CLASSIFICATION
Swallow ID:
8344
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 4)
Title Source:
Transcribed from the artifact
Title Note:
Label of recording title and included poems taped to box. Box stamped JH 4W8.
Language:
English
Production Context:
Studio recording
Identifiers:
[7.3.4]
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:
T00:28:37
Size:
471.57 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 7.3.4
LOCATION
CONTENT
Contents:
Earle Birney
[00:00:00]
Reads "Letter from a Cuzco Priest".
Earle Birney
[00:04:55]
Reads section three War Winters "Hands".
Earle Birney
[00:08:27]
Reads "Vancouver Lights".
Earle Birney
[00:12:26]
Reads "Dusk on the Bay".
Earle Birney
[00:15:36]
Reads "In This Verandah".
Earle Birney
[00:17:10]
Reads "Anglosaxon Street".
Earle Birney
[00:20:35]
Reads "War Winters".
Earle Birney
[00:21:48]
Reads "Conference of Heads".
Earle Birney
[00:22:30]
Reads "Lines For a Peace".
Earle Birney
[00:23:53]
Reads "This Page My Pigeon".
Earle Birney
[00:26:06]
Reads "The Road to Nijmegen".
Notes:
Title based on contents of file.
- “Hands”: written in and for Vancouver in 1939 at the outset of the war.
- “Vancouver Lights”: written in 1941, when there was a dim out in Halifax and talk of a black out across Canada as war worsened for Allies.
- “Dusk on the Bay”: originally called “Dusk on the English Bay,” written in Vancouver at time of the larger sea battles in Mediterranean and off the coast of Norway.
- “In This Verandah”: Toronto 1941
- “Anglosaxon Street”: Written in 1942 Toronto. Two streets in Toronto, Yorkville and Cumberland Streets, which in early days of Second World War were slums streets noted in the press because although they were the worst looking streets in Toronto, seemed proud of the fact that they never rented to Jewish or black people. They were a “pure” Anglo-Saxon street. Birney writes in old Anglo-Saxon meter.
- “War Winters”: Written in winter 1942, in Anglo-Saxon meter.
- “Conference of Heads”: Written in 1943 on troop ship going from Halifax to England.
- “Lines for a Peace”: Written in 1943 from London.
- “This Page My Pigeon”: Sent to Birney’s wife from Portsmouth in 1944 as he was about to sail on a submarine to continent. The page is those airmail blues that soldiers sent in the war, they were allowed one a week.
- “The Road to Nijmegen”: Written in Holland, January 1945. Written to a friend.
NOTES
RELATED WORKS
Citation:
Selected Poems, 1940-1966