Audio and video resources, including recitations, dramatizations, music, video tours, and more, about or related to classic literature.
In “I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General” from The Pirates of Penzance, Gilbert and Sullivan’s character introduces himself by presenting an absurdly detailed résumé in the musical form of a “patter...
Audio / Video / Writer's Handbook
by Janice Campbell · Published April 8, 2020 · Last modified April 21, 2021
The Hero’s Journey is a classic story structure in which someone — often an unlikely hero — is called to adventure. Through the help of a mentor, he/she crosses to a challenging and unfamiliar...
The daguerreotype, an early photographic process, was invented by French artist and photographer Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre. Introduced in 1830, it was the first publicly available photographic process but was superseded by less complicated processes in...
by Janice Campbell · Published December 15, 2015 · Last modified March 6, 2021
“A cold coming we had of it . . . “ Journey of the Magi, by T. S. Eliot Here are two readings of “Journey of the Magi” by T. S. Eliot. The first reading...
Audio / Video / Biography / Classics-Based Writing Resource / E1-Resources / E2-Resources / E4-Resources
by EILeditor · Published October 24, 2015 · Last modified February 5, 2021
Why do William Shakespeare’s plays still touch us today? This Renaissance playwright, poet, and actor had a unique way with words and a timeless grasp of human nature. His works are considered to be...
Audio / Video / Classics-Based Writing Resource / Elocution
by Janice Campbell · Published September 28, 2015 · Last modified October 24, 2015
“All the World’s a Stage:” the Seven Ages of Man monologue from As You Like It by William Shakespeare All the world’s a stage, And all the men and women merely players; They...
Art / Audio / Video / E5-Resources
by EILeditor · Published January 16, 2015 · Last modified April 24, 2021
Gary Bembridge offers a short video tour of the beautiful Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia. The State Hermitage Museum is a museum of art and culture in Saint Petersburg, Russia. One of the largest and oldest museums in the world,...
by EILeditor · Published December 10, 2014 · Last modified October 8, 2018
F. Scott Fitzgerald Audio Recordings Listen to these 1940s recordings of F. Scott Fitzgerald reading and reciting famous literature — he has a magnificent, magical voice that seems to give insight into his works...
In the Bleak Midwinter by Christina Georgina Rossetti In the bleak midwinter Frosty wind made moan, Earth stood hard as iron, Water like a stone; Snow had fallen, snow on snow, Snow on snow,...
Audio / Video / Classics-Based Writing Resource / Poetry
by Janice Campbell · Published November 3, 2014 · Last modified June 4, 2020
The Wild Swans at Coole by William Butler Yeats Written between 1916 and early 1917, “The Wild Swans at Coole” is a lyric poem by Irish poet William Butler Yeats. Literary scholar Daniel Tobin suggests...
Audio / Video / Classics-Based Writing Resource
by EILeditor · Published October 7, 2014 · Last modified December 23, 2020
How should a soliloquy be performed? It starts with reading thoughtfully and with understanding; then thinking about the text and what the audience will need to understand. In this clip from British television, c....
Richard Austin Recites Hopkins’ Poetry Richard Austin grew up in the same corner of England as Gerard Manley Hopkins. Thus blessed with the correct native accent, he now recites Hopkins’ poetry all over the...
Dr. Sebastian Mahfood has kindly shared these Dante videos with us: he has made a short video reflection on each canto of Dante’s Inferno. We hope you find these helpful in your studies. If...
by EILeditor · Published June 10, 2014 · Last modified September 10, 2019
Dr. Mahfood reflects on cantos 32-34, which cover Circle 9 of Hell in Dante’s Inferno. Please be aware that this is a challenging work with complex and mature themes. These optional video explanations contain...
Dr. Mahfood reflects on cantos 18 – 31, which cover Circle 8 of Hell in Dante’s Inferno. Please be aware that this is a challenging work with complex and mature themes. These optional video...
Dr. Mahfood reflects on cantos 12 – 17, which cover Circle 7 of Hell in Dante’s Inferno. (See the end of Canto 11 for the entrance into Circle 7.) Please be aware that this...
