Category Archives: poetry

Setting poetry to music

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Most of the music I like doesn’t have much to do with how I feel about the lyrics. While this is something I realized long ago, I still find it a little odd. As someone who enjoys poetry so much, it seems that a well-written poem set to stimulating music would be ideal. But with most of the music I listen to, lyrics just aren’t the main focus.

One exception to this is Morrissey. He is quite possibly the only artist whose lyrics I appreciate more than I do the music. And I suppose the bookish part of me enjoys all of the allusions to literature Morrissey often makes.

Morrissey was the lead singer for The Smiths in the 1980s, and the band wrote a song called “Cemetry Gates” (FYI, the typo isn’t mine; that’s how the title is spelt). The song contains a few references to literature, including mentioning three great poets: John Keats, W. B. Yeats and Oscar Wilde.

As I listened to “Cemetry Gates” the other day, I started to think about songs and poetry. I ended up considering songs that contain poems written by famous poets.

The first to enter my mind was Ben Harper’s “I’ll Rise.” His adaption of Maya Angelou’s “Still I Rise” is quite inspirational, especially when witnessed live.

Rufus Wainwright set William Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 20” to music.

The lyrics in Leonard Cohen’s “Take This Waltz” are his translation of Federico García Lorca’s poem “Pequeño Vals Vienés.”

I also thought about Billy Bragg, whose song “A Pict Song” uses Rudyard Kipling’s poem of the same name, but I couldn’t find an appropriate video to post.

I wonder how musicians are inspired to adapt a poem into a song. Did the melodies pop into their minds when they read these poems? Or were they so compelled by these words that they wanted to somehow make it their own? Did they want those words to reach a wider audience?

I don’t know the answer, but my guess is that it’s probably different for each case. But I certainly love the interconnectivity.

Dial up some poetry

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Hearing someone recite poetry over the phone is quite a romantic notion. From now until July 14, you’re just one phone number away from having this notion become a reality.

In this era of social media mania, poet Heather Christle has taken to the good old-fashioned phone call to connect with fans. To promote her latest book of poetry, The Trees The Trees, Christle will read you a poem when you dial her number.

If you read an earlier post of mine, you know how much I enjoy hearing poets read their work. This could be the next best thing to attending a reading. It might even be better. Without any visual distractions, the listener can focus on the sounds and words more than during an in-person reading. And since this isn’t a recording that could be found online or on CD, there’s a personal element and connection that no other form of media could offer.

To hear Christle read a poem, dial (413) 570-3077 before July 14 during the following time periods (EST):

Monday: 10 a.m.-6 p.m.
Tuesday: 10 a.m.-1 p.m.
Wednesday: 10 a.m.-6 p.m.
Thursday: 10 a.m.-1 p.m.
Friday: 10 a.m.-6 p.m.
Saturday: 12 p.m.-6 p.m.
Sunday: 12 p.m.-6 p.m.

Sounding out the meaning

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Yesterday evening I came across my copy of Eunoia by Christian Bök. It’s a brilliant book emphasizing the sound of words and the playfulness of language.

The word eunoia means beautiful thinking and is the shortest word in the English language that contains all five vowels.

The book is a lipogram, which is a form used by many Oulipo poets. Each vowel has its own chapter—no other vowels will appear in it. As a result the vowels emerge from their chapters with their own personality (i is more light-hearted, for example). It took Bök seven years to write the 2002 Griffin Poetry Prize winner.

Writers often use words to convey meaning to readers. But words are not always a means to an end. The next time you find yourself struggling to find meaning in piece of writing, stop. Let the words be the meaning.

Poetry and YouTube

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Remember life before YouTube? I do. Things weren’t that much different, but one incident comes to mind. It’s the time I hunted down the audio of one of my favourite poets.

During my university years, I started reading a lot of poetry. But there’s something special about hearing a poet read his or her own work, so I often searched for audio of poets I liked. I had a fair amount of luck with this, finding many recordings of poets on CD or on the internet. But I had difficulty tracking down anything from Philip Larkin.

I asked around, looking for help with my search. I contacted various publishers and stores. In the end, after a lot of time and effort, I came across one audio clip of Larkin reading “Aubade.” A couple of years later, I found out through YouTube that some recordings of Larkin were rediscovered.

 

It’s pretty awesome that YouTube has made these types of searches easier. Every so often, I’ll spend some time on YouTube searching for clips of poets reading their work. At the same time, the months I spent searching for audio of Larkin makes for a bit of a better story, even if does expose the depths of my nerdiness.

Here are some other poets reading their poems:

Frank O’Hara

 

Langston Hughes

 

Mark Strand

 

Sylvia Plath

Silent reading

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I can’t remember not knowing how to read, but I do remember when I couldn’t do it very well. I was eager to have others read to me, and my parents still mention how tired they became of my requests to hear Cinderella.

As I grew up, I discovered other books. I was a huge fan of the Berenstain Bears, and when I was old enough to read novels, I fell in love with Judy Blume’s books. But it wasn’t until I was twelve, near the end of grade seven, when I came across the book that changed my life.

I remember the day I pulled it off the shelf in the library. I needed to choose a new book for silent reading time in class. When I saw The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, I remembered my older brother mentioning that he’d read it. I decided to give it a try.

Grade seven was a terrible year for me, and I was miserable almost every day I spent at school. But all those bad feelings disappeared during that short period we had for silent reading.

Looking back, I can’t say for sure why this book meant so much to me. I was a preteen girl reading about two rival groups of teenage boys. I couldn’t relate to what the characters experienced, but I could relate to how they felt. I suspect most adolescents feel like outsiders.

The Outsiders also introduced me to the poetry of Robert Frost, as one of his poems is featured in the book. I quickly sought out more of Frost’s work, and he’s still one of my favourite poets.

Prior to the day I pulled The Outsiders from the library shelf, I already loved to read and write. It’s possible that, subconsciously, I knew the power of the written word. But this book allowed me to fully see, feel and understand that power for the very first time in my life. And that has been one of the greatest gifts I’ve ever received.