Re recent discussions on poetry reading - Martin Stannard's posted part of
an Independent story by Miles Kington on his blog - all we all priests in
mufti?
http://exultationsanddifficulties.blogspot.com/
Why is it that almost all poets sound as if they were trained in the same
read-a-poem school?
I canıt help feeling that there is something about poetry which draws all
readers of poetry, all reciters of poetry, all performers of poetry, all
Big-Poetry-Issue street sellers of poetry, towards roughly the same sort of
voice. The poetry voice.
The poetry voice? Itıs sing-songy without being musical. Itıs incantatory
without being hypnotic. Itıs slow, itıs monotone, itıs somewhat
self-important and itıs always slightly reverential. Itıs not unlike the
voice of a clergyman who is doing the daily service on Radio 4 and wants to
sound a bit like God without actually giving himself airs.
I probably would not be expressing these thoughts on the churchy nature of
the poetry voice if I had not found myself the other day listening to Andrew
Motion. The Poet Laureate is presenting a series on Radio 4 in which he is
grandly surveying British poetry, past and present.
Every time I hear him reading poetry, the thing that hits me is not whether
the poetry is good or bad but how ecclesiastical his voice tends to be. Not
in a grand cathedral manner, more in a plain, parish church, small-but-brave
congregation sense.
&c
Best
A
Alison Croggon
Blog: http://theatrenotes.blogspot.com
Editor, Masthead: http://masthead.net.au
Home page: http://alisoncroggon.com
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