Uploaded January 2016 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Here's a virtual movie of the celebrated American poet Edgar Lee Masters reading in his own voice circa 1934 "The Hill" from his brilliant and much loved "Spoon River Anthology" circa 1915. To hear more amazing actual recordings of Edgar Lee Masters reading his own poems visit The Pennsound Website here where you will hear rare recordings from many great American poets..
http://writing.upenn.edu/pennsound/x/Masters.php
Spoon River Anthology (1915), by Edgar Lee Masters, is a collection of short free-form poems that collectively narrates the epitaphs of the residents of Spoon River, a fictional small town named after the real Spoon River that ran near Masters' home town. The aim of the poems is to demystify the rural, small town American life. The collection includes two hundred and twelve separate characters, all providing two-hundred forty-four accounts of their lives and losses. The poems were originally published in the magazine Reedy's Mirror.
Edgar Lee Masters (August 23, 1868 – March 5, 1950) was an American attorney, poet, biographer, and dramatist. He is the author of Spoon River Anthology, The New Star Chamber and Other Essays, Songs and Satires, The Great Valley, The Serpent in the Wilderness An Obscure Tale, The Spleen, Mark Twain: A Portrait, Lincoln: The Man, and Illinois Poems. In all, Masters published twelve plays, twenty-one books of poetry, six novels and six biographies, including those of Abraham Lincoln, Mark Twain, Vachel Lindsay, and Walt Whitman.
Born in Garnett, Kansas to attorney Hardin Wallace Masters and Emma J. Dexter,[2] his father had briefly moved to set up a law practice, then soon moved back to his paternal grandparents' farm near Petersburg in Menard County, Illinois. In 1880 they moved to Lewistown, Illinois, where he attended high school and had his first publication in the Chicago Daily News. The culture around Lewistown, in addition to the town's cemetery at Oak Hill, and the nearby Spoon River were the inspirations for many of his works, most notably Spoon River Anthology, his most famous and acclaimed work.
Kind Regards
Jim Clark
All rights are reserved on this video recording copyright Jim Clark 2016
Here's a virtual movie of the celebrated American poet Edgar Lee Masters reading in his own voice circa 1934 "The Hill" from his brilliant and much loved "Spoon River Anthology" circa 1915. To hear more amazing actual recordings of Edgar Lee Masters reading his own poems visit The Pennsound Website here where you will hear rare recordings from many great American poets..
http://writing.upenn.edu/pennsound/x/Masters.php
Spoon River Anthology (1915), by Edgar Lee Masters, is a collection of short free-form poems that collectively narrates the epitaphs of the residents of Spoon River, a fictional small town named after the real Spoon River that ran near Masters' home town. The aim of the poems is to demystify the rural, small town American life. The collection includes two hundred and twelve separate characters, all providing two-hundred forty-four accounts of their lives and losses. The poems were originally published in the magazine Reedy's Mirror.
Edgar Lee Masters (August 23, 1868 – March 5, 1950) was an American attorney, poet, biographer, and dramatist. He is the author of Spoon River Anthology, The New Star Chamber and Other Essays, Songs and Satires, The Great Valley, The Serpent in the Wilderness An Obscure Tale, The Spleen, Mark Twain: A Portrait, Lincoln: The Man, and Illinois Poems. In all, Masters published twelve plays, twenty-one books of poetry, six novels and six biographies, including those of Abraham Lincoln, Mark Twain, Vachel Lindsay, and Walt Whitman.
Born in Garnett, Kansas to attorney Hardin Wallace Masters and Emma J. Dexter,[2] his father had briefly moved to set up a law practice, then soon moved back to his paternal grandparents' farm near Petersburg in Menard County, Illinois. In 1880 they moved to Lewistown, Illinois, where he attended high school and had his first publication in the Chicago Daily News. The culture around Lewistown, in addition to the town's cemetery at Oak Hill, and the nearby Spoon River were the inspirations for many of his works, most notably Spoon River Anthology, his most famous and acclaimed work.
