Audio only
Length1h 35m
About this audiobook
Simon Armitage narrates a complete verse translation of this spirited and humorous medieval English poem
The Owl and the Nightingale, one of the earliest literary works in Middle English, is a lively, anonymous comic poem about two birds who embark on a war of words in a wood, with a nearby poet reporting their argument in rhyming couplets, line by line and blow by blow. In this engaging and energetic verse translation, Simon Armitage captures the verve and humor of this dramatic tale with all the cut and thrust of the original.
In an agile iambic tetrameter that skillfully amplifies the prosody and rhythm of the original, Armitage's translation moves entertainingly from the eloquent and philosophical to the ribald and ridiculous. Sounding at times like antagonists in a Twitter feud, the owl and the nightingale quarrel about a host of subjects that still resonate today—including love, marriage, identity, cultural background, class distinctions, and the right to be heard. Adding to the playful, raucous mood of the barb-trading birds is Armitage, who at one point inserts himself into the poem as a "magistrate . . . to adjudicate"—one who is "skilled with words & worldly wise / & frowns on every form of vice."
Featuring the Middle English text on facing pages and an introduction by Armitage, this volume will delight readers of all ages.
Audiobook details
GenrePoetry, Literary Classics
Length1 hr 35 mins
Narrated bySimon Armitage
FormatAudiobook
Publish dateMay 24, 2022
LanguageEnglish
Table of contents
1Opening Anno, Introduction, The Owl and the Nightingale
4Acknowledgments
2The Owl and the Nightingale
5Closing Anno
3The Owl and the Nightingale
Series
Emily DickinsonEmily Dickinson5h 23m$16
A Visit From Saint NicholasClement Clarke Moore3m$2 · $0.00
The Complete Poetical Works of Edgar Allan Poe (Illustrated)Edgar Allan Poe18h 31m$2 · $0.00
Stranger MusicLeonard Cohen5h 45m$20
The Essential Rumi, New Expanded EditionJalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi9h 24m$20
The Complete Works of Robert Burns: Containing his Poems, Songs, and CorrespondenceRobert Burns, Allan Cunningham40h 22m$2 · $0.00
Saundarya LahariUnknown Author3h 16m$18 · $0.00
Songs of a SourdoughRobert W. Service2h 13m$1 · $0.00
The Poems of LeopardiGiacomo Leopardi3h 6m$2 · $0.00
The Complete Works of Rabindranath TagoreRabindranath Tagore65h 58m$2 · $0.00
I Hope This Finds You WellKate Baer50m$6 · $0.00
Nikki Giovanni: Love Poems & A Good CryNikki Giovanni2h 44m$18 · $0.00
Vulnerable AFTarriona “Tank” Ball42m$4
Dear MotherBunmi Laditan1h 4m$12 · $0.00
Parables of the Christ-lifeI. Lilias Trotter1h 9m$1 · $0.00
The Complete Poetry of Walt WhitmanWalt Whitman19h$2 · $0.00
The Odes of John Keats - Complete CollectionJohn Keats22h 16m$1 · $0.00
Wilfred Owen: The Selected PoemsWilfred Owen30m$3 · $0.00
This Wound Is a WorldBilly-Ray Belcourt1h 6m$15
Tao Te ChingStephen Mitchell, Lao Tzu1h 42m$16 · $0.00
The Complete Works of Fyodor Dostoyevsky: Novels, Short Stories and Autobiographical WritingsFyodor Dostoyevsky271h 27m$2 · $0.00
