W.B.Yeats Reading His Own Verse

January 29th, 2008 · or link to (permalink)

Yeats is extremely interesting because his life-span ran from the American Civil War to the beginning of the Second World War. He was at one time both Victorian and modern. This recording is from a few years before he died in 1939.

I am fascinated by accents and how they change and this is a perfect example. The interesting thing here is that professional Irishman, Mr Yeats sounds Scottish. Yeats is reading his own poems as he wanted them to sound and therefore the poetic inflection accentuates the accent.

This is not an Irish accent that you hear very often today and in many ways is similar to a West Coast (Gaelic native) Scottish accent, with a touch of Edinburgh sophistication, rather like the voice of Arthur Conan Doyle. Perhaps I am imagining this of course, but that parallel perception would fit well with the reality of Yeats as both a West Coast (Gaelic) Irishman and Dublin sophisticate.

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7 responses so far »

Michelle B : Jan 29, 2008 at 10:10 am

Fascinating audio–you should indulge yourself more often!
Marc : Jan 30, 2008 at 7:33 pm

yeah, more of these, please. for instance, i think philip larkin once read poetry for the bbc? also, did no one in his lifetime capture raymond carver on video? or audio, for that matter. more self indulgence as well; i’m only happy to join in
Ted : Feb 3, 2008 at 8:05 pm

His accent is classic anglo-irish. A rare sound these days as the age old separation is dissappear5ng and all us Irish begin to sound more American.
S.D.Young : Feb 4, 2008 at 7:21 pm

Jesus, what a pompous dickhead.
Ted : Feb 4, 2008 at 11:24 pm

Who.. Me or Yeats?
annie : Feb 9, 2008 at 9:48 pm

have to agree with Ted - nice post and wonderful to hear Yeats read his own work but the accent doesn’t sound anything like Scottish to an Irish ear
S.D.Young : Feb 10, 2008 at 5:57 pm

You.

Haha, joking. Yeats.