People's Poet
URING smoko a plumber recounted a ribald yarn he had heard on the radio, but the other workmen laughed him to scorn. Outraged by the way his truthfulness was questioned he refused to discuss the story further. Later a fellow workman heard Chaucer’s "The Reeve’s Tale" from a YA station and realised to what the plumber had listened. That mankind enjoys ribaldry is nothing new, but it is interesting to observe that this plumber had listened without (a) foticing it was poetry, (b) uneasiness over unusual turns of speech, (c) any idea that he was hearing a "classic." Further, his interest was captured long before Chaucer spiced the tale. Casually tuning in to 3YC recently I had a similar experience, being
instantly gripped by the vivid cliaracterisation of the people speaking from within the story. And though, when I listened to "The Man of Lawes Tale" the following Friday, it seemed altogether more pedestrian, I shall certainly tune in again. Personal delvings into Chaucer, though pleasant, have not been deep. These, and a picture of him reading his poems to "a noble company," had not prepared me to meet a people’s poet, but that shorn of the old English is what he undoubtedly is.
Westcliff
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19510608.2.28.3
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 24, Issue 623, 8 June 1951, Page 12
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207People's Poet New Zealand Listener, Volume 24, Issue 623, 8 June 1951, Page 12
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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.
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