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Poetry Please

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Poetry Please

By: Adjoa Andoh
Narrated by: Anton Lesser
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About this listen

BBC Radio 4's Poetry Please is the longest-running broadcast of verse anywhere in the world. First aired in 1979, the programme, a request show which broadcasts to two million listeners a week, has become a unique record of the country's best-loved poems over the decades since its inception. The BBC has looked back through its rich archive of recordings to produce a poll of the most asked-for and most broadcast pieces ever: 50 of those poems are read here by Adjoa Andoh and Anton Lesser, both regular voices for the programme. The selection includes poems by : Elizabeth Barrett Browning, William Blake, Rupert Brooke, Lord Byron, G.K. Chesterton, T. S. Eliot, Robert Frost, John Keats, Edward Lear, Sylvia Plath, Christina Rossetti, William Shakespeare, Dylan Thomas, William Wordsworth, and W.B. Yeats

Public Domain (P)2014 Faber Audio Poetry

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All stars
Most relevant  
The performances & quality is great but as ever there's no index just Chapter 1, Chapter 2 etc... So you can't pick individual poems or even know what poems it contains. Spoils it.

No titles for Poems

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What did you like most about Poetry Please?

So far I have enjoyed the chosen poems selected, the pace it is read. I kept my attention to the details described, which always a good sign of a good buy.

Who was your favorite character and why?

The poem I enjoyed was not based a particular character but rather the character of the town- Cambridge, the behaviour of the people down the behaviour of the trees branches.

What does Anton Lesser bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?

As he sounds well read, he is able to bring meaning to words making it very clear to imagine. He uses expressions which keeps your ear close and attentive.

If you made a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

Poetry Fans fabulous favourites.

Listen to the words tentively spoken- Poetry

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An excellent selection of some of the best poetry. Very well read, in particular by Anton Lesser - a reader who I could listen to all day.

Good

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Great variety of poems but not Index! NO INDEX! So how do you find what you want to listen to?

Great Selection

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I first bought the audiobook and then later the Kindle edition, which has exactly the same cover and exactly the same poems. However, the e-book has an additional 300 poems (350 in total). While the description of the audiobook does say it contains only 50 poems, the more prominent title section says it is unabridged. I had already listened to most of the audiobook before I wanted to check the precise wording of a poem in the e-book. It was only then that I realised 300 poems had not made it into the audio version. If they ever want to put out the audio version of all 350 poems, I will be first in line.

Not unabridged?

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I truly loved it.
Wonderful, clear narration overflowing with emotions.
I would highly recommend to anyone.

Inspiring

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Worth getting for the poems read by Anton Lesser. He has a natural understanding of poetry and soul in his readings. I listen to his contributions over and over again and haven't tired yet.

Adjoa Andoh's readings suffer in contrast. She undeniably has the beat and rythmn right each time but I'm sorry to say there's a lack of feeling in her readings. I’m bewildered as to why anyone thought she was suitable for this gig. I ended up skipping over her readings.

However, Lesser is made for this and I was hooked from his first reading of Dover Beach to the end of the book.

More of Lesser

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Did, so sad. I am afraid the reader destroyed this poem, a favourite since my schooldays, 60 years ago. Dreadful. Not encompassing the beauty of the poem with understanding.

Granchester

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Adjoa has a pleasant voice but has either no ear at all for the rhythm and cadences of the poetry or a determination to attempt a very different approach. Listening is an agony.

Dreadful performance

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