Thanks to those who responded to my query about early recorded
poetry.*
It's surprising that early recorded poetry isn't more readily
available. The earliest recorded poet I've seen a reference to is
Browning, who died in 1889. If poets were being recorded that
early, this means that in addition to Whitman, Tennyson, and Kipling
(the other examples I know about), conceivably Herman Melville,
William Morris, Swineburn**, Hardy, Bridges, Hopkins, and Housman**
could also have been recorded. But I haven't been able to find any
reference to any such recordings.***
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* This is a footnote.
** A favorite literary anecdote: Robert Graves records that
of his earliest memories was of being petted by Swinburne as
his nurse was wheeling his pram through a park. Graves
remarks, "I was too young to knowhe was a poet, but I knew
that he was a public menace."
*** Digging this stuff up could be a good project for someone.
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