April is National Poetry Month and I have neglected to say anything about it thus far. Well, I am about to fix that.
The Library of Congress today launched the Archive of Recorded Poetry and Literature. There are fifty recordings available at the moment and it will be added to every month.
The LOC is digitizing its collection of nearly 2,000 recordings of poets and prose writers who participated in events at the library. Most of the recordings are on magnetic tape reels and until now have only been available by visiting the library.
Among the items available at launch is Robert Frost being interviewed by Randall Jarrell in 1959 and the Academy of American Poets’ 35th anniversary program from 1969 that included readings by Elizabeth Bishop and Robert Lowell. That is just the tip of the iceberg. It is a true treasure trove.
This is why I love the internet. Go now, explore the archive and enjoy.
Went directly to the poetry readings and listened to Elizabeth Bishop.
I had never heard her voice. Loved the interlude of listening to her
poems. Will return to this audio tape again. Thank you.
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booksandbuttons, I’d never heard her voice before either. Such a wonderful resource to have access to! 🙂
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Some poets are not very good at reading their own stuff (Louise Gluck for instance). Others…it’s a kind of magic to hear the words the way they say them.
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What a beautiful resource this promises to be. You are right – this shows that the internet is not all about trolls, Kardashians and cat videos!
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Ian, it does hold great promise. And maybe the LOC could get a Kardashian to read a poem just for this archive project. think of the potential wayward searchers who could end up hearing poetry instead of Kim’s latest risque outfit 🙂
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That’s an idea that is alarmingly brilliant!
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😀
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Jeanne, true, not all poets are good readers but it seems many of them are, at least these days when so much depends on giving reading performances. When they are really good though it’s like you said, magic.
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Interesting to know. Thank you for this post. I have always been fascinated by poetry when I studied it but something about all that critical analysis I had to do made me shy away from reading it for pleasure. I am curious to see what these archives have to offer.
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Ocean Bream, I totally understand how studying poetry and the whole critical analysis of it can ruin reading it for pleasure. That happened to me too until I had a college seminar professor who made it exciting again. I hope you enjoy exploring the site!
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Thanks for the links. Whether or not I like the way a poet reads his or her own works, I always learn something from listening!
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Jenclair, you bet! I totally agree with you on that!
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That is awesome! Thanks for letting us know about this great resource. I’ve always been a poetry fan, but don’t make much time for it nowadays for some reason. This can help rectify that.
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Laila, always glad to share awesome finds. I love reading poetry but even so it does take effort to make time for it. Some days are easier than others.
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Thanks for reminding me. 3/4 of the month has passed, but never too late to post about poetry. As for the Library of Congress Archive online, are the resources only for U.S. poets?
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I think the poets are pretty much all US poets, ones who were invited to LOC events. But don’t let that stop you from listening. LOC makes all their online resources free for all 🙂
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Thank you so much for the info. After casually following the Coursera on-line Mod-poetry course , I have come to appreciate the art to poetry, and this is another great resource to this venue. Enjoy your blog a lot!
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NancyAnne, thanks for your kind comment! I am glad to share! Modern poetry can be challenging but I like it quite a lot. 🙂
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