audiobooks
Cover of Leda

Leda

Aldous Huxley

Length
1 h 56 min
Chapters
30
Language
English
First published
1920

Though he gained recognition for his later essays and novels, Aldous Huxley started his writing career as a poet. Published in 1920, Leda is his fourth compilation of poetry.

It begins with the passionate and slightly erotic poem "Leda", which recalls the love affair between Queen Leda, the mother of Helen of Troy, and her swan, Zeus in disguise. Some short poems follow. The book ends with two long sections. The first, "Beauty," is a short collection of vignettes where the author reflects on the concept of beauty through an ideal model of physical desire, Helen of Troy. The second, "Soles Occidere et Redire Possunt," or "Suns Can Set, and Suns Can Rise Again," is another long poem which reflects a day in the life of John Ridley, a deceased friend of Huxley's, who was mentally challenged throughout his entire life.. - Summary by Mary Kay

Chapters

From LibriVox, read by volunteers and in the public domain. LibriVox page (opens librivox.org), the text (opens archive.org), all files on the Internet Archive (opens archive.org).