GRE Audio Books

It’s generally agreed that “Paradise Lost” is the most frequently occurring text on the GRE. Read it, it’s awesome. I found it hard to absorb in audio form, but still it’s worth a shot. You can actually download it as a podcast from the University of Cambridge, or as a zip file from booksshouldbefree.com. I’d recommend Cambridge, but you can also listen to the good folks at Librivox, below.

“Paradise Lost” is an epic poem in blank verse, and was first published in 1667 in ten books. A second edition came out in 1674, redivided into twelve books  The poem relates the story of the Fall of Man through the temptation of Adam and Eve. Milton’s purpose, as stated in Book I, is to “justify the ways of God to men”

 

 Milton - Paradise Lost: 01 - Book One, Part 1 [25:16m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

The full title reads A Modest Proposal: For Preventing the Children of Poor People in Ireland from Being a Burden to Their Parents or Country, and for Making Them Beneficial to the Public. In case you weren’t sure, this piece is literally dripping with satire. The “proposal” is meant to address the problems of poverty and hunger in Ireland. It’s not very long, so I recommend you read it here or listen to it below. Swift’s famous satire still resonates as a response for those who claim “overpopulation” as the cause of starvation in developing countries.

Read more here.

 

  Jonathan Swift - " A Modest Proposal" [21:38m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

You can read the complete text of Gulliver’s Travels online here.  For GRE purposes, you can probably get by with knowing the major characters and themes. Here are some of the characters to get you started.

Gulliver -  The narrator and protagonist of the story.

The Emperor of Lilliput – The ruler of Lilliput. Like all Lilliputians he is less than six inches tall, which makes his for the most part successful attempts to control Gulliver seem somewhat silly. He takes pride in the height of his tiny palace and his power over an army of tiny subjects, but despite its absurdity is power is still somewhat threatening. The emperor is a satire of the autocratic ruler and a well executed portrait of political power

The king of Brobdingnag - rational and intelligent, and speaks to Gulliver at length about the history and institutions of Gulliver’s native land.  in this way he is similar to the Houyhnhnms.

Lord Munodi -  A lord of Lagado, capital of the underdeveloped land beneath Laputa, who hosts Gulliver and gives him a tour of the country.

Yahoos -  Gross humanlike beasts who  serve the Houyhnhnms, who are extremely wise and intelligent horses. They are hairy, unintelligent and have extreme sexual appetites -  basically an exaggerated version of everything bad about humanity.

Houyhnhnms -  Rational horses who live in a simple, peaceful socialist republic governed by reason and honesty.  They do not even have a word for “lie” in their language.

Don Pedro de Mendez -  The Portuguese captain who takes Gulliver back to Europe after he is forced to leave the land of the Houyhnhnms. Don Pedro is kind to Gulliver, but Gulliver at this point cannot stand the company of “Yahoos”.

Brobdingnagians -  Giants whom Gulliver meets on his second voyage. Brobdingnagians are basically a reasonable and kindly people governed by a sense of justice.

The farmer -  Gulliver’s first master in Brobdingnag, where all of the people are giants. He is kind to Gulliver, but puts him on display around Brobdingnag in an attempt to profit from him. The farmer represents the average  man, yet one who is powerful only because of his immense size and physical strength.
Glumdalclitch -  The farmer’s nine-year-old daughter, who becomes Gulliver’s friend and cares for him as a kind of dull or pet.

Lilliputians and Blefuscudians -  Two warring races of miniature people whom Gulliver meets on his first voyage.

Laputans -  Absentminded intellectuals who live on the floating island of Laputa, encountered by Gulliver on his third voyage.  They are parodies of theoreticians, impractical, self-absorbed and judgmental of those who are less intelligent than themselves. the Laputans serve as a warning against the excesses of theoretical pursuits and the uselessness of purely abstract knowledge.

Richard Sympson -  Gulliver’s cousin, friend, and the editor and publisher of Gulliver’s Travels.

Here’s the 1st chapter. Get the rest by clicking here.

 

 Swift - gullivers travels - ch. 1 [24:55m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download