Foley suggests that “reading” poetry aloud is one way to recover an orality immanent in print texts, and the selections I’ve collected for us to discuss this week all have some implicit or explicit oral dimension.
As a starting point, we should think about the fact that most “print” poetry in the 19th-century would still have been experienced by ear — in some situation of collective listening. What would it mean to hear this recited by a family member or friend? What style would they have brought to the performance? What cues does the text hold?
Please have a listen to the audio I recovered from our last recording session.