[COMPLETE] The Chaos, by G.N. Trenité - jc

Solo or group recordings that are finished and fully available for listeners
Jc
Posts: 3539
Joined: May 22nd, 2007, 10:25 pm
Location: Montreal, Qc, Canada

Post by Jc »

The Chaos
by G.N. Trenite

This project is now complete and can be found here:
http://librivox.org/the-chaos-by-gerard-nolst-trenite/



Click here to be notified by email when this book is complete!

Each fortnight a poem is chosen to be recorded by as many LibriVox volunteers as possible!

Volunteers outside the USA: Gerard Nolst Trenité died in 1946. His work is still protected by copyright in places like Europe, where copyright is author's death plus 70 years.

This fortnight’s poem can be found here.
(This is my blog for LV, I made little notes for the pronunciation of some words)
or here: http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Chaos

Please be sure that your recording software is set to the following technical specifications:
Bit Rate: 128 kbps
Sample Rate: 44100 kHz

Have questions on "how"?
Check LV's Recording Notes thread before recording: http://librivox.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=6427#6430 If this is your first recording, you'll also find this useful: http://librivox.org/wiki/moin.cgi/NewbieGuideToRecording

Begin your reading with the abbreviated LibriVox disclaimer:
The Chaos, by Gerard Nolst Trenité, read for LibriVox.org by [your name].
[Add, if you wish, date, your location, and/or your personal url.]
Then read the poem:
Dearest creature in creation,
Study English pronunciation.
I will teach you in my verse
Sounds like corpse, corps, horse, and worse.
I will keep you, Susy, busy,
Make your head with heat grow dizzy.
Tear in eye, your dress will tear.
So shall I! Oh hear my prayer.

Just compare heart, beard, and heard,
Dies and diet, lord and word,
Sword and sward, retain and Britain.
(Mind the latter, how it's written.)
Now I surely will not plague you
With such words as plaque and ague.
But be careful how you speak:
Say break and steak, but bleak and streak;
Cloven, oven, how and low,
Script, receipt, show, poem, and toe.

Hear me say, devoid of trickery,
Daughter, laughter, and Terpsichore,
Typhoid, measles, topsails, aisles,
Exiles, similes, and reviles;
Scholar, vicar, and cigar,
Solar, mica, war and far;
One, anemone, Balmoral,
Kitchen, lichen, laundry, laurel;
Gertrude, German, wind and mind,
Scene, Melpomene, mankind.

Billet does not rhyme with ballet,
Bouquet, wallet, mallet, chalet.
Blood and flood are not like food,
Nor is mould like should and would.
Viscous, viscount, load and broad,
Toward, to forward, to reward.
And your pronunciation's OK
When you correctly say croquet,
Rounded, wounded, grieve and sieve,
Friend and fiend, alive and live.

Ivy, privy, famous; clamour
And enamour rhyme with hammer.
River, rival, tomb, bomb, comb,
Doll and roll and some and home.
Stranger does not rhyme with anger,
Neither does devour with clangour.
Souls but foul, haunt but aunt,
Font, front, wont, want, grand, and grant,
Shoes, goes, does. Now first say finger,
And then singer, ginger, linger,
Real, zeal, mauve, gauze, gouge and gauge,
Marriage, foliage, mirage, and age.

Query does not rhyme with very,
Nor does fury sound like bury.
Dost, lost, post and doth, cloth, loth.
Job, nob, bosom, transom, oath.
Though the differences seem little,
We say actual but victual.
Refer does not rhyme with deafer.
Foeffer does, and zephyr, heifer.
Mint, pint, senate and sedate;
Dull, bull, and George ate late.
Scenic, Arabic, Pacific,
Science, conscience, scientific.

Liberty, library, heave and heaven,
Rachel, ache, moustache, eleven.
We say hallowed, but allowed,
People, leopard, towed, but vowed.
Mark the differences, moreover,
Between mover, cover, clover;
Leeches, breeches, wise, precise,
Chalice, but police and lice;
Camel, constable, unstable,
Principle, disciple, label.

Petal, panel, and canal,
Wait, surprise, plait, promise, pal.
Worm and storm, chaise, chaos, chair,
Senator, spectator, mayor.
Tour, but our and succour, four.
Gas, alas, and Arkansas.
Sea, idea, Korea, area,
Psalm, Maria, but malaria.
Youth, south, southern, cleanse and clean.
Doctrine, turpentine, marine.

Compare alien with Italian,
Dandelion and battalion.
Sally with ally, yea, ye,
Eye, I, ay, aye, whey, and key.
Say aver, but ever, fever,
Neither, leisure, skein, deceiver.
Heron, granary, canary.
Crevice and device and aerie.

Face, but preface, not efface.
Phlegm, phlegmatic, ass, glass, bass.
Large, but target, gin, give, verging,
Ought, out, joust and scour, scourging.
Ear, but earn and wear and tear
Do not rhyme with here but ere.
Seven is right, but so is even,
Hyphen, roughen, nephew Stephen,
Monkey, donkey, Turk and jerk,
Ask, grasp, wasp, and cork and work.

Pronunciation -- think of Psyche!
Is a paling stout and spikey?
Won't it make you lose your wits,
Writing groats and saying grits?
It's a dark abyss or tunnel:
Strewn with stones, stowed, solace, gunwale,
Islington and Isle of Wight,
Housewife, verdict and indict.