Dr. Mahfood reflects on cantos 4 – 11, which go through Circles 1-6 of Hell in Dante’s Inferno. Please be aware that this is a challenging work with complex and mature themes. These optional...
Dr. Mahfood shares his insights on the first three cantos (the Dark Wood and Gate of Hell) in Dante’s Inferno. Please be aware that this is a challenging work with complex and mature themes....
by Janice Campbell · Published May 12, 2014 · Last modified December 30, 2022
Have you ever read Dante’s Divine Comedy? It is a three-part book-length Italian narrative poem that tells of Dante’s journey through the Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso, and it’s considered one of the greatest works...
by EILeditor · Published April 8, 2014 · Last modified December 12, 2020
Shakespeare was, of course, a master of the written word.It’s precisely because of this, though, that people forget that much of his work was originally meant to be performed, not merely read. Sometimes it...
by EILeditor · Published April 8, 2014 · Last modified December 13, 2020
Among the composers mentioned in Willa Cather’s Death Comes for the Archbishop are Giuseppe Verdi, Johann Sebastian Bach, and Stephen Foster. Here are a few works of theirs to enjoy; your library may have other...
by Janice Campbell · Published April 7, 2014 · Last modified December 12, 2020
Heart of Darkness Opera Composer Tarik O’Regan has written a chamber opera based on Joseph Conrad’s novella, Heart of Darkness. Here is a video interview in which the composer discusses the process of creating...
by Janice Campbell · Published April 3, 2014 · Last modified December 9, 2020
Music in the Brontë Sisters’ World Music and musical appreciation were, in the time of the Brontë sisters, considered to be part of the general set of “feminine accomplishments”. As the daughters of an Anglican...
by Janice Campbell · Published April 3, 2014 · Last modified December 9, 2020
Listen to “A White Heron” “A White Heron,” an 1886 short story by American author Sarah Orne Jewett, features Sylvia, a young girl who comes from a big city to live in the country...
by Janice Campbell · Published April 3, 2014 · Last modified December 9, 2020
“The Ransom of Red Chief” Dramatized O. Henry is the pseudonym of American author William Sydney Porter, who is best known for his funny, warm, short stories with surprise endings. In the video below, Shep O’Neal...
by Janice Campbell · Published April 3, 2014 · Last modified December 9, 2020
Although suspenseful music accompanies this 1952 dramatization, “The Purloined Letter” by American author Edgar Allan Poe lacks the element of horror found in most of Poe’s other short stories. Instead, this is one of...
by Janice Campbell · Published April 3, 2014 · Last modified December 9, 2020
“The Diamond Necklace” (La Parure) is a short story by French author Guy de Maupassant, considered a master of the form. A 19th-century Naturalist author, de Maupassant was a protégé of Gustave Flaubert and...
Audio / Video / Classics-Based Writing Resource / E4-Resources / Poetry
by Janice Campbell · Published March 31, 2014 · Last modified February 26, 2021
Sonnet VII: How soon hath Time, the Subtle Thief of Youth ON HIS BEING ARRIVED AT THE AGE OF 23. by John Milton How soon hath Time, the subtle thief of youth, Stol’n on...
Audio / Video / Classics-Based Writing Resource / Poetry
by Janice Campbell · Published January 31, 2014 · Last modified December 30, 2022
“How They Brought the Good News from Ghent to Aix” is a vivid and evocative story poem is characteristic of Robert Browning’s dramatic verse. In the first video at the bottom of this post, he...
by EILeditor · Published January 28, 2014 · Last modified February 25, 2021
The madrigal, a polyphonic musical composition usually sung a capella, was a type of secular Renaissance music that would have been familiar to writers such as Edmund Spenser. Madrigals usually feature the words of...
Here’s the Everyday Educator — our annual newsletter handout. It has book lists and helpful articles about homeschooling topics. We’d rather be sharing it in person, but for now, you can download the Everyday Educator here. I hope you enjoy it!
Resources
