I have written extensively on "reading poetry aloud". The most
recent posting (as of today) can be accessed at the
following
http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/performance_poetry/28604
It is Part One of an article about Melbourne poet, PiO.
While the lengthy article is really an appreciation of Pi and his
poetics, I offer it to the List because it addresses several points
raised by members of this list, re: orality.
Stoneking
----- Original Message -----
From: Richard Edwards <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, November 30, 1999 10:23 AM
Subject: Re: Reading Poetry Aloud
> What do you think of Geoffrey Hill's readings? I am struck by the way he
> insists on reading over line endings without a break unless the
punctuation
> tells him to pause. Until I heard him read I always thought the whole
point
> about his most typical line endings was to be "vertiginous", leading the
> reader over some terrible intellectual and rhythmical brink. But he reads
> his poems as if the ends of the lines weren't there.
>
> Pound on the other hand does an excellent job of emphasising that which
> seems to me to be most characteristic of his versification: the "spondaic"
> (for want of a better word) line-ending, almost always marked by a
> syntactical pause.
>
> By the way, when are you going to add something to the Bunting website at
> Durham?
>
> And another thing (assuming ignorant questions are ok on a specialist list
> provided they're off-topic): what is "lang-po"? Is it something to do with
> the Prynne / Crozier crowd or am I hopelessly out of date?
>
>
> Richard Edwards
>
> >From: Richard Caddel <[log in to unmask]>
> >Reply-To: Ezra Pound discussion list of the University of Maine
> > <[log in to unmask]>
> >To: [log in to unmask]
> >Subject: Re: Reading Poetry Aloud
> >Date: Mon, 29 Nov 1999 22:10:43 GMT
> >
> >On Mon, 29 Nov 1999 12:56:10 -0500, you wrote:
> >
> > >Just a rhetorical question: Is this subject really off-topic?
> >
> >- well, I'd hope not, obviously, for the key thing which drew / draws
> >me to Pound - warts an' all - is the way he sounds, the opportunity he
> >gives me to explore language on the air. And yes, the Bunting / Alps
> >poem is right still, or sems so to me: "Fatal glaciers, crags cranks
> >climb /... et l'on entend, maybe, le refrain joyeux et leger." For
> >myself, retired musician (ok, fired musician) I've been stumbling
> >around on it for over thirty years, and it still excites me, I still
> >get new stuff from it. There are very few writers of whom I can say
> >that.
> >
> >That's why I'm seeking to look at that lineage I mentioned, Yeats >
> >Pound > Bunting > various poets of today (mainly UK; no offence
> >intended: it's where I live), and why I'm grateful to members of this
> >list for some of the contributions to this thread.
> >
> >Because this list seems to consist mainly of duets, I'd better find
> >something to object to, perhaps it's this: I wouldn't be so quick to
> >slam all of LangPo as performers: I've heard those who are superb
> >controllers of line, pitch and measure on their own account. That
> >there are turkeys in this wide and diverse "group" (as all others)
> >ain't the point: that somehow, despite the widespread neglect of the
> >study of poetry-read-aloud, individuals still hit into the old stream,
> >well that's noteworthy.
> >
> >My two pet hates on the poetry reading circuit are the Mutterer, and
> >the Preacherman: they operate right across the spectrum, but neither
> >of these two have learned a thing from the lineage I associate with
> >Pound. When, by mistake, I find myself listening to either of these
> >ear-dead slackers, I leave. Life's short.
> >
> >RC
>
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