CLASSIFICATION
Swallow ID:
8359
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 uncollected poems (Tape 3)
Title Source:
Transcribed from the artifact
Title Note:
Label of recording title and included poems taped to box. Box stamped HB 1W2.
Language:
English
Production Context:
Studio recording
Identifiers:
[8.1-3]
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:
T00:30:44
Size:
506.34 MB
Dates
Date:
1966
Type:
Performance Date
Notes:
Dates supplied through research for copyright.
LOCATION
CONTENT
Contents:
Earle Birney
[00:00:00]
Reads "Postscript for Mr. Masefield".
Earle Birney
[00:02:30]
Reads "Lines for Lotus-Eaters".
Earle Birney
[00:06:24]
Reads "Recruit at Church Parade".
Earle Birney
[00:06:59]
Reads "In War…".
Earle Birney
[00:07:15]
Reads "Last Night".
Earle Birney
[00:08:44]
Reads "Prologue".
Earle Birney
[00:17:25]
Reads "Conrad Kane".
Notes:
- “Masefield”: December 1938. John Masefield (poet laureate) commenting on Chamberlin pact with Hitler, quatrain praising action. Birney adds second stanza. Sent to Saturday Night, reply January 1939 from editor – “Dear Mr. Birney, It’s very neat and well-deserved, but I am trying to keep away from any note of bitterness about the Munich business. Yours truly, B. K. Sandwell.” Typified attitudes of typical Canadian establishment until war actually came.
- “Lines”: In 1940, felt world was far less sane than what was going on in the comic strips.
- “Recruit”: a four line piece written which at Niagara-on-the-Lake military camp, Summer 1940.
- “Last”: A leave, a girl, and a poem. West coast setting.
- “Prologue”: 1941 Toronto. Birney on summer drilling, would drop into basement of Park Plaza which was a popular drinking place. Sir Charles G. D. Roberts frequented there and held a small court. Birney began scribing the people there to make a sort of 20th century Canterbury Tales – never followed through by reads from draft of what would have been the prologue. Birney comments on where these people are now throughout reading.
- “Conrad”: 1942, a poem about Conrad Kane, a Canadian professional alpine guide who was born in Austria in 1883 and died in Canada in 1934. This is a free-wheeling ballad based on the fact from his own autobiography. Birney as a small boy was in one of Kane’s first skiing classes, and the first skiing class ever conducted in Banff. This poem was published twice in magazines but never collected.AM40
NOTES
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