Of interest to poetry lovers

[zz0011]

Historic recordings of poets such as Tennyson, Yeats, Kipling, Betjeman and Sassoon are being made available through a new online initiative.

Read the article in full online by clicking here

[amonkie]

Full article for the link wary :

Historic recordings of poets such as Tennyson, Yeats, Kipling, Betjeman and Sassoon are being made available through a new online initiative.
The Poetry Archive also aims to ensure current leading English-speaking poets are recorded reading their own work for future generations.

The free archive has been created by UK Poet Laureate Andrew Motion and recording producer Richard Carrington.

They say the website will prove invaluable for students and teachers.

"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 Mr Motion.

"They all, in their different ways, validate the intention of the archive to preserve the mystery of poetry while tearing away some of the prejudices which can make it appear unduly 'difficult' or separate from familiar life.

"The readings are at once instant in their appeal, and lingering in their impact."

'Necessary and invaluable'

Working poets featured on the Poetry Archive will include the likes of Margaret Atwood, Seamus Heaney and Harold Pinter.

Many of the best-known 20th Century poets were recorded reading their own work but there are significant gaps, said the archive's founders.

Recordings of AE Housman, Thomas Hardy and DH Lawrence, for example, do not exist.

A recording programme which began in 2000 has already proved how necessary and invaluable this initiative can be, the organisers said.

Cornish poet Charles Causley was recorded some 12 months before he died in 2003 and the voice of New Zealand poet Allen Curnow was captured just before he passed away in 2001.

The Poetry Archive is a charity developed with the help of an education group led by poet Jean Sprackland with funding from the government, the National Lottery, arts organisations and private benefactors.

It is very interesting for me to hear someone read their own work . Everyone has different interpretations of intonation, and hearing the author's gives me better insight into some aspects of writing. That said, Ace_O_Spades can read me poetry anytime ...

[zz0011]

I hesitated posting the article here out of copyright ~ infringement concerns? Just a thought.

[amonkie]

If you are citing the source that you got the article from and not claiming it as your own, no copyright violation. You're in the clear by providing the link back to the BBC news site

It helps everyone out to put both a link and full text up when referencing an article, but thanks for being thoughtful in your concerns

[zz0011]

That's why I only placed the citation up.

I wonder if TFP has an official policy about posting material which has a copyright attached? Just curious.

Moderator[s]?

[vanblah]

Originally Posted by zz0011

That's why I only placed the citation up.

I wonder if TFP has an official policy about posting material which has a copyright attached? Just curious.

Moderator[s]?

I think you'd be covered under fair use ... especially if you are quoting a news source.

[zz0011]

Originally Posted by vanblah

I think you'd be covered under fair use ... especially if you are quoting a news source.

I'm not so sure. They have a copyright icon on each page linked to this notice:

Copyright Notice

All rights, including copyright, in the content of these BBC web pages are owned or controlled for these purposes by the BBC.

In accessing the BBC's web pages, you agree that you may only download the content for your own personal non-commercial use.

You are not permitted to copy, broadcast, download, store (in any medium), transmit, show or play in public, adapt or change in any way the content of these BBC web pages for any other purpose whatsoever without the prior written permission of the BBC.

I'm familiar with "fair use" from school and all, but that statement seems pretty clear.

Please note: I'm honestly not trying to be picky. I am trying to help us all and TFP not get in trouble, get sued, get shut down, etc..

Do I think something would actually come of this? Probably not.

Do I think we ought to err on the side of caution. Probably.

Just my opinion.