Kind Regards
Jim Clark
All rights are reserved on this video recording copyright Jim Clark 2016
![Suicide in the Trenches By Siegfried Sassoon Poem animation
Heres a virtual movie of the soldier poet Siegfried Sassoon reading his poem Suicide in the Trenches
Suicide in the Trenches is a poem by Siegfried Sassoon, written during his First World War military service and published in his 1918 collection: Counter-Attack and Other Poems The poem, is one of the many poems Sassoon composed in response to World War I. It reflects his own notable service in that especially bloody conflict. Sassoon was a brave and gallant upper-class officer who eventually opposed the war, but he never lost his admiration for the common soldiers who had to fight it. Sassoon felt contempt for the political leaders and civilian war hawks who, safe in their power and comfort, sent young men off to die in huge battles that seemed futile and pointless.
Siegfried Loraine Sassoon, CBE, MC (8 September 1886 1 September 1967) was an eminent English poet, writer, and soldier. Decorated for bravery on the Western Front, he became one of the leading poets of the First World War. His poetry both described the horrors of the trenches, and satirised the patriotic pretensions of those who, in Sassoons view, were responsible for a jingoism-fuelled war.[1] He later won acclaim for his prose work, notably his three-volume fictionalised autobiography, collectively known as the Sherston trilogy.
Kind Regards
Jim Clark
All rights are reserved on this video recording copyright Jim Clark 2014 Suicide in the Trenches By Siegfried Sassoon Poem animation](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Nf5Ow7dLzzI/mqdefault.jpg)
![Eliza Crossing the River - Harriet Beecher Stowe Poem animation
Heres a virtual movie of Abolitionist and author Harriet Beecher Stowe reading Eliza Crossing the River A Poem come Parable about good deeds leading to good fortune.
Harriet Elisabeth Beecher Stowe (/stoʊ/; June 14, 1811 – July 1, 1896) was an American abolitionist and author. Her novel Uncle Toms Cabin (1852) was a depiction of life for African Americans under slavery; it reached millions as a novel and play, and became influential in the United States and United Kingdom. It energized anti-slavery forces in the American North, while provoking widespread anger in the South. She wrote more than 20 books, including novels, three travel memoirs, and collections of articles and letters. She was influential both for her writings and her public stands on social issues of the day.
Harriet Elisabeth Beecher was born in Litchfield, Connecticut, on June 14, 1811.[1] She was the seventh of 13 children,[2] born to outspoken religious leader Lyman Beecher and Roxana (Foote), a deeply religious woman who died when Stowe was only five years old. Her notable siblings included a sister, Catharine Beecher, who was an educator and author, as well as brothers who became ministers: including Henry Ward Beecher, who became a famous abolitionist, Charles Beecher, and Edward Beecher.[3]
Harriet enrolled in the seminary (girls school) run by her sister Catharine, where she received a traditionally male education in the classics, including study of languages and mathematics. Among her classmates there was Sarah P. Willis, who later wrote under the pseudonym Fanny Fern.[4] At the age of 21, she moved to Cincinnati, Ohio to join her father, who had become the president of Lane Theological Seminary. There, she also joined the Semi-Colon Club, a literary salon and social club whose members included the Beecher sisters, Caroline Lee Hentz, Salmon P. Chase, Emily Blackwell, and others.[5]
It was in that group that she met Calvin Ellis Stowe, a widower and professor at the seminary. The two married on January 6, 1836.[6] He was an ardent critic of slavery, and the Stowes supported the Underground Railroad, temporarily housing several fugitive slaves in their home. They had seven children together, including twin daughters.
Kind Regards
Jim Clark
All rights are reserved on this video recording copyright Jim Clark 2014 Eliza Crossing the River - Harriet Beecher Stowe Poem animation](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/NgzQFI3k7O8/mqdefault.jpg)
![Let me not to the marriage of true minds - William Shakespeare - Poem - Animation
Heres a virtual movie of the great William Shakespeare reading his sonnet 116 Let me not to the marriage of true minds. You can see the amazing 78rpm Shellac record circa 1932 of John Gielgud reading this wonderful sonnet here at this link...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wrj3rilcTnk
Shakespeares sonnet 116 was first published in 1609. Its structure and form are a typical example of the Shakespearean sonnet.
