Denis Daly

Zen Buddhism and Its Relation to Art, written by Arthur Waley, explores the profound influence of Zen philosophy on the artistic traditions of East Asia. Waley delves into the spiritual and aesthetic principles of Zen Buddhism, demonstrating how they are reflected in various forms of art, including painting, calligraphy, and architecture. Through a thoughtful analysis of Zen teachings and key artistic works, Waley elucidates the connections between...

Paul Carus (1852-1919) was a scholar, translator, and researcher into comparative religion. He was a prolific author, producing works on philosophy, mathematics, and science as well as translations of major Chinese and Japanese spiritual classics. Carus was a pioneer in the promotion of inter-religious dialogue and was a speaker at the World Parliament of Religions held in Chicago, in 1893. Although he refused to ally himself with a specific religious...

Fairies and Fusiliers By Robert Graves Narrated by Denis Daly Poet, soldier, novelist, translator and critic Robert Graves (1895 - 1985) was deeply familiar with both war and death. Three times during his life Graves was considered to be on the point of death due to serious illness. One of these was after his participation in the Battle of the Somme, after which he had been actually pronounced dead due to severe wounding. Graves enlisted as soon...

There were two major influences on Byron's poetry. One was the romantic, which he shared with his friends, Coleridge and Shelley; the other was the eighteenth-century Augustan mode, of which Alexander Pope was the greatest master. Byron's natural facility with rhyme and metre enabled him to be very prolific, and some critics considered that this precocity resulted in a certain shallowness and facile charm. However, much of Byron's verse displays both...

This collection contains miscellaneous notes and fragments found after the death of Baudelaire. They reveal in miniature the many and varied aspects of the moral and intellectual life of the author. Included are reflections not only on poetry, but also on painting and music, displaying Baudelaire's finely-honed critical instincts.

Short Poems of John Milton With a preface by Samuel Thurber Narrated by Denis Daly While the issues of the day that consumed the attention of scholar, accomplished linguist, politician and severe Puritan, John Milton (1608 - 1674) are now largely of historical interest, the verse which they inspired remains a staple of English literature. Although he is best known today for his poetic epics, Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained, Milton was also...

Unlike his more famous fellow war poets, Wilfred Owen and Rupert Brooke, Siegfried Sassoon survived the First World War. In this collection of 64 poems, first published in 1920, Sassoon portrays the dehumanizing horror of modern warfare with its staggering death toll, while also satiring the jingoistic fervour of politicians and armchair strategists. Sassoon's own war service fell into two distinct periods. The first was marked by a number of heroic...

William Wordsworth belonged to a chosen band of poets for whom poetry was a priesthood, which is displayed by his unerring devotion to his art. He nourished his unique poetic gift by daily intimacy with Nature. It is Wordworth's peculiar achievement to reveal the impulses at work behind the outward beauty of Nature, and to manifest its sustaining influence upon the spirit of man. The 41 poems in this collection cover a range of subjects but all reflect...

This enigmatic scripture is attributed to the mysterious sage Lao Tze, who is believed to have lived in the sixth century BCE. In the present translation by religious scholar Paul Carus, the title is presented as The Canon of Reason and Virtue, and in the body of the text Carus renders the word usually translated as "Tao" as "reason." This book is an extract from the author's larger work, Lao-Tze's Tao Teh King. The latter contained an historical...

Instructions to his Son By Sir Walter Raleigh Narrated by Denis Daly During his long internment in the Tower of London Elizabethan adventurer and statesman Sir Walter Raleigh (1552 - 1618) took time to compose this thoughtful homily to his son. It consists of ten short chapters dealing with a variety of important issues such as the choice of friends and a wife, the maintenance of a good reputation, the management of one's estate and wealth and...