Lynn Fontanne's Voice
LISTENED to "The White Cliffs" from 4YA mainly to hear the voice of Lynn Fontanne. The famous voice! Everybody knows who the Lunts are, if few of us have had the experience of seeing them act or even of hearing them speak. By no stretch of the imagination can Alice Duer Miller be said to rank with the immortals; but this’ poem of hers, although it might be described merely as rhymed prose, is very suitable for radio presentation, since it is a fast-moving narrative and full of incident. One little scene I must mention. People are standing in a long line, in the rain, to pay their tax-and the poet comments, "I then saw England plain!" (In this country, standing myself at the end of a long queue whose destination is a post office counter, I’ve thought that not only the English, but the New Zealanders, are a patient people.) But the voice! It pressed on
with an urgency which made the occasional rallentandos doubly effective; it maintained an even pitch which made the occasional strident uplifting a sure climax. But there are dozens of poems I would rather hear read: "The Ancient Mariner," for example, "The Ballad of Sir Patrick Spens,’ Masefield’s "Everlasting Mercy,’ and any of the "Canterbury Tales."
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19450112.2.11.5
Bibliographic details
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 12, Issue 290, 12 January 1945, Page 6
Word count
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215Lynn Fontanne's Voice New Zealand Listener, Volume 12, Issue 290, 12 January 1945, Page 6
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Copyright in the work University Entrance by Janet Frame (credited as J.F., 22 March 1946, page 18), is owned by the Janet Frame Literary Trust. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this article and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the New Zealand Listener. You can search, browse, and print this article for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from the Janet Frame Literary Trust for any other use.
Copyright in the Denis Glover serial Hot Water Sailor published in 1959 is owned by Pia Glover. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this serial and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the Listener. You can search, browse, and print this serial for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from Pia Glover for any other use.
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