"A great poet, a really great poet, is the most unpoetical of all creatures.
But inferior poets are absolutely fascinating.(they) live the poetry (they)
cannot write."
Oscar Wilde (From A Hearbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, Dave Eggers)
Ken,
Check this site out for your vachalization of the Congo.
http://www.archive.org/details/congo_librivox
Best,
Leland
Leland R. S. Torrence
Leland Torrence Enterprises and the Guild
17 Vernon Court, Woodbridge, CT 06525
Office: 203-397-8505
Fax: 203-389-7516
Mobile: 203-981-4004
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
www.LelandTorrenceEnterprises.com
-----Original Message-----
From: plz practice conservation of histo presto eye blinks
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Gabriel
Orgrease
Sent: Tuesday, January 01, 2008 12:18 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [BP] Thomas Edison's Library
Leland,
> I have no idea where I got the recording which is on cassette and I think
that recording dates to college days.
I'm not sure if it is on Amazon on an audio CD or not. There is one
there that seems to imply Kipling reading his own work. It has been a
while since I have read Kipling. Over the years I have collected up nine
of his 1920's era Doubleday volumes. They are relatively small
soft/hardbound with red covers with a small gold embossed swastika on
the splines, on the cover a tusked elephant holding a lotus blossom with
a swastika. They are a bit in ratty condition but readable and I like them.
Too many years back I had a cassette of Ezra Pound reading... it was
very scratchy. I liked the Ezra Pound that I imagined a whole lot better
than to hear him read his own poetry. His manner of recitation came off
to me as aesthetic fakery.
I wish that I could hear Vachel Lindsey reading "The Congo". As I
remember this poem became so popular that it was the recitation in
public over-and-over as demanded by his audiences -- that he could not
break away from the celebrity image that he had created - that helped
him on to suicide. I'll have to go look see if there is a recording.
frm Wikipedia
While in New York in 1905 Lindsay turned to poetry in earnest. He tried
to sell his poems on the streets. Self-printing his poems, he began to
barter a pamphlet entitled 'Rhymes To Be Traded For Bread', which he
traded for food as a self-perceived modern version of a medieval troubadour.
From March to May, 1906, Lindsay traveled roughly 600 miles on foot
from Jacksonville, Florida to Kentucky, again trading his poetry for
food and lodging. From April to May, 1908, Lindsay undertook another
poetry-selling trek, walking from New York City to Hiram, Ohio.
From May to September 1912 he traveled - again on foot - from Illinois
to New Mexico, trading his poems for food and lodging. During this last
trek, Lindsay composed his most famous poem, "The Congo". On his return,
Harriet Monroe published in Poetry magazine first his poem "General
William Booth Enters into Heaven" in 1913 and then "The Congo" in 1914.
At this point, Lindsay became very well-known.
Crushed by financial worry, in failing health from his six-month road
trip, and sunk into depression, on December 5, 1931, Lindsay committed
suicide by drinking a bottle of Lysol. His last words were, "They tried
to get me - I got them first!"
> His Godfather was moved to tears and afterwards told me it was the best
thing I'd ever written!
See... ya got it in the blood, bro!
][<en
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