Poetry audiobooks

The Iliad

By: Homer & Emily Wilson (Translator)

Narrated by: Nathan Brooks

Length: 15 hours 30 minutes

Abridged: No

"The Iliad," attributed to Homer, is an epic poem from the 8th century BC that centers on the dramatic events of the Trojan War. The narrative particularly focuses on the wrath of Achilles, a Greek hero, and explores themes of honor, glory, and the relationship between mortals and deities. This work is often regarded as one of the cornerstones... Read more

Devotions

By: Mary Oliver

Narrated by: Kimberly Farr

Length: 6 hours 19 minutes

Abridged: No

Now a Read With Jenna Book Club Pick

Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Mary Oliver presents a personal selection of her best work in this definitive collection spanning more than five decades of her esteemed literary career.

“I love [Mary's] work. It’s about nature and love and what it means to be human. . . . I find her poetry to be so cathartic... Read more

You Are Here

By: Ada Limon

Narrated by: Kim Ramirez

Length: 2 hours 11 minutes

Abridged: No

In recent years, our poetic landscape has evolved in profound and exciting ways. So has our planet. Edited and introduced by the twenty-fourth Poet Laureate of the United States, Ada Limón, this book challenges what we think we know about "nature poetry," illuminating the myriad ways our landscapes—both literal and literary—are changing.



You Are... Read more

The Totally Not Boring Book of Feelings

By: Jolie Taylor & Brandon Dorman

Narrated by: Jolie Taylor

Length: 50 minutes

Abridged: No

40 fun poems that explore big feelings and emotions. This whimsical journey through verse and illustrations can help children recognize and understand their big emotions. From the imaginative minds of Brandon Dorman, renowned illustrator of Goosebumps, Land of Stories, and Fablehaven, and Booktok creator Jolie Taylor comes a whimsical... Read more

The Odyssey

By: Homer

Narrated by: Ian McKellen

Length: 13 hours 2 minutes

Abridged: No

The Odyssey is literature's grandest evocation of every man's journey through life. In the myths and legends that are retold here, the energy and poetry of Homer's original is captured in a bold, contemporary idiom, giving us an edition of The Odyssey that is a joy to listen to, worth savoring treasuring for its sheer lyrical mastery. This... Read more

Call Us What We Carry

By: Amanda Gorman

Narrated by: Amanda Gorman

Length: 3 hours 31 minutes

Abridged: No

The instant #1 New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today bestseller


The breakout poetry collection by #1 New York Times bestselling author and presidential inaugural poet Amanda Gorman

Formerly titled The Hill We Climb and Other Poems, the luminous poetry collection by #1 New York Times bestselling author and presidential inaugural poet... Read more

Troy

By: Stephen Fry

Narrated by: Stephen Fry

Length: 11 hours 9 minutes

Abridged: No

Brought to you by Penguin.

'An inimitable retelling of the siege of Troy . . . Fry's narrative, artfully humorous and rich in detail, breathes life and contemporary relevance into these ancient tales' -- Observer

THE #1 BESTSELLER.

AN EPIC BATTLE THAT LASTED TEN YEARS. A LEGENDARY STORY THAT HAS SURVIVED THOUSANDS.

'Troy. The most marvellous kingdom... Read more

When Angels Speak of Love

By: bell hooks

Narrated by: Janina Edwards & Cole Arthur Riley

Length: 44 minutes

Abridged: No

Feminist icon bell hooks reminds us of the full spectrum of feeling we spend in love through her inspiring collection of love poetry, with a new introduction by Cole Arthur Riley, author of Black Liturgies.

Written from the heart, When Angels Speak of Love is a book of fifty love poems by bell hooks, one our most beloved public intellectuals, and... Read more

The Poems of T.S. Eliot Read by Jeremy Irons

By: T. S. Eliot

Narrated by: Jeremy Irons

Length: 3 hours 40 minutes

Abridged: No

Originally broadcast on BBC Radio 4, Jeremy Irons's perceptive reading illuminates the poetry of T. S. Eliot in all its complexity. Major poems range from 'The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock', through the post-war desolation of 'The Waste Land' and the spiritual struggle of 'Ash-Wednesday', to the enduring charm of 'Old Possum's Book of... Read more

The Inferno of Dante

By: Dante Alighieri

Narrated by: Seamus Heaney, Frank Bidart & Louise Glück

Length: 5 hours 4 minutes

Abridged: No

Robert Pinsky's new verse translation of the Inferno makes it clear to the contemporary listener, as no other in English has done, why Dante is universally considered a poet of great power, intensity, and strength. This critically acclaimed translation was awarded the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Poetry and the Harold Morton Landon... Read more

Helen of Troy, 1993

By: Maria Zoccola

Narrated by: Maria Zoccola

Length: 1 hour 50 minutes

Abridged: No

*A New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice Pick*

“By turns hilarious and provocative, it’s an affecting character study and modern mythic retelling.” —Publishers Weekly, Books That Should Be on Your Radar in 2025

Part myth retelling, part character study, this sharp, visceral debut poetry collection reimagines Helen of Troy from Homer’s... Read more

Beowulf: A New Translation

By: Maria Dahvana Headley

Narrated by: JD Jackson & Maria Dahvana Headley

Length: 4 hours 8 minutes

Abridged: No

"Narrator JD Jackson addresses his listener as "bro" in this decidedly contemporary retelling of the classic saga...His brilliant performance captures all the artistry, wit, and immediacy of this fresh translation, and breathes new life into what for most has been a literary fossil." -- AudioFile Magazine, Earphones Award winner

