I would love an entire series of audiobooks of Damien reading poetry. Or, Damien reading poetry on video! (a girl can dream. don't tread on them)
Yes Please!
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papillon... pamplemousse... bibliothèque... un baiser A lilt in his voice. Every sentence like music... #kisskisskiss A terrible beauty is born. Love me some #Jacksass
An absolute treat and that first poem he read? I was a puddle! He really should do audio books, he has the most perfect voice for it, what a timbre, it's filled with character, so well modulated and perfect. All of the poems he read were such jewels to treasure.
I'd love to see Damien reading one of the stories on Crackanory on Dave; strange, twisted bedtime stories for grown ups. Lots of fun and it would be great to hear Damien reading another humorous story, like First Person Shooter.
I'll definitely be tuning in to Radio4 tomorrow night to hear Damien reading Yeats again. When I listened to it the other day on the iplayer the show playing live on Radio 4 at the time was You and Yours which made me smile.
Strange how waking up on a morning when you know Damien's voice will be the last thing you hear that night ( on the radio ) you have a big grin on your face!
Despite the programme being on BBC radio iplayer last week and listening several times, I still tuned in to the repeat broadcast at 11.30pm last night.
And thank goodness for repeats, as the programme is available on catch up now for another 6 days!
Definitely 'He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven'. I loved the way he just started speaking without the presenter introducing the clip - it makes my heart race every time.
My favourite too Rosie, the poem itself is beautiful...the symbolism.. something so ethereal and at the same time fundamental about it. And of course, it is utterly romantic.
"I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams."
no analysis needed... the imagery is perfect. Entrancingly read by Damien, what more could you want?
I think I meant to write more in my comment above but my phone decided it was going to throw me off the internet!
I love those last two lines too - utterly endearing. Reminds me a little of Flight and his romantic feelings towards Rosalie in my fan fic (of course! everything does...)
I think it is probably the most easily understandable (is that a word?) of the poems we heard Damien read - no political agenda or prior historical knowledge of Ireland's history required to understand this one - 'I love you so I want to give you everything in the world but I have nothing to offer except my dreams so don't hurt me or take what I offer for granted'
There was a comment I loved in this programme where Yeat's biographer describes Yeat's lover as 'beautiful in a Valkyrie kind of way'.
'He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven' was the only Yeats poem that I knew prior to this! I agree....it is beautiful, the imagery is wonderful and it's a real treat to hear Damien read it. But it's hard to choose a favourite!
I love 'Hosts of the Air' cos I'm a total sucker for a good dream with a scattering of fairy story and Damien's reading makes it very compelling. 'The Wild Swans at Coole', on the other hand, has an aching melancholic quality to it which really appeals to me and which Damien's voice is perfect for!
Earlier in this thread somebody said that poems are better listened to than read.....and I wholeheartedly agree with that sentiment. Poetry should be about spoken language.....for me good poetry is music in language form......and is dead on a page. I don't read poetry a lot...but if ever I do I tend to read it aloud (like shakespeare....but that's a different topic!). The problem I have is that it is more often than not performed appallingly badly! It gives me so much pleasure that Damien does it so well.....
Lovely posts Rosie and fifi - enjoyed reading your thoughts on the poems and Damien's readings of them.
He Wishes For The Cloths of Heaven has more levels of meaning - for me anyway - than it would at first appear - Deceptively simple perhaps. I also feel a melancholy with this poem, but it is more subtly woven. It is an expression of love but with perhaps strains of unrequited love, vulnerability, it's a naked bearing of the soul with all the fragility that comes with it, a total giving with the fear that comes with that.. that celestial elemental quality is light filled but also a leap into the vast dark.. but I guess with all poems meaning arises after it meets the eye of the beholder.
The Host Of The Air has far more obvious nuance I feel, Damien begins the poem with a strength and a robust energy, and as it unfolds his tone travels into a range of subtleties that make the poem UTTERLY beguiling, there is darkness and mystery there, your description of " dream with a scattering of fairy story" is perfect fifi... I'd add fairytale - in the true sense of the meaning of fairytale, that other worldly often dark as well as magical - populated with creatures like demonsa nd goblins - or indeed the bride stealing host of the air!
The Wild Swans At Coole is an exquisite poem - "aching melancholic quality" - perfect fifi. Looking out of the window at the leaves turning gold and rust on the trees, this Autumnal time of the year adds to the sense of reminiscence and the circles of time in the poem too... there is something very deep and ancient about the energy of autumn.. for me above all seasons... that quintessence is in this poem, in the spaces between the words.
Thanks domino! Now we can listen forever! Mwahahahaha....
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papillon... pamplemousse... bibliothèque... un baiser A lilt in his voice. Every sentence like music... #kisskisskiss A terrible beauty is born. Love me some #Jacksass
BBC Radio 4 are having a 4 week celebration of Yeats, it is the 150th anniversary of Yeats' birth on 13 June, I keep wondering if Damien's readings will appear anywhere!