The poet begins by stating he should not stand in the way of the marriage of true minds, and that love cannot be true if it changes for any reason; true love should be constant, through any difficulties. In the seventh line, the poet makes a nautical reference, alluding to love being much like the north star is to sailors. Love also should not fade with time; instead, true love is, as is the polar star, ever-fixèd and lasts forever.
Sonnet 116 is one of Shakespeares most famous love sonnets, but some scholars have argued the theme has been misunderstood. Hilton Landry believes the appreciation of 116 as a celebration of true love is mistaken,[3] in part because its context in the sequence of adjacent sonnets is not properly considered. Landry acknowledges the sonnet has the grandeur of generality or a universal significance, but cautions that however timeless and universal its implications may be, we must never forget that Sonnet 116 has a restricted or particular range of meaning simply because it does not stand alone.[4] Carol Thomas Neely writes that, Sonnet 116 is part of a sequence which is separate from all the other sonnets of Shakespeare because of their sense of detachment. They aren’t about the action of love and the object of that love is removed in this sequence which consists of Sonnets 94, 116, and 129.[5] This group of three sonnets does not fit the mold of the rest of Shakespeare’s sonnets, therefore, and they defy the typical concept and give a different perspective of what love is and how it is portrayed or experienced. Though 116 resolves no issues, the poet in this part of the sequence acknowledges and accepts the fallibility of his love more fully than he could acknowledge that of the young man’s earlier.[6] Other critics of Sonnet 116[7] have argued that one cannot rely on the context of the sonnet to understand its tone. They argue that since there is no indisputably authoritative sequence to them, we cannot make use of context as positive evidence for one kind of tone or another.[8] Shakespeare does not attempt to come to any significant conclusion within this particular sonnet because no resolution is needed.
Kind Regards
Jim Clark
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![Wee Wee Tailor - Thomas Lovell Beddoes - Poem - animation
Heres a virtual movie of Thomas Lovell Beddoes reading his very dark poem Wee Wee Tailor which is also known as The Oviparous Tailor This dark poetic fable tells of a tailor cursed by a witch to lay eggs like a chicken. There can be few less haunted poets than Thomas Lovell Beddoes the son of a surgeon who witnessed from an early age the horrors of patients going under the knife before the age of Anesthesia. Beddoes himself became a doctor until mental illness and infection contracted from a mortuary corpse and suicide ended his life prematurely at age 45.This definitive beautiful recital of the poem is by Alan Halsey.
Thomas Lovell Beddoes (30 June 1803[1] – 26 January 1849) was an English poet, dramatist and physician.
Born in Clifton, Bristol, England, he was the son of Dr. Thomas Beddoes, a friend of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and Anna, sister of Maria Edgeworth. He was educated at Charterhouse and Pembroke College, Oxford. He published in 1821 The Improvisatore, which he afterwards endeavoured to suppress. His next venture, a blank-verse drama called The Brides Tragedy (1822), was published and well reviewed, and won for him the friendship of Barry Cornwall.
Beddoes work shows a constant preoccupation with death. In 1824, he went to Göttingen to study medicine, motivated by his hope of discovering physical evidence of a human spirit which survives the death of the body.[2] He was expelled, and then went to Würzburg to complete his training. He then wandered about practising his profession, and expounding democratic theories which got him into trouble. He was deported from Bavaria in 1833, and had to leave Zürich, where he had settled, in 1840.
He continued to write, but published nothing.
He led an itinerant life after leaving Switzerland, returning to England only in 1846, before going back to Germany. He became increasingly disturbed, and committed suicide by poison at Basel, in 1849, at the age of 45.[3]
For some time before his death he had been engaged on a drama, Deaths Jest Book, which was published in 1850 with a memoir by his friend, T. F. Kelsall. His Collected Poems were published in 1851.
Kind Regards
Jim Clark
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