The Spoken Word: American Poets (British Library - British Library Sound Archive)

 This incredible three-CD set drawn from the archives of the BBC captures the voices of poets from the twentieth century, one of the most prolific and significant periods in American letters.

Capturing the enormous energy and variety in American poetry at this time, the compilation includes recordings of Robert Frost, E. E. Cummings, William Carlos Williams, Ezra Pound, Robinson Jeffers, Langston Hughes,Wallace Stevens, Conrad Aiken, Archibald MacLeish, Ogden Nash, Theodore Roethke, John Berryman, Allen Ginsberg, John Ashbery, Anne Sexton, Adrienne Rich, and Gregory Corso. Each of the thirty poets gathered here is heard reading his or her own work.

            These unique broadcasts are a wonderful collector’s item for aspiring poets and fans of American poetry.

            “After spending a few hours reveling in this diverse collection, there will be voices in the listener's head . . . the voices of the women and men who shaped the twentieth century with the written versions of their words.”—Chicago Tribune, on The Spoken Word: American Writers