Sonnets from the Portuguese: Free Audiobook and Listening Guide

Sonnets from the Portuguese, credited to Elizabeth Barrett Browning, is available as a LibriVox volunteer audiobook. This guide identifies the recording, its source summary and its audio tracks.

About the work

The LibriVox catalogue summary, preserved with the recording, reads:

LibriVox recording of Sonnets from the Portuguese, by Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Read by Sam Stinson. Sonnets from the Portuguese chronicles one of the most famous romances in history. The renowned Victorian poet Elizabeth Barrett wrote the sonnet sequence during her courtship by Robert Browning, and later presented them to him as a wedding gift. Robert was astounded by the quality of the poetry, and encouraged her to publish, but Elizabeth objected on the grounds that the content was too personal. At last, Robert prevailed, and Elizabeth published her sonnets. The title of the book comes from a joke between Robert and Elizabeth Browning. Elizabeth was too embarrassed to publish the sonnets as a personal chronicle, so she decided to pretend they were a translation from a foreign language. Robert’s nickname for her was “My Little Portuguese” due to her dark hair and olive complexion, and so the sequence was forever known as “Sonnets from the Portuguese.” (Summary by Kirsten Ferreri)

Recording facts

• Recording title: Sonnets from the Portuguese
• Author credits: Elizabeth Barrett Browning
• Language: English
• Original MP3 tracks: 4
• Listed recording duration: 42:55

Catalogue topics

• romance
• poetry
• sonnets

Track guide

1. 1 - Chapters 01-10 — 9:53
2. 2 - Chapters 11-20 — 9:19
3. 3 - Chapters 21-30 — 9:52
4. 4 - Chapters 31-44 — 13:52

Listen to this recording

Open the complete recording and player on Internet Archive. The player includes the full track list and available download formats.

Source and rights

This is a record from LibriVox's official Internet Archive collection, with a public-domain licence recorded in its metadata. LibriVox's policy includes its catalogue summaries as well as its recordings. Its public-domain assessment follows United States law; copyright status can differ elsewhere. The summary and track facts are reproduced and reformatted from that record. Dates attached to the archive upload are not treated as original book publication dates.