American Speech in Radio Poetry

THE SPOKEN word has always been an instrument of entertainment, persuasion, inspiration, and even combat. Because of the incredible growth of radio this instrument has become one of the most formidable forces in the world today. It is small wonder, therefore, that poets are turning to the radio. Traditionally, the spoken word is the very core of poetry, and broadcasting presents this word to an audience of millions. Nor is it at all strange that radio is beginning to welcome the poets. The compression and the allusive power of poetry are needed. 'Radio, whose greatest single commodity is time,' Norman Corwin points out, 'can least afford to waste any.'l And poetry does not waste time. At first the poets were content to read their verses over the air, but the radio, 'the theatre of the ear,' needed more dramatic material. In 1936 the British Broadcasting Corporation produced D. G. Bridson's 'The March of the 45, ' the first poetry play written specifically for the radio. In 1937 the Columbia Broadcasting System presented Archibald MacLeish's 'The Fall of the City.' Other poetry plays designed to fit into the broadcasting pattern followed soon after. Among the radio poets today can be listed Norman Corwin, Archibald MacLeish, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Alfred Kreymborg, Stephen Vincent Benet, W. H. Auden, Louis MacNeice, John LaTouche, A. M. Sullivan, Eve Merriam, Ruth Lechlitner, Norman Rosten, Carl Sandburg, and Maxwell Anderson. While poets like Sandburg found the radio a natural medium for their verse, others were forced to change their style, for radio poetry must at all times be clear and simple. It is controlled by the heterogeneity of the audience and the physical limitations of the ear, which cannot dart back to clear up difficult points. Radio poetry, therefore, presents its ideas in simple, everyday words, repeating frequently so that even the inattentive listener finally catches the import of the lines. Two striking examples of the lucidity of verse for the air can be found in the work of Eve Merriam in the United States and Louis MacNeice

Linguistics · Poetry · American and British Literature Analysis · Poetry Analysis and Criticism · History · Philosophy

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