Adam McCune
· Classic Literature Read Aloud ·
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Browse by theme
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^ Classic Love Poems
- Solomon, “Make me a seal upon your heart” from Song of Songs (10th century BC)
translated by Adam F McCune - Verse translation with facing original Hebrew
- Read aloud
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- “Shu is Away” (c. 800-500 BC)
translated by Arthur Waley - Text
- Read aloud
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- Sappho, “Beauty” (c. 600 BC)
translated by Dante Gabriel Rossetti - Text
- Read aloud
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- Catullus, “Vivamus” (1st century BC)
an ancient love poem beginning “let us live and love” (Catullus 5)
translated by Adam F McCune - Verse translation with facing original Latin
- Read aloud
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- “Of Every Kind of Tree” (13th-14th century)
an anonymous medieval love poem
translated by Adam F McCune - Verse translation with facing original Middle English
- Read aloud
- Sung to a tune by Adam F McCune
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- Geoffrey Chaucer, “Love is Patient” (14th century)
from the Franklin’s Tale
translated by Adam F McCune - Verse translation with facing original Middle English
- Read aloud
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- William Shakespeare, “When, in disgrace with Fortune and men’s eyes” (1609)
- Text
- Read aloud
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- Robert Herrick, “Upon Julia’s Clothes” (1648)
- Text
- Read aloud
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- Anne Bradstreet, “To My Dear and Loving Husband” (1678)
- Text
- Read aloud
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- Elizabeth Barrett Browning, “Say over again, and yet once over again” (1850)
- Text
- Read aloud
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- Emily Dickinson, “Wild Nights!” (1891)
- Text
- Read aloud
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^ Classic Christmas Literature
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- He Was Pierced for Our Transgressions (Isaiah 52:13-53:12; 8th-6th c. BC; ESV)
You may recognize portions of this classic text from their appearance (KJV translation) in Handel’s Messiah, which follows the New Testament writers, who see Isaiah’s prophecy fulfilled in Jesus Christ (e.g., Acts 8:32-35; 1 Peter 2:21-25).
- Text
- Read aloud
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- The Word Became Flesh (John 1:1-18; 1st century AD; ESV)
The Gospel of John opens with this lyrical passage about God the Son, the divine Word, becoming incarnate as a man, Jesus Christ. - Text
- Read aloud
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- The Birth of Jesus (Luke 2:1-21; 1st century AD; KJV)
The Gospel of Luke gives the only detailed description of Jesus’s birth in the New Testament, including the birth outside the crowded inn, where there was no place for the newborn but a feed trough, and the angelic announcement to the shepherds. - Text
- Read aloud
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- The Wise Men Visit Jesus (Matthew 2:1-12; 1st century AD; KJV)
The Gospel of Matthew provides the only account in the New Testament of the magi or wise men who visit the young Jesus, including the star that leads them to Jesus, the jealous king Herod, and the gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. - Text
- Read aloud
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- Saint Nicholas Saves Three Innocent Men (c. 400 AD)
Perhaps the first legend of St. Nicholas, this episode from The Military Officers, translated by Charles W. Jones, describes St. Nicholas saving innocent men from execution. - Text
- Read aloud
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- Saint Nicholas and the Three Gifts (Michael the Archimandrite, 9th century)
The story of St. Nicholas and the three gifts is excerpted from the earliest full biography of St. Nicholas, Michael the Archimandrite’s Life of Saint Nicholas (between 814 and 842 AD), sections 10-18. It describes an impoverished father who in desperation plans to put his daughters in a brothel, but St. Nicholas secretly throws bags of gold through their window at night to provides dowries so the girls can be married. - Text
- Text (abridged)
- Read aloud (abridged version)
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- St. Nicholas against Arius the heretic (legends from the 9th, 14th, & 16th centuries)
These three legends of St. Nicholas briefly describe his dedication to the doctrine of the Trinity and his rejection of Arius’s heresy, from a relatively early account of Nicholas teaching against heresy, to a very late legend of Nicholas violently challenging Arius himself in person at the Council of Nicea, the council that would go on to confirm Christian Trinitarian doctrine. - Text
- Read aloud
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- Clement C. Moore, “’Twas the Night Before Christmas” (1823)
Clement C. Moore’s “’Twas the Night Before Christmas” (originally titled “Account of a Visit from St. Nicholas”) paints the iconic picture of Santa Claus riding his flying sleigh and filling stockings. - Text
- Read aloud
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- Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol (1843)
The money-driven Ebenezer Scrooge learns to open his heart to his nephew, his clerk, and those less fortunate than himself after he is shown visions of the past, present, and future by three spirits. - Text
- Read aloud
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- “Earth and the Heavens” (1913)
a Russian variant of a traditional Ukrainian Christmas carol
translated by Adam F McCune - Verse translation with facing original Russian
- Sung in English
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- A.A. Milne, King John’s Christmas (1927)
A.A. Milne’s classic children’s poem, “King John’s Christmas,” from the collection Now We Are Six, tells the story of “bad King John” and his longing for a Christmas present.
- Text
- Read aloud
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- Dylan Thomas, A Child’s Christmas in Wales (1952)
Brief reminiscences of childhood Christmases: snow, sweets, presents, music, aunts, uncles, postmen, firemen, other children. - Dylan Thomas. A Child’s Christmas in Wales. New Directions, 1954.
- Read aloud
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- J.R.R. Tolkien, Father Christmas and the Goblins (1932)
J.R.R. Tolkien’s Letters from Father Christmas, written to his children, include this 1932 letter about Father Christmas and his friends the North Polar Bear and Cave Bear encountering the goblins and their caves at the North Pole.
- J.R.R. Tolkien. Letters from Father Christmas. Edited by Baillie Tolkien.
- Read aloud
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