The Poet Speaks (Various)
Details
Type of record: Archive
Title: The Poet Speaks (Various)
Classmark: MS 1720/2/PS44
Creator(s): Various
Date(s): c.1964-1966
Size and medium: 1 x 5¾ inch (14.5 cm) open reel spool of ¼ inch polyester audio tape. Duration: 112.53 minutes
Persistent link: https://explore.library.leeds.ac.uk/special-collections-explore/18598
Collection group(s): Leeds Poetry
Description
Audio recordings of interviews with 8 poets conducted by Hilary Smith and Peter Orr as part of the British Council's 'The Poet Speaks' series.[Side1; Interview 1]: Hilary Smith interviews Martin Bell (Gregory Fellow in Poetry, 1967-1969). Subjects discussed include writing poetry; experiences and influences on Bell's poetry; themes; reading poetry; audience; modern poetry readings; Bell's teaching work; poets who Bell is influenced by; Bell's identification with/connection with other poets, and The Group; the writing process; reasons for writing; and views on criticism. [Duration: 12.32 minutes].[Side 1; Interview 2]: Hilary Smith interviews Ruth Pitter. Subjects discussed include Pitter's working life aside from writing poetry; experience of the Second World War; childhood, upbringing and parental influence; obscurity in poetry; Hopkins and other influences on Pitter's poetry; themes; Pitter's conversion to Christianity; personal experience and poetry; control and discipline; writing
technique/the writing process; and reasons for writing poetry. [AC starts at 12.33; ends 26.39. Duration: 14.06 minutes].[Side 1; Interview 3]: Hilary Smith interviews Vernon Scannell. Subjects discussed include themes in Scannell's poetry; death and experience of the Second World War; poetry in the Second World War (Keith Douglas); influences on Scannell's poetry; the writing process; Scannell's poem 'Lynching'; where ideas for poems come from, including Scannell's 'The Walking Wounded'; contemporary poetry and poets; audience; reading poetry; Scannell's feelings about 20th century society; religion/Christianity; the function of poetry; writing prose vs. writing poetry; and form. [AC starts at 26.42; ends 41.07. Duration: 14.25 minutes].[Side 1; Interview 4]: Hilary Smith interviews Robert Conquest. Subjects discussed include 20th century influences on Conquest's poetry; experience and poetry; scientific and technological developments and their influence; modern criticism; audience;
writing poetry/the poetic imagination; the 'New Lines' anthologies; the principles of poetry; the Movement; the 'Mavericks' anthology; and the impact of modern poetry. [AC starts at 41.16; ends at 56.07. Duration: 14.51 minutes].[Side 2; Interview 5]: Peter Orr interviews Robert Nye. Subjects discussed include Nye's early poems; inspiration for poems; reading and influences; audience/who Nye writes for; the motivation for writing poetry; Nye's work as a reviewer; imagery and the influence of surroundings; themes in Nye's poetry; Nye's interest in music/song; the formal discipline of poetry; reading poetry/poetry readings (with reference to Dylan Thomas). [Duration: 13.52 minutes].[Side 2; Interview 6]: Peter Orr interviews Norman Nicholson. Subjects discussed include influences on Nicholson's poetry; the landscape of northern England; the impulse of writing poetry; Nicholson's early poetry; reading poems aloud/audience; the formal discipline of poetry (with reference to the poets of the
1940s and Nicholson's own work); the purpose of poetry; contemporary society and political events and Nicholson's poetry; how a poem takes shape; the stimulus for poems; Wordsworth (influence of/affinity with); contemporary poetry; modern criticism; and writing poetry. [AC starts at 13.58; ends at 28.42. Duration: 14.44 minutes].[Side 2; Interview 7]: Peter Orr interviews John Fuller. Subjects discussed include starting to write poetry; inspiration for themes and images in Fuller's poetry; influences; reading poems; audience; Fuller's academic work; contemporary poets and poetry in the United States; the influence of 17th century/metaphysical poets; 18th century poets and poetry; the writing process; the formal mechanics of poetry; intelligible/obscure poetry; Fuller's interest in writing plays; and the reason for writing poetry. [AC starts at 28.51; ends at 43.33. Duration: 14.42 minutes].[Side 2; Interview 8]: Peter Orr interviews Jeremy Prynne. Subjects discussed include Prynne's
upbringing and education; his initial resistance to writing poetry; the contemporary poetry scene; audience/the reader; reading poems aloud; themes and convergence in Prynne's poetry; poem titles; obscurity in poems; Prynne's work as an English teacher; the writing process; and vocabulary. [AC starts at 43.45; ends at 58.41. Duration: 14.56 minutes].
Access and usage
Reproduction
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Physical and technical conditions
Playback speed: 3¾ ips.