Sonnets


Read by Bruce Kachuk

This is an excellent selection of introspective, inspirational and remarkably compelling sonnets from one of the greatest poets of the nineteenth century. Christina Rossetti, in writing of the frailties of mankind and the mysteries of existence, sheds a new light on the nature of love, life and the inevitable "silent land".

The lattice of sentient awareness which like a web unites and unifies this collection is one of an indulgent perception of life and its diversity, of human emotion and its capriciousness and of a deep conception of death and its intangible illusion of finality. This illusion, indefinable as it is, becomes an enigma in the hands of Rossetti, often becoming an ambiguity, at times a fantasy and on occasion almost a dismal reality.

These poems, these snapshots of life, these glimpses of the pathos of the here and the mystery of the hereafter are assured to fascinate, allure and indeed perplex, motivate and inspire. Hope and faith, to which the human condition is wont to aspire are ever present in Rossetti's poems, along with the assurance that, "death be strong, yet love is strong as death." Foremost components of Rossetti's concept of hope and faith are that love can prevail, love can promise and love can unite, "happy equals in the flowering land / Of love, that knows not a dividing sea." And if fate decrees a parting should take place between those who love, Rossetti has issued the memorable, inspiring, albeit arduous entreaty, "Better by far you should forget and smile / Than that you should remember and be sad."
- Summary by Bruce Kachuk (1 hr 4 min)

Chapters

Song 1:10 Read by Bruce Kachuk
A Pause 1:23 Read by Bruce Kachuk
After Death 1:20 Read by Bruce Kachuk
An Echo From Willow-Wood 1:20 Read by Bruce Kachuk
Sonnet 1:14 Read by Bruce Kachuk
Sonnet 1:18 Read by Bruce Kachuk
Sonnet 1:16 Read by Bruce Kachuk
Rest 1:15 Read by Bruce Kachuk
Immalee 1:16 Read by Bruce Kachuk
Venus's Looking Glass 1:18 Read by Bruce Kachuk
Love Lies Bleeding 1:28 Read by Bruce Kachuk
Touching Never 1:19 Read by Bruce Kachuk
Remember 1:09 Read by Bruce Kachuk
Resurgam 1:22 Read by Bruce Kachuk
From the Psalms 1:20 Read by Bruce Kachuk
A Portrait 1:22 Read by Bruce Kachuk
Son, Remember 1:22 Read by Bruce Kachuk
Who Have a Form of Godliness 1:20 Read by Bruce Kachuk
One Certainty 1:16 Read by Bruce Kachuk
Sonnet 1:19 Read by Bruce Kachuk
Sonnet 1:25 Read by Bruce Kachuk
Sonnet 1:15 Read by Bruce Kachuk
Sonnet 1:23 Read by Bruce Kachuk
Sonnet 1:25 Read by Bruce Kachuk
Sonnet 1:22 Read by Bruce Kachuk
Vanity of Vanities 1:16 Read by Bruce Kachuk
From Sunset to Star Rise 1:17 Read by Bruce Kachuk
Sonnet 1:27 Read by Bruce Kachuk
By Way of Remembrance 1:24 Read by Bruce Kachuk
Lady Montrevor 1:20 Read by Bruce Kachuk
Babylon the Great 1:24 Read by Bruce Kachuk
In an Artist's Studio 1:19 Read by Bruce Kachuk
A Triad 1:20 Read by Bruce Kachuk
A Soul 1:22 Read by Bruce Kachuk
To Every Seed His Own Body 1:23 Read by Bruce Kachuk
The Thread of Life 1:28 Read by Bruce Kachuk
Monna Innominata - A Sonnet of Sonnets 14:34 Read by Bruce Kachuk
The End of the First Part 2:14 Read by Bruce Kachuk