A new,... Read more

The World Keeps Ending, and the World Goes On

By: Franny Choi

Narrated by: Franny Choi

Length: 1 hour 59 minutes

Abridged: No

From acclaimed poet Franny Choi comes a poetry collection for the ends of worlds—past, present, and future. Choi’s third book features poems about historical and impending apocalypses, alongside musings on our responsibilities to each other and visions for our collective survival.Many have called our time dystopian. But The World Keeps Ending,... Read more

Time Is a Mother

By: Ocean Vuong

Narrated by: Ocean Vuong

Length: 1 hour 43 minutes

Abridged: No

"Take your time with these poems, and return to them often.” —The Washington Post

The New York Times-bestselling collection of poems from the award-winning writer Ocean Vuong

How else do we return to ourselves but to fold
The page so it points to the good part
 
In this deeply intimate second poetry collection, Ocean Vuong searches for life among... Read more

A Fortune For Your Disaster

By: Hanif Abdurraqib

Narrated by: Hanif Abdurraqib

Length: 1 hour 36 minutes

Abridged: No

In his much-anticipated follow-up to The Crown Ain't Worth Much, poet, essayist, biographer, and music critic Hanif Abdurraqib has written a book of poems about how one rebuilds oneself after a heartbreak, the kind that renders them a different version of themselves than the one they knew. It's a book about a mother's death, and admitting that... Read more

The Hurting Kind

By: Ada Limón

Narrated by: Ada Limón

Length: 1 hour 41 minutes

Abridged: No

An astonishing collection about interconnectedness—between the human and nonhuman, ancestors and ourselves—from National Book Critics Circle Award winner, National Book Award finalist and U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón.“I have always been too sensitive, a weeper / from a long line of weepers,” writes Limón. “I am the hurting kind.” What does it... Read more

How to Be a Good Savage and Other Poems

By: Mikeas Sánchez

Narrated by: Mikeas Sánchez, Wendy Call & Shook

Length: 3 hours 47 minutes

Abridged: No

The latest in the Seedbank series, the debut in English of a groundbreaking Indigenous poet of the Americas.In a fiercely personal yet authoritative voice, prolific contemporary poet Mikeas Sánchez explores the worldview of the Zoque people of southern Mexico. Her paced, steely lyrics fuse cosmology, lineage, feminism, and environmental activism... Read more

Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude

By: Ross Gay

Narrated by: Ross Gay

Length: 1 hour 35 minutes

Abridged: No

Winner, 2015 National Book Critics Circle Award, poetry category
Winner, 2016 Kingsley Tufts Poetry Prize
Finalist, 2015 National Book Award, poetry category
Finalist, 2015 NAACP Image Awards, poetry category

Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude is a sustained meditation on that which goes away—loved ones, the seasons, the earth as we know it—that... Read more

Black Girl, Call Home

By: Jasmine Mans

Narrated by: Jasmine Mans

Length: 1 hour 50 minutes

Abridged: No

A Most Anticipated Book of 2021 by Oprah Magazine • Vulture • Essence • Elle • Cosmopolitan • Real Simple • Refinery 29 • She Reads • The Everygirl • Career Contessa

“You are carrying in your hands a Black woman’s heart.”—Jericho Brown, author of Pulitzer Prize winner The Tradition

“[Mans’] lucid and lyrical lines are as undeniable as those of a... Read more

The Death of Sitting Bear

By: N. Scott Momaday

Narrated by: N. Scott Momaday

Length: 2 hours 28 minutes

Abridged: No

Pulitzer Prize winner and celebrated American master N. Scott Momaday returns with a radiant collection of more than 200 new and selected poems rooted in Native American tradition. 

“The poems in this book reflect my deep respect for and appreciation of words. . . . I believe that poetry is the highest form of verbal expression. Although I have... Read more

Goldenrod

By: Maggie Smith

Narrated by: Maggie Smith

Length: 1 hour 5 minutes

Abridged: No

NATIONAL BESTSELLER * NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY NPR

“To read Maggie Smith is to embrace the achingly precious beauty of the present moment.” —Time
“A captivating collection from a wise, accessible poet.” —People

From the award-winning poet and bestselling author of You Could Make This Place Beautiful, Keep Moving, and Good Bones, a... Read more

When the Dark Spoke to Me

By: Christabelle Marbun

Narrated by: Christabelle Marbun

Length: 1 hour 11 minutes

Abridged: No

A profound poetry collection shrouded in tenderness and empathy, created to comfort the growing pains we all experience in life.
Teen breakout poet Christabelle Grace Marbun brings her latest collection When the Dark Spoke to Me to life through words wise beyond her years. Her uniquely positive perspective on life, death, and everything in... Read more

Small Cures

By: Della Hicks-Wilson

Narrated by: Della Hicks-Wilson

Length: 41 minutes

Abridged: No

From the British viral poet Della Hicks-Wilson comes an empowering and lyrical collection of short, interconnected poems about the heart, letting go, and a healing love, that readers can carry and quote for a lifetime.
Small Cures is at once a compelling reminder to anyone struggling with heartbreak, mental health, or trauma, that they are not... Read more

How to Fly (In Ten Thousand Easy Lessons)

By: Barbara Kingsolver

Narrated by: Barbara Kingsolver

Length: 2 hours 12 minutes

Abridged: No

""A gorgeous collection. . . . These poems unplug from TV and social media and the outrage of the moment and turn our attention to the immediate and the everlasting, human intimacy and the power and mystery of nature."" —Tampa Bay TimesIn this intimate collection, Barbara Kingsolver, beloved author of The Poisonwood Bible and the Pulitzer... Read more