From the Horse's Mouth
Se OWADAYS, Englishmen and Americans have everything in common, except, of course, the language." Oscar Wilde, of course, at his most wilfully paradoxical. I wish he could have heard four American poets reading their own verse last week: it was the most piquant justification of his bon mot. William Carlos Williams read his verse in a voice like the scraping of two metallic surfaces; John Crowe Ransome’s dry finicky disdain sabotaged his; Karl Shapiro measured his lines with a downbeat as strict and inexorable as a drum major; only E. E. Cummings (or is he still e. e. cummings?) in a tone of magisterial authority gave his work any life. Should poets read their own verses? I think they should. Dylan Thomas and Edith Sitwell have shown how wonderfully their voices can reinforce their printed work; so on their own level have Mr. Curnow and Mr. Vogt. If poets find themselves poorly endowed by nature for public address, I feel that a course of voice production with the most reputable teachers should be considered part of their poetic discipline.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19550211.2.20.1
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 32, Issue 811, 11 February 1955, Page 10
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183From the Horse's Mouth New Zealand Listener, Volume 32, Issue 811, 11 February 1955, Page 10
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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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