"Ode to a Nightingale" by John Keats read by David Buchalter

[opussangneuf]

Hi. I I like very much your recitation, especially the way you recite the third strofe, with harshness, and the "doubt" you put at the end. Long live John Keats.

[louisabridge]

A touch too melodramatic and too much heavy breathing in the first verses. Improving though as the poem lenghtens.

A good effort

[IbraheemalZawahiri]

no problemo; your recitation is overall good & pleasant to listen to :) I think poetry is made to be listened to more than it is to be read and just heard in your own head - hey I made a rhyme: "read" with "head" lol

[IbraheemalZawahiri]

it's "lee-thee", not "leeth"

[dsbuchalter]

Yes, you're right. My pronunciation of that word is not correct in this reading. Thanks for listening so closely; I had almost forgotten!

[poetryanimations]

Wonderful stuff its about time i put this in my favourites its lovely 5*****.

Kind Regards

Jim Clark

[dsbuchalter]

Thank you much, Jim. I was very happy to share your latest Keats letter with my housemate, another English major, who had read them over the summer. Actually, once I found that out, it was the deciding factor for me to move into my current home; where Keats is loved you can't go wrong. She was as fascinated as me with your image. I watched it over ten times and put it up on my teaching page: if my students memorize the letter to Fanny, they get extra credit. Thanks again.

David

[louloubeb]

Yes my nightingalllllllllllllllllllll­lllllllllllllll

5*

[dsbuchalter]

;) Well you know how to cheer a guy up (x 10^3!). Thank you very much for your creative comment.

[TheGrammarian]

Thanks for the video response. Very nicely recited. =)

[dohertykaki]

You recite so perfectly! K

[char1723]

wow. you're good, i mean great. thanks. i have to recite the first stanza tomorrow in my class. you made it extra easy. :)

[dsbuchalter]

Oh! That makes me so happy. I'm sure you'll recite it stunningly tomorrow.  Good luck (and take your time!).

[char1723]

oh, thank you so much. you know what, i memorized it already and i'm ready for tomorrow, that makes me glad. thanks again. :)

[samanthaellis]

now at least i like this poem.. i still dont get it... but i like it!

[dsbuchalter]

Music to my ears!

[mossfitz]

Really splendid reading of Keats - heartfelt and true. - just sometimes running away from the rhythms though - there was a great bank robbery of stolen beats at the central -"Darkling, I listen" verse but perhaps its modern and post-existentialist to use empty silence to emote with rather than the long vowels and slow beats, which, i imagine, would have been more Keats´ bag of tricks.

[dsbuchalter]

Thanks very much mossfitz. I'm sure you're right about the rhythm. Keats's probably turning in his grave, saying, "Fled is that music indeed!"

I imagine the poet as a stand-up act at an underworld lounge, doing his shtick on the downside of being an immortal poet:

"Oy vey, ya hear that?! Another sod ruining my high requiem. Oy, my poor draft of vintage! Bartender, something with more zip, more drowsy numbness, this hemlock ain't cutting it..Did ya hear that! Oy, this reading's a killer.

[curlygrl20]

Wow, that's really all I can say!

[KeithaLePale]

Your voice is sexy!

[davevontexas]

Thank you, William Shatner.

High five.

[dsbuchalter]

". . . on Unsolved Mysteries . . ."

;)

[joliroi]

John Keats is a wondeful poet

you récites his text with great talent

Bravo David

[dsbuchalter]

Merci!

Porquois je nais ecute pas votre musique dernieremente?

Hey man-- where have you been? I haven't seen any announcements about your new recordings lately?

[joliroi]

Hi David

I was out of work since a year

It was the most pleasant time of all my life :)

but all things must pass and now Iam working in a restaurant but I try to put one video every week :)

[dsbuchalter]

wait-- you're French: aren't you supposed to be on strike?

[CobbleStoneAlley]

so passionate david- you had me mesmerized from the start- bringing me out of the trance with a heartfelt sigh :) your wonderful- maybe sometime you could do a fav of mine..the highwayman :)

[dsbuchalter]

Thank you, J. Who is the highwayman by?

[CobbleStoneAlley]

Alfred Noyes :)

[dsbuchalter]

Alfred Noyes! Why that's the most fickle name I've ever heard!

"I'm Al-- no, I'm --fred"

"I'm No-- no, I'm --yes"

Will this guy make his mind up already?!

;)

I shall see what google has to say. Thanks!

[dsbuchalter]

Ah yes, I found it.  Now I need a way in: tell me, what is it you like about this poem?

Please quote and then paraphrase the quote (well, if you have a chance, and if you don't find that to be a repulsive task!).

I'm so lost without details.

[CobbleStoneAlley]

well... if i did that now it would kind of defeat my purpose of wanting to hear it from you- i will tell you afterwards what i like about the poem- i'm interested in how u will recite it and see what u get from it..:) dig?

[poetryanimations]

Superb and how poetry should be read with fire and passion.The American accent doesnt always work with English poetry,but your voice is a real pleasure to the ears. Your white on black video was realy good too.

More please,and do us some American poets.

5 stars and straight into my favourites.

Kind Regards

Jim Clark

[dsbuchalter]

Thanks again, Jim. Yes, after listening more closely to the version you posted (although you'll see in the comments that I had watched that before), I realized that I made a few George-Bush-like mistakes, in some cases stressing the wrong part of the syllable.

From what I know about Keats, though, a reading that captures the poet's accent would have to be a bit cockney. Would you agree? Or were his contemporary critics just trying to insult him by saying that? (I'm not being facetious!)

[moonpoetry]

Very nice, David! Please do all the odes, oh, and all the sonnets too! ...And all of Dickinson's poems, and maybe some Tennyson.... :-)

I wish I had a flux cappacitor; I'd steal John away from Fanny and I'd marry him instead! :-)

--L

[dsbuchalter]

Jeje-- sure! Sounds like a great assignments! I love what I've read of Dickinson's, especially that one about hearing the fly buzz before I die. She's so smart.

Merci for listening.

[moonpoetry]

You must read her Complete Poems!

[xfunkologyx]

nice

[dsbuchalter]

wow that was fast! a comment written 4 minutes ago, on a 6 minute video. Do you happen to have a flux capacitor?

[xfunkologyx]

haha, no. i signed in an i saw your vid added a minute ago. so when i was half way thriogh the video i left a comment. :)

[dsbuchalter]

hehe-- that's too bad! I wanted to ask you about whether the 88mph thing was a real requirement of time travel, or if Michael J. Fox was just tricked by "Doc" in _Back to the Future_. ;)

But on a real note: thanks a lot for checking out this reading.

-David