COMPLETE [Fortnightly Poem] A Psalm Of Life by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow - dl

Solo or group recordings that are finished and fully available for listeners
pschempf
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Post by pschempf »

Hi Michele -

Here's my recording -

https://librivox.org/uploads/aradlaw/psalmoflife_longfellow_ps_128kb.mp3
Track length: 1:53

I did another recording of this a few months ago for the Short Poetry Collection. The following month I did "The Light of Stars", a poem which Longfellow called "A Second Psalm of Life", "Footsteps of Angels", which was similarly referred to as "Voices of the Night: A Third Psalm of Life", and "The Reaper and the Flowers" originally subtitled "A Psalm of Death".
Fritz

"A small daily task, if it be really daily, will beat the labors of a spasmodic Hercules."

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msfry
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Post by msfry »

pschempf wrote: February 5th, 2019, 7:46 pm Hi Michele -

Here's my recording -

https://librivox.org/uploads/aradlaw/psalmoflife_longfellow_ps_128kb.mp3
Track length: 1:53

I did another recording of this a few months ago for the Short Poetry Collection. The following month I did "The Light of Stars", a poem which Longfellow called "A Second Psalm of Life", "Footsteps of Angels", which was similarly referred to as "Voices of the Night: A Third Psalm of Life", and "The Reaper and the Flowers" originally subtitled "A Psalm of Death".
Thanks, Phil. One minor mis-speak at :39, "But to act", you say "And to act". Your choice to fix. Let me know.

I just started a solo of Longfellow's first book of poems, Voices of the Night, which includes 23 poems, all three of which you mention above. I look forward to listening to your versions, but maybe not til after I've done mine. I like to puzzle out the meaning and inflections of a poem on my own . . . . . but if it gets too hard, I might peek. :D
pschempf
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Post by pschempf »

Fixt -

https://librivox.org/uploads/aradlaw/psalmoflife_longfellow_ps_128kb.mp3
Time now: 1:54

David mentioned not too long ago how interesting he finds it that different people interpret the same poem in so many different ways. One of the magic things about poetry. :) I haven't ever listened to one of the collections from start to finish, but I should. Have fun with Longfellow.
Fritz

"A small daily task, if it be really daily, will beat the labors of a spasmodic Hercules."

Trollope
brucek
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Post by brucek »

Here's mine at 2:25

https://librivox.org/uploads/aradlaw/psalmoflife_longfellow_bk_128kb.mp3

I read from the original so in stanzas 7 and 8 you will hear "footsteps" instead of "footprints". :|

~~~~~
Bruce.
msfry
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Post by msfry »

Thanks, Phil, you are PL OK.

Thanks, Bruce, you are PL OK. The footnote in the 1895 edition of Voices of the Night book I'm reading my solo from says, on the Psalm of Life poem, "24. Footsteps, in later editions Longfellow changed this to footprints."

Looks like I will have to read "footsteps" too. But I, like Longfellow, prefer the more visual image of "footprints in the sand".
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Post by Foon »

Foon - Real life is getting in the way of LV, will be slow until all is back on track, please bear with me!


Readers needed:
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Post by aradlaw »

David Lawrence

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brucek
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Post by brucek »

msfry wrote: February 6th, 2019, 9:28 am Thanks, Phil, you are PL OK.

Thanks, Bruce, you are PL OK. The footnote in the 1895 edition of Voices of the Night book I'm reading my solo from says, on the Psalm of Life poem, "24. Footsteps, in later editions Longfellow changed this to footprints."

Looks like I will have to read "footsteps" too. But I, like Longfellow, prefer the more visual image of "footprints in the sand".
Thanks, Michele,

Footsteps would be my preference since it speaks to the ephemeral theme of the poem - sand, time . . . and indeed life - while a footprint implies more permanency. :|

~~~~
Bruce.
pschempf
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Post by pschempf »

Thank you Michele. Interesting about the footsteps/footprints issue. Footprints strike me as something I see while footsteps are something I hear or take. When my dog was living we'd often walk along the beach in front of my house. He liked to walk along the lower edge where there was more sand and fewer barnacles and mussel shells to poke his toes. I could see what caught his interest by the pattern of his footprints. When we turned for home the tracks laid down on our outward journey often would be flooded by the incoming tide, the slate being washed clean for the next chapter to be written.
Fritz

"A small daily task, if it be really daily, will beat the labors of a spasmodic Hercules."

Trollope
msfry
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Post by msfry »

Wikipedia has a big article on how often the "footprints in the sand" has appeared in literature. It mentions Longfellow and this poem, but obviously it is a provocative image that has been used long before and long after he wrote it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Footprints_(poem)

Footsteps = sound
Footprints = image
Sand = impermanence (time)
Last edited by msfry on February 6th, 2019, 11:42 am, edited 1 time in total.
msfry
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Post by msfry »

Thanks David and Foon, for your contributions. Both PL OK.
jfgallagher
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Post by jfgallagher »

If you have room for another, here is my version:

https://librivox.org/uploads/aradlaw/psalmoflife_longfellow_jfg_128kb.mp3
recording time 1:48

Thanks!

Jim G
msfry
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Post by msfry »

jfgallagher wrote: February 6th, 2019, 1:21 pm If you have room for another, here is my version:

https://librivox.org/uploads/aradlaw/psalmoflife_longfellow_jfg_128kb.mp3
recording time 1:48

Thanks!

Jim G
Hi, Jim, nice rendition. Your volume at 92.1 is outside LV's target range. Please lower volume by about 2 or 3, reload, and let me know. Thanks.
jfgallagher
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Post by jfgallagher »

msfry wrote: February 6th, 2019, 1:39 pm
jfgallagher wrote: February 6th, 2019, 1:21 pm If you have room for another, here is my version:

https://librivox.org/uploads/aradlaw/psalmoflife_longfellow_jfg_128kb.mp3
recording time 1:48

Thanks!

Jim G
Hi, Jim, nice rendition. Your volume at 92.1 is outside LV's target range. Please lower volume by about 2 or 3, reload, and let me know. Thanks.
For some reason I cannot get my volume checker to work, so I'm going to have to rely on yours!

Here it is again, hopefully a little softer this time!

https://librivox.org/uploads/aradlaw/psalmoflife_longfellow_jfg_128kb.mp3
recording time 1:48

Thanks!

Jim G
SweetHome
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Post by SweetHome »

I just came by to see if mine was PL'd, but don't think I see it in the MW yet. :)
Thanks
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