Prompt's TechBlog
Poetry and Motion
30 November 2005
Posted by Dave Wilby
Original voice recordings of many of our greatest poets, including Tennyson, Yeats, Kipling, Betjeman and Sassoon are now being made available online thanks to the Poetry Archive.
The new initiative will also endeavour to post recordings of current leading English-speaking poets - such as Margaret Atwood, Seamus Heaney and Harold Pinter - reading their own work for posterity.
The free archive has been created by Poet Laureate Andrew Motion and recording producer Richard Carrington.
"Actors may, or may not, read poems well, but poets have unique rights to their work, and unique insights and interests to offer as we hear their idiom, pacing, tone and emphases," said Motion.
If you know of any poets who could have conceivably have had recordings made of their work but don't yet feature on the Poetry Archive, Andrew Motion is eager for you to get in touch.
Or perhaps you have some tape tucked away yourself? For example, my O-level English teacher owned a spine-tingling reel-to-reel of Sylvia Plath reading poems from Ariel that would certainly grace this site.
There's also the chance you could stumble on one of a few rare poetry holy grails still out there waiting to be discovered. If you happen on an undiscovered recording of D H Lawrence or Thomas Hardy in the attic for example, the British Library would also be very keen to hear from you...
The new initiative will also endeavour to post recordings of current leading English-speaking poets - such as Margaret Atwood, Seamus Heaney and Harold Pinter - reading their own work for posterity.
The free archive has been created by Poet Laureate Andrew Motion and recording producer Richard Carrington.
"Actors may, or may not, read poems well, but poets have unique rights to their work, and unique insights and interests to offer as we hear their idiom, pacing, tone and emphases," said Motion.
If you know of any poets who could have conceivably have had recordings made of their work but don't yet feature on the Poetry Archive, Andrew Motion is eager for you to get in touch.
Or perhaps you have some tape tucked away yourself? For example, my O-level English teacher owned a spine-tingling reel-to-reel of Sylvia Plath reading poems from Ariel that would certainly grace this site.
There's also the chance you could stumble on one of a few rare poetry holy grails still out there waiting to be discovered. If you happen on an undiscovered recording of D H Lawrence or Thomas Hardy in the attic for example, the British Library would also be very keen to hear from you...
# posted by Dave Wilby at 11:19 AM 
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