Wallace Stevens Audio

February 15, 2011 11:11 AM

Large audio archive of Wallace Stevens reading from his poems. Other Stevens links: several poem texts with annotation; many more of the poems; his letters on Google Books (full view).
posted by Paquda (8 comments total)

It's very interesting hearing him read his own stuff -- in the small sample I browsed his cadence is much slower than I would have imagined. His reading of "The Idea of order at Key West", for example, is very flat and dispassionate, and not at all as I hear it when I read the poem.

I love WS and will enjoy going over these. Thanks!
posted by mosk at 11:24 AM on February 15, 2011

mosk, yes, his slowness and pauses partly obscure the rhythm that is such an achievement in the writing. Not sure what he intended. The deliberateness does help bring something else out. I sometimes find myself trying out a an imitation of the sound of his reading when reading Shakespeare to myself...it makes poetry more decadently poetic?
posted by Paquda at 11:37 AM on February 15, 2011

That's absolutely swell. Thanks.
posted by chavenet at 2:01 PM on February 15, 2011

"The only emperor is the emperor of ice-cream." I like reading the texts again. Thanks, Paquda!
posted by dragonplayer at 2:42 PM on February 15, 2011

The authors list at PennSound is worth browsing and bookmarking. Thanks, Paquda!
posted by steef at 4:57 PM on February 15, 2011

Yeah, thanks for this, and for re-introducing me to PennSound.
posted by not_on_display at 5:55 PM on February 15, 2011

He composed many of his poems on the walk to his office at Hartford Life, so his pace in speaking may reflect the pace of his walk.
posted by gentilknight at 5:58 PM on February 15, 2011

Inconceivable!
posted by zippy at 6:21 PM on February 15, 2011 [1 favorite]