Thisimpressive four-CD set of 79 poets reading their work begins with an1890 recording of Walt Whitmans America, the first of many piecesforming an enchanting audio-mosaic. A labor of love, In Their OwnVoices: A Century of Recorded Poetry suffers only in its omissions (T.S.Eliot, Elizabeth Bishop). Considered individually or as a whole, these122 poems poignantly remind us that a poet, as W.H. Auden once said, is aperson passionately in love with language.
These tapes aresimply amazing. They have everything from a recording THOMAS EDISON madeof WALT WHITMAN reading AMERICA, to ROBERT FROST reading BIRCHES, THEROAD NOT TAKEN, to modern poets like SYLVIA PLATH reading DADDY,ADRIANNE RICH reading DIVING INTO THE WRECK. Theres even some BUKOWSKI.When you hear DYLAN THOMASs powerful voice belt out DO NOT GO GENTLEINTO THAT GOOD NIGHT, you find out he sounds sort of like O-B-1 Kenobifrom star wars. E E CUMMINGS work is actually very accessible when hereads it aloud. His naturally inflections and words he stresses madepoems like NEXT TO OF COURSE GOD, and ANYONE LIVED IN A PRETTY HOW TOWNperfectally understandable (theyre sometimes a little difficult inprint).