Damien's voice is so soothing. I love when he reads romantic poems, his voice become very delicate and soft. I could listen him reading his poems all day

I really liked poem "Silent Noon" by Dante Gabriel Rosetti.. Soooo very very romantic poem and I would just love to hear it again and again

And the poem "Gas from a burner" by James Joyce, last poem he read was very good!

"And some women's legs I can't recall"  I chuckled a little at that point... Very good poem to Damien! His Irish soul was bursting on fire while he read it. 

Had to listen all 8 poems again. I listened "Silent Noon" few times. Just beautiful!

'Silent Noon' made me swoon Jozie... Damien reading Rossetti - oh joy! Change in accent - the only one I believe?

I really enjoyed them all, the range in Damien's delivery was striking, the shifts between the poems, the change in tempo most of all the final poem. Which made me lol... and Damien having the last word - bum!

I really liked The Goat Paths. I associated with it and lost myself in it a little.

The Bookmark reminded me of just the other week: I was in an bookshop that sold old books (I love books, especially old books.  I love to smell them!  Mmmmm.)  Anyway, I picked a book from a shelf and was looking through and inside it there was a bus ticket!  Just like this poem (except of course it wasn't mine!)  It was a paper bus ticket that looked like a tiny raffle ticket and I forget how much the journey was but it was some tiny price.  I kept the ticket.  Is that naughty?  It was just a tiny ticket which presumably had been used by someone once as a bookmark.  I'll have to trawl my bag and find it.  I know it had the locations and the price and I don't recall whether it had a date, but I was wondering the story of whoever made that journey, just like in this poem.  And in comparison, the book seemed less interesting and back it went onto the shelf.

I wonder why Damien chose to read Rossetti with an English accent?...  Beautifully read as many have said.  It's like a painting - the poem - very visual and to me it feels sort of outside of time - the capturing of a moment, like a painting might.

NOT THAT I KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT POETRY (Except that I like My Lord, The Earl of Rochester !  If you're curious/like poetry... https://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Texts/mankind.html & http://www.druidic.org/roc_misc.htm#Seneca - though much of his poetry is of a different nature shall we say!  Aaanywaaayyyy...)

I'll have to listen to these poems all again to take some in I know.  It'll be a chore but I'll suffer through it.  

RPLovesIpswich wrote:

---

What a strange coincidence about the bus ticket, littleimpulse?! You must have felt Damien was reading the poem for you!

I loved Silent Noon because I love that period in the 19th century of the Pre-Raphaelites. Damien read it beautifully and the more English accent seemed to suit it better I thought.

---

Hee, it did feel like it was read for me in a way!  A of a poem.  Although it was sort of to the extent that I felt like the poem was (surely!) going to end up with references to the specific bookshop I was in or at least would adhere with the fact that the bus ticket really was from some person who existed before my time and had a story to ponder over...!  When the poem referenced that it was your own bus ticket I felt like telling it that no! It wasn't!!  *blush*

I love the Pre-Raphaelites too although I have to be honest - I don't know (this!   As in I know Christina's!) Rossetti's poetry.  I thought the accent suited the poem very well, but I just wondered why he chose it for only the one.  Maybe it was to suit the period as you say.  It certainly worked. 

As an indirect link, Rossetti is the reason I discovered Damien at all really.  Because I watched the series Desperate Romantics (about the Pre-Raphaelites) long ago now it was (anyone else watch that?)... and I didn't watch Being Human initially as others in my family weren't interested, but caught up with series 1 on catch up telly later... probably in part due to having seen Aidan in Desperate Romantics and being thusly even more curious about Being Human... and so it progressed from there...

Everything is connected!  I never stick to the topic anywhere.  I should be banished.

littleimpulse wrote:

Everything is connected!  I never stick to the topic anywhere.  I should be banished.

---

 Surely being tangential is a pre-requisite for being in the forum, littleimpulse 

I love how everything is connected! 

It's lovely when you can feel a personal connection to a poem.

Thanks for the kind wishes. I've learned that it is important to let people know when they matter to me. 

You matter to me. 

 Listen to Damien reading 8 poems on Poetry Please Bloomsday

Still available on BBC radio iplayer!

 Joyce 'A Flower Given To My Daughter'

(01.42 - 02.06) 

Joyce 'Alone'

(03.00 - 03.26)

 Louis MacNeice 'Dublin' 

(03.44 - 06.21)

 Kenneth Slessor 'The Night Ride'

(09.10 - 10.43)

 Dante Gabriel Rosetti: 'Silent Noon'

( 11.09 - 12.12)

 Graham Swift  'The Bookmark'

(12.42 - 14.14)

 James Stephens  'The Goat Paths'

(15.00 - 17.07)

 Joyce 'Gas From A Burner'

(24.29 - 28.37)