I concur! Thanks... as someone who has been indulging in the spoken poem in front of audiences for more than twenty years... I know the truth of what you say! Stoneking ----- Original Message ----- From: Everett Lee Lady <[log in to unmask]> To: <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Wednesday, November 24, 1999 5:38 AM Subject: Reading Poetry Aloud > Well, this is a bit far afield from our discussions of Pound. But for > those who may be interested, in response to Christopher Booth's marvelous > message, here's an article from the Ramblings section of my web site. > > =========== > If you listen to someone like Laurie Anderson, who performs the spoken > word extremely well, you can realize that one of her secrets is the > realization that literature, especially poetry, is made up of words. > > In reading poetry aloud, each major word should be recognized as a > thing of beauty in its own right and not just a component of a > sentence. When such a very skilled performer such as Laurie Anderson > reads, they make the effort to give love to each major word in the > poem. This word is not just a little nut or bolt that is part of a > sentence, but the word is something that the performer offers to the > audience as valuable in its own right. > > Some of the ways of giving a word the love it deserves are stress, > intonation, drawing the word out, or isolating it with a preceding or > following pause. Different words deserve emphasis in different ways. > It's not a mere matter of emphasis, though. It's a matter of showcasing > the word, displaying it to the audience as the glorious word it is. > > Preachers are very good at this, of course. Fundamentalist preachers, > anyway. They draw the important words out and make them vibrate > resonantly. Which is a bit much for a lot of poetry, but that's still > the basic idea. > > The example I like to use is the song ``Eleanor Rigby'' by the Beatles > (lyrics by John Lennon). If one reads this in the typical way that > most students (and many professors) would read a piece of prose, it > sounds a bit disoriented, with questionable diction, but not otherwise > very distinguished. > > ``Eleanor Rigby picks up the rice in the church where a wedding has > been. Lives in a dream. Waits at the window wearing the face that > she keeps in a jar by the door. What is it for?'' > > Reading the first sentence this way is like having an actor making his > first appearance on stage immediately rush to the center of the stage > and start speaking lines. But the actor (i.e. the words ``Eleanor > Rigby'') needs to stand on stage a few moments before speaking to give > the audience a chance to take him in, see who he is. The music to the > song makes the singer give the needed amount of love to each of the > major words simply as words, as well as in their role as part of the > sentence. > > ``Eleanor Rigby ... rice ... church ... wedding ... been.'' > > It does take quite a bit of rehearsal. You have to explore each poem > until you find the tone of voice you think is right for it. I think > it's good to start out by doing a really exaggerated interpretation, > one that may seem somewhat hoakey. Then you can tone it down to what > you consider a satisfactorily tasteful level. > > <Http://www2.Hawaii.Edu/~lady/ramblings/aloud.html> >