We return to more familiar territory with a particularly nice reading of Coleridge’s “The Raven”. – Yes, Coleridge’s “Raven”, not Poe’s, a rather lighthearted, if somewhat dark-humoured fable, not related to anything “nevermore”.
Interestingly enough, “The Raven” echoes the basic motif from The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, as, again, to woe a bird spells doom for a sailing ship…
I have to confess, I am not entirely sure about the copyright status of this one.
It looks like a fan film – BUT it features a rather well-known actor, Robert Powell, who might sound to Coleridgians for his work on David Bedford’smusical treatment of “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”.
M. R. James, as you surely might know if you follow this blog, is one of my favorite authors of all time. His emphasis is on supernatural stories, of course, and one might easily mistake him for an inferior competitor to Poe, Bierce, and Lovecraft.
His most famous story collection, Ghost Stories of an Antiquary,from which this tale is taken, is one of my favorite books in the English language, believe it or not.
So, in short, no spoilers here: Enchanted picture, big woe! — Enjoy!
Sort of a very short follow-up on the post onJay O’Calahan. – The quality of the tape is pretty bad, but the lesson itself is fairly good. If you are new to narrative theory, and all related, this makes for an excellent start.
Outside of my lyrical research, I am a sucker for so-called “spoken word performances”, being of the strong conviction that literature is meant to be read aloud, not just by oneself, and that poetry like that of Coleridge is something to be listened to, before it is read.
One of the few men nowatdays that do classic spoken-word performances without being cheesy is Jay O’Calahan. I warmly recommend you give all of the following videos a look. They range among the highest displays of free narration that I have ever seen.
– How did Coleridge and his contemporaries give their speeches, and recite their poems?
I like to think it felt very much like when O’Calahan tells his stories.
A beautiful, yet a bit too intense reading, something that I note with many people that recite Coleridge. Why the forcefulness? It’s about a blossom. Last time I checked, blossoms are SOFT. – Then again, is this poem reallyabout flowers?! 😉
Among other things, you might want to read up here: The Great Sejm.
Sweet flower! that peeping from thy russet stem Unfoldest timidly, (for in strange sort This dark, frieze-coated, hoarse, teeth-chattering month Hath borrowed Zephyr’s voice, and gazed upon thee With blue voluptuous eye) alas poor flower! These are but flatteries of the faithless year. Perchance, escaped its unknown polar cave, E’en now the keen north-east is on its way. Flower that must perish! shall I liken thee To some sweet girl of too, too rapid growth, Nipped by consumption mid untimely charms? Or to Bristowa’s bard, the wond’rous boy! As amaranth, which earth scarce seemed to own, Till disappointment come, and pelting wrong Beat it to earth? or with indignant grief Shall I compare thee to poor Poland’s hope, Bright flower of hope killed in the opening bud? Farewell, sweet blossom! better fate be thine And mock my boding! Dim similitudes Weaving in moral strains, I’ve stolen one hour From anxious self, life’s cruel taskmaster! And the warm wooings of this sunny day Tremble along my frame, and harmonize The attempered organ, that even saddest thoughts Mix with some sweet sensations, like harsh tunes Played deftly on a soft-toned instrument.
This time, Kubla Khan. Olney, intense as ever, but I think he sort of misses the mark on this one. Is the vista of the khan’s court a sublime experience? – Never quite thought so when reading it. An Arabesque, but not a dramatic experience, per se…
In the next few articles, we will take a better look at William Blake.
I won’t really have any time to post anything bigger before next week, but here’s a little glimpse, a very good dramatic reading of Auguries of Innocence, courtesy of Spider’s House Audio.
Not necessarily the best approach, but I wanted to pay Mr Olney my respect.
The video and the filming are not good, and yet he manages to absolutely captivate me with his presence. – What he makes of it, quite simply, brilliant. 🙂
(The whole playlist – nine parts in total – is available through Youtube. No idea why, but their Playlist feature seems broken today.)
Richard Armitage should be on the covers of all movie magazines these days; after all, he portrays the grumpy, yet valiant Thorin Oakenshield in Peter Jackson’s new Hobbit movie.
Armitage has shared the fate of many British actors in the Hollywood-centric English-speaking cinema, and remained relatively under the radar, despite of immense talent. Then again, the good thing about this is, he really had time to do some classic – and classy – stuff, like this reading of one of my favorite poems.
“A Silent City”, by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
The silence of the city, how awful at midnight! Mute as the battlements and crags and towers That Fancy makes in the clouds, yea, as mute As the moonlight that sleeps on the steady vanes.
The cell of a departed anchoret, His skeleton and flitting ghost are there, Sole tenants — And all the city silent as the moon That steeps in quiet light the steady vanes Of her huge temples.
If by now you haven’t got that Jon is really Aegon, to hell with you!
– See, I can spoil something without actually spoiling it. (Kefka-like laughter.)
Anyway, the season’s up again where we all look for presents for the ones we love. I’d like to take the chance to point to a sublimely beautiful poetry audiobook collection, Poetry for the WinterSeason.
The most interesting aspect of the collection is that the texts were all selected and read by amateurs, but this doesn’t diminish the appeal of the audiobook. Instead it creates a feeling uniqueness that many other poetry audiobooks lack.
Coleridge’s Frost at Midnightis among the selected texts, as is Keats’ (another favorite’s of mine) The Eve of St Agnes, which in my opinion was the best reading on the entire audiobook.
In short, this is a moody, and, by all means, well-done poetry collection. In fact, one of the very best I own, and typing this makes me want to go back and listen to it again, even though I will be more than busy at work today.
One of my rare favorites for the proverbial lonely island. – Actually, don’t buy this as a gift. If you are like me, you want to buy this for yourself.