"Ode on Melancholy" by John Keats (poetry reading)

I recorded this before but it was a couple of years ago with a cheaper microphone - and before I learned better recording techniques.

There are two readings here, recorded about a week apart. People sometimes say I ought to read the poem slower or faster, with more or less spacing between lines, different emphasis etc. The fact is that I don't have much choice, I can only attempt to read it the way it sounds in my mind's ear. I can't read it your way. If you want to read it how you think it should be read, then go ahead and do it, there are too few people reading poetry. You're as likely to be right as I am.

If I record a poem twice then the difference between readings is slight. It is only the difference is between the-way-I-think-it should-be read which doesn't change and my-best-attempt-at-reading-it which depends on how I feel at the time.

There is strong evidence that melancholy can be averted with small doses of the element lithium. Lithium has been used for decades to treat bipolar disorder - mania and depression - but then it is used in massive doses. It has been observed that places which have a higher amounts of lithium in the water supply - particularly parts of Texas and Japan - have lower rates of suicide, violent crime and some mental illesses. The amounts that make a difference seem very small - less than 2 milligrams per day.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1699579

The pictures are of various items mentioned in the poem.

The photo is "Ode to Melancholy" by Terry Strickland
http://www.terrystricklandart.com/

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Entertainment

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• Ode
• on
• Melancholy
• Keats

[NoOrdinaryCity]

Oh then....do you use a large diaphram mic and compressor with a little onboard EQ? I use a Joe Meek threeQ and it makes ALL THE DIFFERENCE in the world on spoken or sung vocals....and an MXL v69 mic - which, because of the greater mass of the capsule and compared with the tiny dynamic (shuresm58) rigs - mellows out sibilance even while adding depth and clarity. What do you like to use? - TruthTiger . com

[SpokenVerse]

@NoOrdinaryCity A Rode podcaster, but all that stuff is covered on my channel page. I know very little about microphones, software or equipment. In fact I've been wondering about getting one that better suits my voice.

[NoOrdinaryCity]

Did you read this yourself? If so - GREAT job. Reminds me of the voice of Alexander Scourby - a great Shakespearean actor whose voice can be heard reading words of weight, let's just say, "in the same league" as those of Keats...here:

GentleIslam . com / LIGHT

[SpokenVerse]

@NoOrdinaryCity Yes I read all the stuff in this channel, and I hope you will listen to a few more.

[ChelleC25]

Bravo

[dracentsparkle]

beautiful love keats and you read it perfect blessings

[blowingbubbles2]

I love Keats.

[langstonify]

Sounds great. Splendid.

[colourmegone]

@thissong4you The ancient term for depression is actually much more poetic, "melancholia". There's a famous drawing entitled "Melancholia" by Durer.

[swantonist]

i like the second one better. It sounds warmer and i think melancholy would be a slower emotion... I've always pictured melancholy as amber-colored, amber-colored hard candy. Except when you put it in your mouth it grows softer and it melts.

I wonder how Keats would want this one read.. he probably wouldn't know. I definitely don't know whenever i write something. I don't even think about that.