William Wordsworth's 'The world is too much with us'. (Any requests?)

William Wordsworth (1770-1850)

‘Getting and spending we lay waste our powers’. Says it all really.

This reading was a request. Which reminds me to point out that if you have a poem you’d like to hear read on the Podcast you can send your request via the contact form on www.liamguilar.com or to my author page on facebook.

Some poems don’t work well read aloud, and some just don’t work when I read them. I can’t promise there will be no parrots, dogs or traffic in the background, but i’ll see what I can do.

On the website you’ll also find an index of all 159 poems that have been read so far.

Sir Walter Ralegh's 'The Lie'

Sir Walter Raleigh (1552-1618)

One of those poems that doesn’t date, that stays relevant?

Ralegh or Raleigh, take your pick. The ultimate hyphenated man of the Elizabethan Renaissance. And nowhere does the gap between what the poems claim and what the poet did in his day job seem greater.: this was the man who took part in the massacre at Smerwick. Who set off in tiny ships to sail to America: Flamboyant Courtier, Royal Favourite, Brutal soldier, Poet, Scholar, Patron of poets, falling out of Royal favour with James, and despite his failure to find El Dorado, sailing home knowing home meant execution. Even his death seems emblematic of the end of an age.

‘The Lie’, also called ‘Sir Walter Ralegh’s farewell’, ‘The Soul’s errand’ and ‘Satyra volans’ is dated to the 1590s, and circulated in manuscript. Apparently there are replies to it. It’s not the poem Sir Walter wrote in the tower, waiting to have his head removed from his shoulders.

This version is taken from the excellent ‘The Penguin Book of Renaissance Verse’ 1509-1659: selected and introduced by David Norbrook and edited by H.R. Woudhuysen (2005) For anyone with any interest in the poetry of this period, the preface and introduction are an education and the selection goes far beyond the usual suspects.

Robert Graves' 'In Broken Images'

Robert Graves (1895-1985)

I’ve been wondering which of Graves’ vast output I should read after ‘Flying Crooked’ and the problem was solved when this one was requested.

‘In Broken Images’ juxtaposes two ways of thinking and celebrates the value of starting any thought process from a position of honest confusion or ignorance, and working towards a better understanding of the issue without falling into the trap of thinking the process is from doubt to certainity. Rather it’s from honest doubt to informed honest doubt.

There are too many hes and not enough Is in the world at present. And the education system has a tendency to reward the hes.

The Irony of this poem is that Graves went on to become the most didactic of English critics. However, Graves the younger man wrote marvelous books of criticism. He later disowned them. But his essay on what is bad poetry, which begins ‘Poetic Unreason’ , is a mini masterpiece of the art of taking doubt seriously and following it to its logical conclusions. And then, having arrived a conclusion, having to start again.

This is taken from Carcanet’s ‘The complete poems in one volume’ edited by Beryl Graves and Dunstan Ward. There’s a fine shorter selected edited by Michael Longley.

Poetic Unreason is only avilable on the second hand book market.

Rudyard Kipling's 'Mandalay'

Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936)

I did say I did requests, and this was one.

My Copy of Kipling’s ‘Complete Verse, Definitive Edition’ ends with this short request:

The Appeal

If I have given you delight
By aught that I have done
Let me lie quiet in that night
Which shall be yours anon

And for the little little span
The dead are borne in mind
Seek not to question other than
The books I leave behind.

(Kipling)

So perhaps readers can forget what they think they know about the man’s politics, and take each poem on its own merits.

Percy Bysshe Shelley's 'Ozymandias'

Percy B. Shelley. (1792-1822) A close tie with Wordsworth for my least favorite Romantic Poet. But this is one of the classic poems in English, and since it was requested by a friend, here it is.

A few posts back in the notes to the Rime of the Ancient Mariner I mentioned Richard Holmes’ superb biography of Coleridge. He also wrote a superb biography of Shelley. Didn’t make P.B.S sound like someone I’d like to meet, but it is an excellent biography.

And yes, if you wish to hear a poem read, send suggestions via the website and I’ll see what I can do.

T.S.Eliot's 'The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock

Although this is one of the great poems of the Twentieth century it’s interesting to note how much trouble Eliot had getting it published. Extracts from Pound’s correspondence on his behalf can be read here https://ladygodivaandme.blogspot.com/2013/06/pound-and-publication-of-prufrock.html It seems that Harriet Munroe wanted Eliot to revise the poem and give it a more uplifting ending.

Eliot’s control of his line is enviable and perhaps not noticeable until the poem is read aloud. It swings, ebbs and flows. It’s too easy to chant the whole thing in a sing song, which I’ve tried to avoid. .