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Tristram and Iseult and other poems

Gelesen von LibriVox Volunteers

The English poet and cultural critic Matthew Arnold was the son of the headmaster of Rugby School who became a fellow of Oriel College, Oxford. He famously described Oxford as "that sweet city with it's dreaming spires". A deeply committed Christian he was well-versed in Greek and Latin classics and had a fascination with pre-christian myth and legend. His version of the Celtic legend of Tristram and Iseult is dramatised here.

This selection includes some of Arnold's best known poems Dover Beach, Thyrsis and The Scholar-Gypsy as well as early works like The Forsaken Merman and a dramatised reading of The Strayed Reveller. His poetry was strongly influenced by Woodsworth, whose death he memorialised in the final poem.

(Summary by Alan Mapstone)

Cast of Tristam and Iseult
Tristram: Greg Giordano
Iseult of Ireland: Agnes Robert Behr
The Page: Adrian Stephens
Huntsman: Algy Pug

Cast of The Strayed Reveller
The Youth: Inkell
Circe: ShrimpPhish
Ulysses: Alan Mapstone

(2 hr 33 min)

Chapters

Tristram and Iseult Part 1: Tristram

24:53

Read by LibriVox Volunteers

Tristram and Iseult Part 2: Iseult of Ireland

14:11

Read by LibriVox Volunteers

Tristram and Iseult Part 3: Iseult of Brittany

17:25

Read by Alan Mapstone

Dover Beach

2:59

Read by Alan Mapstone

Thrysis

19:33

Read by Alan Mapstone

Saint Brandan

3:53

Read by Yaron Bernstein

The Neckan

3:24

Read by Agnes Robert Behr

The Forsaken Merman

6:15

Read by Yaron Bernstein

Austerity of Poetry

1:19

Read by Bruce Kachuk

East and West

1:17

Read by Bruce Kachuk

East London

1:17

Read by Bruce Kachuk

West London

1:19

Read by Agnes Robert Behr

The Divinity

1:09

Read by Larry Wilson

Immortality

1:08

Read by Larry Wilson

The Good Shepherd with the Kid

1:08

Read by Larry Wilson

Monica's last Prayer

1:10

Read by Larry Wilson

Cadmus and Harmonia

2:13

Read by Yaron Bernstein

Apollo Musagetes

1:59

Read by Yaron Bernstein

Urania

1:53

Read by Agnes Robert Behr

Euphrosyne

1:51

Read by Adrian Stephens

Lines written in Kensington Gardens

3:01

Read by Adrian Stephens

The Scholar Gypsy

16:45

Read by Adrian Stephens

Calais Sands

2:39

Read by Alan Mapstone

Stanzas from Carnac

3:45

Read by Alan Mapstone

The Strayed Reveller

11:09

Read by LibriVox Volunteers

Memorial Verses

5:29

Read by Alan Mapstone