CLASSIFICATION
Swallow ID:
8351
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 8)
Title Source:
Transcribed from the artifact
Title Note:
Label of recording title and included poems taped to box. Box stamped JH 2W5.
Language:
English
Production Context:
Studio recording
Identifiers:
[7.3.8]
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:
T00:27:02
Size:
445.42 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 7.3.8
LOCATION
CONTENT
Contents:
Earle Birney
[00:00:00]
Reads "Pacific Door".
Earle Birney
[00:02:08]
Reads "Remarks Decoded from Outer Space".
Earle Birney
[00:03:30]
Reads "Man is a Snow" and "Or a Wind".
Earle Birney
[00:06:56]
Reads "Time Bomb".
Earle Birney
[00:07:48]
Reads "Each Lie".
Earle Birney
[00:08:41]
Reads "Five Poor Men Speak"
Earle Birney
[00:11:36]
"On the City's Rim".
Earle Birney
[00:17:21]
Reads "Midstream".
Earle Birney
[00:20:40]
Reads "Snowscape from a Plane".
[00:22:33]
Reads "Answers to a Grade-school Biology Test".
Earle Birney
[00:24:13]
Reads "Vitus Bering" from Ice, Cod, Bell or Stone.
Notes:
Title based on contents of file.
- Section “Canada: Case History” last poem “Pacific Door”
- Section 5, “Remarks Decoded from Outer Space”: Written in a military hospital in Ghent in 1945, perhaps reflects some of the depression he was feeling, as Birney was suffering from dysentery “not a very cheering complaint”.
- “Man is a Snow” “Or a Wind”: Companion poems with conjoined title, written in 1946 in Elphinstone off coast of Vancouver and Bowen Island in 1947. First is more pessimistic mood, other perhaps compensatory optimistic.
- “Time Bomb”: Written in the last year of the war from military hospital in Watford, England, suffering from diphtheria.
- “Each Lie”: Written on a hospital ship coming back from England. Much longer in the first published version and then some years later, Paris 1953, shortened down to two stanzas.
- Two translations from Attila József: Done with the assistance of native Hungarian Ilona Duczynska, completed around 1960. “On the City’s Rim” written in 1930s in Budapest shortly before Attila’s suicide.
- Two translations from Mao Tse-tung: From literal translation and convocation with Chinese scholar at UBC Ping Ti-ho. First poem about Tse-tung’s youth, when he decides to become young Communist revolutionary. Second poem is after he has successfully built revolutionary army, holds the north, and knows he holds the victory. Going to meet Chiang Kai-shek, his first trip on an airplane. Enchanted with what he sees, also thinking back on the previous leaders of China and flattering himself as the first good poet to rule China.
- “Answers to a Grade-school Biology Test”: Responding to an exam paper for grade six biology. Also had read an article in Harper’s from scientist speculating what species was best to take over the world after man had ended.
- “Vitus Bering”: Scandinavian explorer in service of Russian tsarist government in eighteenth century, Bering Strait and Bering Sea named after him.
NOTES
RELATED WORKS
Citation:
Selected Poems, 1940-1966; Ice, Cod, Bell or Stone