OCTOBER 21: "The Goblin Market" by Christina Rosetti ~ Part 3

It's Here!  After languishing in the editing suite for two days, the next installment of lustful fruit poetry (smiles) in which Laura develops fruit envy.  Actually I think I dubbed this section "Truth and Consequences."  I've given up trying to catch up, so we are just going to Keep Moving Forward.  Enjoy!

The Goblin Market ~ Part 3 by Christina Rosetti

Recording (c) 2012 by Judith Cullen
NOT for Commercial Use

OCTOBER 20th: "The Goblin Market" by Christina Rosetti - Part 2

Whew!  Cold finally subsiding! Here's Part 2 finally!

The poem itself is really written in Acts, like a play.  There are meters and rhythms internal to each Act.  Part 1 is the section I think of as "The Great Fruit Orgy."  The Part 2 is "In Denial" followed by tomorrow's selection: Part 3 - "Truth and Consequences." 

I have performed this many times, but one of my favorites has been presenting it with friend Dubhna Rhiadra in Second Life (c) as a duet reading.  Maybe that is because she always insists on me reading Laura. No, seriously ... she is in Wales and I am in the Pacific Northwest, yet we connect when we read in a way that still stuns me, given that we've never shared the same air space.  There are several colleagues I connect with that way as a virtual perfomer.  It always seems and feels like a miracle, and it always leads to the very best performances.

The Goblin Market  - Part 2 by Christina Rosetti

Recording (c) by Judith Cullen 2012
NOT for Commerical Use

OCTOBER 18th - DAMN COLD!

Apologies. The next installment of The Goblin Market has been delayed by me recovering from a cold.  Progress being made ... keep the faith and check in tomorrow.  It's almost all cleared up, just not before I ran out of audio tracks recorded in my "pre-cold" state.

Have a wonderful sneeze, wheeze, and cough free day!

OCTOBER 17: "The Goblin Market" by Christina Rosetti

Composed in 1859, Rosetti's poem is a continual source of discussion and controversy.  "Critics" and "experts" like to analyze after the fact and find things which may or may not be there, sometimes mixing innocence and salaciousness because they view it throught he frame of their own times and beliefs.  The result often creates controversy and the hint of scandal which might be a little off context. Proto-Feminism?  Bisexuality?  Who the heck knows?  None of us were there.  No matter how learned, we won't ever really know.  i=It is possible Rosetti did not know herself.  Isn't the point of timeless literature that it speaks to people over generations? It's an interesting conundrum, though. It is noted nicely on Wikipedia with some interesting links.

What I do know is, it is a bloody tough poem in any number of ways.  The meter and the rhyme might sometimes be described as "erratic,"  making it very hard to read out loud sensibly.  Plus, as I discovered recording, it is full of multitudes of deadly, complex plosives!  Still, the internal rhythms are compelling and a real delight to read. 

Looks like this will come out in three or four parts.  Check in tomorrow for the next section.

The Goblin Market - Part 1 by Christina Rosetti

Recording (c) by Judith Cullen 2012
NOT for Commerical Use

OCTOBER 15: "The Changeling"

More delights from the stories of T. Crofton Croker (also author of The Rock of the Candle).  In this one the elves try and play one of their standard tricks on a human mother by switching her lovely baby child for one of their own number, who will undoubtably rain havoc upon their mortal existance.  But Mary Scannell is a wily lass, and knows well enough when she has been tricked.

A good story, and a gentle beginning to the week.  Coming up this week:  more Mary Oliver, William Butler Yeats and The Goblin Market.

The Changeling by T. Crofton Croker

Recording (c) Judith Cullen 2012
NOT for Commercial Use

OCTOBER 14: "The Guests"

Image from Wikimedia Commons

This comes from Scary Stories to Tell In The Dark, a collection from folklore retold by Alvin Schwartz. Mr. Schwartz seems to have made quite a publishing career in the early 1980's out of reinterpreting stories from folklore, with no less than a dozen titles to his credit - mostly ghost stories, tall tales, and "tomfoolery."

I have some good posts lined up for next week, including more W.B. Yeats, Mary Oliver, and Christina Rosetti's Goblin Market in parts.


The Guest, retold by Alvin Scwartz

Recording (c) 2012 by Judith Cullen
NOT for Commerical Use

OCTOBER 13: "A Coward" by W. B. Yeats

From Wikimedia Commons

Pardon the delay in today's post.  Lots of changes to the studio yesterday and some of them are still being absorbed.  Today's post track might sound a bit different to you as we fiddle with the post processing after yesterday's studio upgrades.

Here is today's offering:  another tale from The Celtic Twilight by William Butler Yeats.  I leave it to you to ponder whether you think that the man referenced in the title was better, or worse off, after his encounter with the spirit world.

A Coward by W. B. Yeats

Recording (c) 2012 by Judith Cullen
NOT for Commerical Use