Thursday, January 27, 2011

POETRY CORNER: THREE NIFTY POEMS


Here's three readings of poems that I think you'll like. The first is a Paul McCartney poem, "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" (above).  Of course that was a Beatles song, but Paul wants it to be remembered as a poem as well as a song, and for good reason...it sounds good to the ear, even when it's spoken.

John Lenon hated this song, which he regarded as one of Paul's "granny" poems. He called it "fruity." I disagree. Paul was fascinated with the English ability to abstract macabre crimes and make them seem somehow cute. The English are a sentimental people, and Paul thought that was worth noting in a song and a poem. He was right.

Anyway, give a listen and try to regard the lyrics as poetry. Here's (below) a print version of the opening:


Hmmmm. The lyrics are written out in a way that makes the cadence hard to decipher if you don't know the melody. I'd have written them the way they're sung, like this:

Joan was quizzical; studied pataphysical
Sci-ence in the home.
Late nights all a-lone with a test tube; Oh,
Oh, oh, oh.



Here's (above) a reading of W. H. Auden's "Stop All the Clocks." Auden dispenses with overt poetic flourish (or wants us to think he does) and speaks plainly and sincerely about the death of a friend. It's very touching.




Here's (above) a dramatic reading of a real breakup letter.  It's poetry of a sort, though you only think of it that way when you hear it read the proper way, as it is here. This would be a hit at a poetry reading!



Above, an unannounced bonus!

5 comments:

Joshua Marchant (Scrawnycartoons) said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

Awesome post, once again, Eddie, though the third clip sounded really stupid and cheesy rather than "dramatic." Something really annoyed me about how the man kept reading that breakup letter.

You should go into teaching for a living, as a supplement to cartooning. I'm sure that ordinary people, not just artists and cartoonists, could benefit from your unique way of approaching certain topics like this.

Max Ward said...

Did the pilipino add the translated text to her own video? funny stuff

Eddie Fitzgerald said...

Roberto: I love teaching, but I can't get a gig for more than a year.

I was hoping the Auden poem would be better received, Well, it's probably a sleeper...the kind of thing you appreciate only after a few months have passed and you find you can't get it out of your head.

Kirk Nachman said...

Hey Ed, Do you know of Alfred Jarry's Pataphysics? Or of Jarry at all? Surely a writer/poet for all cartoon fans. Jarry wrote a hysterical little piece "The Crucifixion as an Up-Hill Bicycle Race" -written in the 1890's, it reads like a modern sports commentator on the radio... narrating the sequence of events, with Christ hitting the rail, and finally shouldering his bicycle on his back, (in lieu of the Cross) and crawling up the mount for the big finish. hah! Jarry is much beloved as a forerunner of Da-Da an' Surrealism and the Theatre of the Absurd. Mostly known for his UBU ROI plays...