aeneid
Summary
The Aeneid represents one of the greatest cultural and artistic achievements of Western Civilization. Within the brooding and melancholy atmosphere of Virgil's pious masterpiece lies the mythic story of Aeneas and his flight from burning Troy, taking with him across the Mediterranean the survivors of the Greek onslaught. Aeneas, after many travails and adventures, including a love affair with Dido Queen of Carthage and a visit to the underworld to see his father, ends up in Italy. He fights and wins a war against mighty Turnus and his Latins, thereby founding the city of Rome and beginning that line of Roman aristocracy which was to end with the great Caesars. With this mighty epic, Virgil glorified the Roman Empire and Augustus in the divine light of Olympian predestination, suggesting a higher power at work in the affairs of Rome. But ultimately, The Aeneid suggests that violence cannot be justified, and that mankind must deal with the consequences of violence whether born of malevolent gods or men. The greatness of The Aenied lies in its ability to envelope the listener in an aura of spiritual longing, an effect that hitherto had never been accomplished in ancient literature. This was one of the reasons why The Aeneid remained so popular throughout the Middle Ages. Early Christians were greatly impressed by the pious, noble quality of the hero Aeneas, and to them Virgil was an accessible bridge between the pagan world and their own. And his work remained the model for epic poetry right through the Renaissance and beyond. Dante, Shakespeare, and Milton owe a debt of gratitude to Virgil and The Aeneid which can never be repaid. The Aeneid is organized into 12 books. This recording includes a brief synopsis of the story prior to the beginning of each book in order to help the listener understand the action of the verse.
©2004 Audio Connoissuer
The Georgics
Summary
Virgil's Georgics ranks as one of the most precious pastoral poems ever written, and it has served as a model for its type ever since. Georgics means "of or relating to agriculture or rural life" and it comes from the Greek word "georgicus". Virgil's main theme in this, his second great work after The Eclogues, was the importance of peace both in the spiritual and physical sense. One arrives at this peace through embracing the hard life of the farmer and also coming to an understanding of one's place in the universe. Virgil used the Greek poet Hesiod as his guide for describing why the cheerful acceptance of laboring on a farm was salutary. (Hesiod's Works and Days is an attempt by the poet to explain to an estranged brother why his work on the family farm would make him a better person.) As for an understanding of one's place in the universe, Virgil used as his model the Epicurean philosophy in the poetry of his fellow Roman, Lucretius. But although Virgil absorbed the incredible poetry of both Hesiod and Lucretius, he did not copy them. His work is entirely his own. The Georgics is an amazing synthesis of the scientific and the spiritual, which continues to amaze us to this day. This great poem is organized into four parts, or books. Its ostensible subject is farming and the correct seasons for the various chores of the farmer: the cultivation of vines and the planting of trees, farm animals and their diseases, and, finally, how to care for bees. Though Virgil claims that his aim is to teach, the real result is to inspire us with the genius of his poetic ability.
©2007 Audio Connoisseur (P)2007 Audio Connoisseur
The Aeneid
Summary
After a century of civil strife in Rome and Italy, the poet Virgil wrote The Aeneid to honor the emperor Augustus by praising Aeneas, Augustus's legendary ancestor. As a patriotic epic imitating Homer, The Aeneid also set out to provide Rome with a literature equal to that of Greece. It tells of Aeneas, survivor of the sack of Troy, and of his seven-year journey: to Carthage, where he fell tragically in love with Queen Dido; to the underworld, in the company of the Sibyl of Cumae; and, finally, to Italy, where he founded Rome. It is a story of defeat and exile, and of love and war. Virgil's Aeneid is as eternal as Rome itself, a sweeping epic of arms and heroism - the searching portrait of a man caught between love and duty, human feeling, and the force of fate. Filled with drama, passion, and the universal pathos that only a masterpiece can express. The Aeneid is a book for all the time and all people. This version of The Aeneid is the classic translation by John Dryden.
Public Domain (P)2010 Tantor
The Greatest American Poetry
Summary
Elliott Gould, Burt Reynolds, Meryl Streep, and a host of other celebrities read over 100 poems by four of America's greatest poets. Walt Whitman celebrates the brash and rugged individualism of his country in exuberant language. The spare, precise language of Emily Dickinson conveys her penetrating vision of the natural world and an acute understanding of the most profound human truths. Robert Frost draws his inspiration from everyday incidents, common situations, and rural imagery. Pulitzer Prize winner Carl Sandburg's poetry embodies a love of and compassion for the common man that earned him the nickname "poet of the people".
Copyright (P) and ©1998 Dove Audio, Inc.