CLASSIFICATION
Swallow ID:
8342
Partner Institution:
University of Calgary
Source Collection Title:
Earle Birney fonds
Source Collection ID:
Source Collection Contributing Unit:
University of Calgary, Archives and Special Collections
Source Collection URI:
Source Collection Image URL:
ITEM DESCRIPTION
Title:
Earle Birney reading from Selected poems 1940-1966 (Tape 3)
Title Source:
Transcribed from the artifact
Title Note:
Label of recording title and included poems taped to box. Box stamped JH 0X8.
Language:
English
Production Context:
Studio recording
Identifiers:
[7.3.3]
Rights
Rights:
The Public Domain Mark (PDM)
CREATORS
Name:
Birney, Earle
Dates:
1904-1995
CONTRIBUTORS
MATERIAL DESCRIPTION
Recording Type:
Analogue
AV Type:
Audio
Material Designation:
Reel to Reel
Physical Composition:
Magnetic Tape
Extent:
1/4 inch
Playing Speed:
7 1/2 ips
Tape Brand:
CBC Radio - Canada
Sound Quality:
Excellent
Physical Condition:
Good
DIGITAL FILE DESCRIPTION
Duration:
T00:29:55
Size:
493.12 MB
Dates
Date:
1966
Type:
Performance Date
Notes:
Date taken from creation dates listed for item level descriptions in archival finding aid for the Earle Birney fonds Item number 7.3.3
LOCATION
CONTENT
Contents:
Earle Birney
[00:00:00]
Reads "Transistor".
Earle Birney
[00:05:48]
Reads "Meeting of Strangers".
Earle Birney
[00:08:06]
Reads "Curacao".
Earle Birney
[00:08:48]
Reads "Caracas".
Earle Birney
[00:10:36]
Reads "Cartagena des Indes".
Earle Birney
[00:21:26]
Reads "Barranquilla Bridge".
Earle Birney
[00:23:44]
Reads "Machu Picchu".
Notes:
Title based on contents of file.
- “Transistor”: High, wild mountains of Jamaica. Fourth generation of runaway slaves living in the mountains. Written about a woman running a rest house (former plantation).
- “Meeting of Strangers”: In Trinidad, had many wonderful experiences but through the perversity of a poet only wrote about a not so charming episode. Birney was down at the dock district at the wrong time.
- “Caracas”: a strange and terrible city. Birney corrects himself when he misreads a line.
- “Cartagena de Indias”: Visited strange place with long history but off the tourist path. Cartagena de Indias old pirate town (Spanish/French) named after Cartagena, Spain. The town was the focal point in 15th and 16th century for gathering of loot taken by Spain from the rest of South America. Galleons would come to port to take treasure back to Spain, and pirates would wait outside the port. Some forts still stand. Spanish poet J. M. Heredia wrote a poem about this place called “Ciudad triste, ayer reina de la mar” (Sad City, Once Queen of the Sea). Birney’s poem includes discussion of Luis Carlos Lopez (1879-1950) and a monument to his shoes. Birney translates Lopez’s sonnet “A Mi Ciudad Nativa” at the end of the reading.
NOTES
RELATED WORKS
Citation:
Selected Poems, 1940-1966