The Poems of Jonathan Swift, Volume One: Free Audiobook and Listening Guide

The Poems of Jonathan Swift, Volume One, credited to Jonathan Swift, 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 The Poems of Jonathan Swift, Volume One by Jonathan Swift. Read in English by Arthur Krolman Sit back and listen to these light-hearted witty rhymes and see the world Jonathan Swift saw -- and maybe recognize your own. Think there is such a thing as corrupt rich guys who pretend they're God's gift to the world? So did Swift. Think some of these types strut around as if calls of nature don't apply to them? So did Swift. In one hilarious poem, he even describes gold diggers fighting over the loaded gentleman's gaseous offerings! His poem On Poetry, A Rhapsody, censored for treasonous mocking of the royal family, is in its rare uncensored form here. As free as he himself is with his sharp tongue against the blackened rich and corrupt , he knows others might have to kiss up to eat. So he includes many verses of advice on how to go about lying for a living, for example, "Your interest lies to learn the knack Of whitening what before was black." Despite the decay and hypocrisy he sees all around him he stays upbeat throughout -- even making fun out of his own tragic onset of deafness. You already know this giant of English literature for the great feast of prose he left us. Think of these delicious poems here as your sinful dessert. - Summary by Arthur Krolman

Recording facts

• Recording title: The Poems of Jonathan Swift, Volume One
• Author credits: Jonathan Swift
• Language: English
• Original MP3 tracks: 121
• Listed recording duration: 9:21:31

Catalogue topics

• 17th century
• British
• satirical
• odes
• scatalogical

Opening tracks: first 24 of 121

1. 001 - Ode to Doctor William Sancroft — 16:02
2. 002 - Ode to Sir William Temple — 11:24
3. 003 - Ode to King William — 3:12
4. 004 - Ode to the Athenian Society — 17:43
5. 005 - To Mr. Congreve — 14:00
6. 006 - Occasioned by Sir William Temple etc. — 10:16
7. 007 - Written in a Lady's Ivory Table Book — 1:52
8. 008 - Mrs. Frances Harris's Petition — 6:45
9. 009 - A Ballad on the Game of Traffic — 1:27
10. 010 - A Ballad to the tune of Cutpurse — 1:48
11. 011 - The Discovery — 2:23
12. 012 - The Problem — 3:41
13. 013 - The Description of a Salamander — 3:39
14. 014 - To Charles Mordaunt, Earl of Peterborough — 1:56
15. 015 - On the Union — 1:16
16. 016 - On Mrs. Biddy Floyd — 1:03
17. 017 - The Reverse — 2:16
18. 018 - Apollo Outwitted — 3:16
19. 019 - Answer to Lines from May Fair — 1:10
20. 020 - Vanbrugh's House ver.1 — 4:26
21. 021 - Vanbrugh's House ver.2 — 6:16
22. 022 - Baucis and Philemon ver.1 — 10:45
23. 023 - Baucis and Philemon ver.2 — 8:28
24. 024 - The History of Vanbrugh's House — 2:27

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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.