A Voice Like This

Phil Rowe

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Arts

Great poetry should be read aloud, that's where 'A Voice Like This' comes in; a weekly show where one or two poems are read without analysis or lectures. A little space each week for 5 - 10 minutes of calm and chill. Take a little time out of your day for this aural hug with award winning voice actor Phil Rowe. New shows are posted every Monday, and keep an eye out for the odd bonus episode, too! 35628bfc281028af268d95756c4a1c0712aa4599

2d ago

Those Who Came Before

Some houses seem to hold on to the people who once lived in them. In this episode of A Voice Like This, we leave the darker hauntings of Halloween behind and consider a gentler kind of ghost: the memories, familiar objects and quiet traces of those who came before us. Through two poems by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Thomas Hardy, we explore the way the past remains part of the present, sometimes in the most ordinary things. Featuring: Haunted Houses by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882)Old Furniture by Thomas Hardy (1840–1928) Read and presented by Phil Rowe. A Voice Like This. Because good poetry is meant to be spoken.
4d ago

The Haunted House | A Halloween Bonus Episode

For Halloween, A Voice Like This has one more tale to tell. In this special bonus episode, we step into the unsettling world of Thomas Hood's The Haunted House, a poem filled with empty rooms, lingering shadows and the uneasy feeling that something remains long after everyone has gone. There's no need to rush through a house like this. Some things are best discovered slowly. So find yourself somewhere comfortable, perhaps leave a light on, and join me for a little poetry after dark. Poem: The Haunted House by Thomas Hood (1799–1845) Read and produced by Phil Rowe. A Voice Like This. Because good poetry is meant to be spoken.
Oct 26

When Darkness Comes

A Voice Like This | Season 2, Episode 5 As Halloween approaches and the nights grow longer, A Voice Like This ventures into the shadows for a special collection of haunting poetry. In this episode, three classic poems explore the darker corners of imagination, from witches and supernatural visitors to the unsettling mysteries of the human mind. We begin with Robert Herrick's The Hag, a wild, eerie journey through the night. Samuel Taylor Coleridge's The Witch follows, bringing a chilling encounter to the threshold of an unsuspecting home. Finally, Edgar Allan Poe's The Haunted Palace takes us somewhere more disturbing still, where a once-beautiful mind becomes a place of darkness and despair. Three poems, three different kinds of haunting, and a reminder that sometimes the most frightening things are those we cannot see. Poems featured: The Hag by Robert HerrickThe Witch by Samuel Taylor ColeridgeThe Haunted Palace by Edgar Allan Poe Presented and performed by Phil Rowe. Because good poetry is meant to be spoken.
Oct 19

Masks and Mirrors

Masks and Mirrors How much of ourselves do we really show to the world? In this episode of A Voice Like This, three poets explore the distance between the face others see and the life being lived beneath it. In “We Wear the Mask”, Paul Laurence Dunbar writes of the smiling face worn to conceal suffering, in words shaped by the particular experience of Black Americans living in a society marked by racism. Ella Wheeler Wilcox’s “Solitude” considers a world eager to share our happiness, but far less willing to accompany us in sorrow. And in “I Look into My Glass”, Thomas Hardy turns from the faces we show others to the one we see ourselves, confronting the unsettling distance between an ageing reflection and a heart that has refused to grow old with it. Masks do not always deceive. Sometimes they protect. And the face before us is never quite the whole story. Poems featured: We Wear the Mask by Paul Laurence Dunbar Solitude by Ella Wheeler Wilcox I Look into My Glass by Thomas Hardy A Voice Like This brings poetry off the page and into the spoken word, with a new episode each week.
Oct 12

A Quiet Mind

A Quiet Mind Where do we find stillness when the mind itself is full of noise? Marking World Mental Health Day, this episode of A Voice Like This brings together two poems written almost eighty years apart, each finding its own way through uncertainty, isolation and the restless noise of life. In “I Am!”, John Clare writes from a place of profound loneliness and confusion, yet beneath it all remains a simple, defiant assertion of existence: I am. Max Ehrmann’s “Desiderata” offers a gentler path through the noise, with its enduring counsel on solitude, kindness, self-acceptance and finding peace amid an imperfect world. Neither promises that difficult thoughts can simply be silenced. Perhaps a quiet mind is something else entirely. Poems featured: I Am! — John Clare Desiderata — Max Ehrmann A Voice Like This brings poetry off the page and into the spoken word, with a new episode each week.
Oct 5

LESSONS | Poetry for World Teacher Day

Lessons What does it really mean to teach? Marking World Teachers’ Day, this episode of A Voice Like This looks beyond lessons, books and classrooms to explore where understanding really comes from. In “On Teaching”, Kahlil Gibran suggests that a teacher cannot simply give us wisdom. At best, they can lead us to the threshold of our own understanding. William Wordsworth takes us somewhere rather different. In “The Tables Turned”, he closes the books altogether and invites us outside, where Nature becomes the teacher and learning begins simply by watching, listening and experiencing. Two very different teachers, perhaps offering much the same lesson. Poems featured: On Teaching - Kahlil Gibran The Tables Turned - William Wordsworth A Voice Like This brings poetry off the page and into the spoken word, with a new episode each week.
Sep 28

The Turning Year

The Turning Year Season Two of A Voice Like This begins with autumn. In “To Autumn”, John Keats finds the season at its fullest: heavy with fruit, warmth and ripeness, lingering in the last abundance of the year. Gerard Manley Hopkins looks at the same turning of the seasons from a very different place. In “Spring and Fall: to a young child”, falling leaves become something deeper: a child's first encounter with loss, change and the knowledge that nothing remains as it is. Two poems. Two very different responses to the turning year. Poems featured: To Autumn - John Keats Spring and Fall: to a young child - Gerard Manley Hopkins A Voice Like This brings poetry off the page and into the spoken word, with a new episode each week.
Episode 30 Trailer

Season Two Announcement

A Voice Like This returns for Season Two on Monday, 28 September. A new collection of poetry from voices past and present, brought off the page and into the spoken word. There’ll be familiar names, unexpected discoveries and a few special episodes along the way. Just a few quiet minutes each week. A poem, a voice, and a chance to simply listen. Subscribe or follow now, and Season Two will be waiting for you when it begins. A Voice Like This - Season Two Begins 28 September 2026.

Great poetry should be read aloud, that's where 'A Voice Like This' comes in; a weekly show where one or two poems are read without analysis or lectures. A little space each week for 5 - 10 minutes of calm and chill. Take a little time out of your day for this aural hug with award winning voice actor Phil Rowe. New shows are posted every Monday, and keep an eye out for the odd bonus episode, too! 35628bfc281028af268d95756c4a1c0712aa4599

Creator

Phil Rowe
Years Active

2025 - 2026
Episodes

45
Rating

Clean
Copyright

© Copyright 2026 Phil Rowe
Show Website

A Voice Like This