The Complete Works: Charlotte, Emily, Anne, Patrick & Branwell BrontëCharlotte Brontë, Anne Brontë, Emily Brontë138h 12m$1 · $0.00
L. M. Montgomery – Premium Collection: Novels, Short Stories, Poetry & MemoirsLucy Maud Montgomery155h 55m$2 · $0.00
MARK TWAIN: 12 Novels, 195 Short Stories, Autobiography, 10 Travel Books, 160+ Essays & Speeches (Illustrated)Mark Twain416h 24m5 (2)$2 · $0.00
The Great Gatsby: Original 1925 Edition (An F. Scott Fitzgerald Classic NovelFrancis Scott Fitzgerald4h 45m$18 · $0.00
The Complete Works of TolstoyLeo Tolstoy412h 44m$1 · $0.00
Louisa May Alcott: 16 Novels in One Volume (Illustrated Edition)Louisa May Alcott141h 35m$2 · $0.00
The Fire Next TimeJames Baldwin2h 25m$15
The Complete Works of Oscar WildeOscar Wilde80h 38m$1 · $0.00
The Complete Books of F. Scott Fitzgerald (all his 5 novels + all 4 short story collections published during his lifetime)F. Scott Fitzgerald86h 48m$2 · $0.00
The Count of Monte Cristo (With Original Illustrations)Alexandre Dumas54h 7m$1 · $0.00
Braving the TruthRachel Held Evans11h 31m$29 · $0.00
Richard Wagamese SelectedRichard Wagamese3h 14m$15
Shōgun, Part OneJames Clavell24h 19m$35
Henry V (The Play, Historical Background and Analysis of the Character in the Play)William Shakespeare, William Hazlitt8h 40m$1 · $0.00
Pathways to LightPrakash Amte7h 6m$8
The North American Indian (Illustrated Edition)Edward S. Curtis, Frederick Webb Hodge6h$2 · $0.00
The Holy BibleKing James99h 50m$12 · $0.00
The Complete Novels of the Brontë Sisters (8 Novels: Jane Eyre, Shirley, Villette, The Professor, Emma, Wuthering Heights, Agnes Grey and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall)Charlotte Brontë, Emily Brontë, Anne Brontë118h 9m$2 · $0.00
The Greatest Works of Jules VerneJules Verne247h 39m$2 · $0.00
You may also like
Mr. Punch's Book of SportVarious2h 17m$2 · $0.00
The Complete Works of Robert Burns: Containing his Poems, Songs, and CorrespondenceAllan Cunningham42h 11m$2 · $0.00
The Complete Works of Robert Burns: Containing his Poems, Songs, and CorrespondenceRobert Burns, Allan Cunningham43h 7m$1 · $0.00
The Works of Charles and Mary Lamb (Vol. 1-6)Charles Lamb, Mary Lamb115h 35m$2 · $0.00
Echo De ParisLaurence Housman54m$2.40
A line-o'-verse or twoBert Leston Taylor1h 37m$1 · $0.00
Alarms and DiscursionsGilbert Keith Chesterton5h 19m$2 · $0.00
Eminent Authors of the Nineteenth Century: Literary PortraitsGeorg Brandes13h 54m$2 · $0.00
Wine, Water, and SongG. K. Chesterton36m$2.30
Old and New MastersRobert Lynd6h 35m$1 · $0.00
An Essay on CriticismAlexander Pope56m$2 · $0.00
Through the Year with Famous AuthorsMabel Patterson3h 22m$2 · $0.00
Ariosto, Shakespeare and CorneilleBenedetto Croce7h 30m$1 · $0.00
Chaucer for Children: A Golden KeyGeoffrey Chaucer5h 41m$1 · $0.00
The Satires, Epistles, and Art of Poetry of HoraceHorace6h 1m$1 · $0.00
Portraits of Curious Characters in London, &c. &cAnonymous1h 36m$1 · $0.00
The Congo, and Other PoemsVachel Lindsay2h 26m$1 · $0.00
A Boswell of Baghdad; With DiversionsE. V. Lucas5h 25m$2 · $0.00
The Goodness of St. Rocque, and Other StoriesAlice Moore Dunbar-Nelson3h 14m$1 · $0.00
Odette: A Fairy Tale for Weary PeopleRonald Firbank1h 5m$1 · $0.00