Finally, which rhymes with enough --
Though, through, plough, or dough, or cough?
Hiccough has the sound of cup.
My advice is to give up!
At the end of your reading, leave a space and then say:
End of poem. This recording is in the public domain.
Please leave a few seconds of silence at the end of your recording.

Save your recording as an mp3 file using the following filename and ID3 tag format:

File name - all in lowercase:chaos_trenite_[your initials].mp3 (eg. chaos_trenite_jcg.mp3)

ID3 tags (Version 2):
Title: The Chaos - Read by [YOUR INITIALS] (eg. The Chaos - Read by JCG)
Artist: Gerard Nolst Trenite
Album: LibriVox Fortnightly Poetry
Comments: (optional) Recorded by [your name]

Transfer of files (completed recordings)

Please upload with the LibriVox uploader:
http://upload.librivox.org
Image
If you have trouble reading the image above, please message an admin
You'll need to select the MC, which for this project is: jc

Please post a link to your file in this thread.

When you post your link, please include your name as you would like it credited on the catalogue page and any URL by which you would like it accompanied. (Note: This is only necessary if you have not done so for another project.)

If you wish to contribute, please have your readings submitted by 0600 GMT Sunday, December 13th (12:00am CDT)
EDIT: I WON'T BE ABLE TO CATALOG UNTIL AFTER THE 18TH, FEEL FREE TO KEEP SUBMITTING UNTIL THEN.


(And remember, anyone can suggest a poem for a certain week and/or coordinate an upcoming fortnightly poem! If you'd like to suggest a poem or coordinate a future Poetry project, please visit this thread.)

MAGIC WINDOW:

(BC admin)
Last edited by Jc on December 23rd, 2008, 8:59 pm, edited 5 times in total.
Put yourself in the Readers' Accents Table. See this post.
(Busy real life & traveling, sorry if not here often.)
TriciaG
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Joined: June 15th, 2008, 10:30 pm
Location: Toronto, ON (but Minnesotan to age 32)

Post by TriciaG »

Is the author's last name pronounced Trehn-ee-TAY? How ironic it would be to butcher his name...

Oh, and we might want to note that gunwale is pronounced "gun·nel". :roll:
Serial novel: The Wandering Jew
Medieval England meets Civil War Americans: Centuries Apart
Humor: My Lady Nicotine
Jc
Posts: 3539
Joined: May 22nd, 2007, 10:25 pm
Location: Montreal, Qc, Canada

Post by Jc »

Wikipedia doesn't know, I'd go with Tren-ee-TAY
Put yourself in the Readers' Accents Table. See this post.
(Busy real life & traveling, sorry if not here often.)
TriciaG
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Posts: 60586
Joined: June 15th, 2008, 10:30 pm
Location: Toronto, ON (but Minnesotan to age 32)

Post by TriciaG »

This one will be interesting with all sorts of different accents! Consider that some people say "aunt" like "ant," some like "awnt." Hey - even I fluctuate between both pronunciations, LOL!
Serial novel: The Wandering Jew
Medieval England meets Civil War Americans: Centuries Apart
Humor: My Lady Nicotine
aradlaw
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Post by aradlaw »

I still say it will take most of the fortnight to look up some of the more obscure words :P
David Lawrence

* Weekly & Fortnightly Poetry - Check out the Short Works forum for the latest projects!
Jc
Posts: 3539
Joined: May 22nd, 2007, 10:25 pm
Location: Montreal, Qc, Canada

Post by Jc »

aradlaw wrote:I still say it will take most of the fortnight to look up some of the more obscure words :P
I know. I started making annotations here: http://jclvtxt.blogspot.com/2008/11/chaos-by-trenite-d-1946.html

Sometimes, I'll look at the words and try to figure out the difference. And then realize I've been pronouncing them wrongly all that time...
Put yourself in the Readers' Accents Table. See this post.
(Busy real life & traveling, sorry if not here often.)
TriciaG
LibriVox Admin Team
Posts: 60586
Joined: June 15th, 2008, 10:30 pm
Location: Toronto, ON (but Minnesotan to age 32)

Post by TriciaG »

It's hard to get a flow for this poem, but here's mine. I did amplify it, but if it sounds bad, I can re-record.

(6:04)
http://upload.librivox.org/share/uploads/jc/chaos_trenite_tg.mp3
Serial novel: The Wandering Jew
Medieval England meets Civil War Americans: Centuries Apart
Humor: My Lady Nicotine
aradlaw
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Post by aradlaw »

Well, that wasn't so bad :shock:
Many thanks Jc, for shortening this poem down from the original version :wink:
http://upload.librivox.org/share/uploads/jc/chaos_trenite_dl.mp3 @ 6:23
David Lawrence

* Weekly & Fortnightly Poetry - Check out the Short Works forum for the latest projects!
Rowland
Posts: 2437
Joined: January 7th, 2008, 12:32 am
Location: Linkoping, Sweden

Post by Rowland »

Oh dear me,
This seems as great fun.
I think I will join you here and try to make something of it - whatever it will be.

Lars
Good friends are like angels... ...you don't have to see them to know they are there
Kaffen
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Post by Kaffen »

I wonder if the author had to troll the dictionary. I'm familiar with "enfeoff", for instance, but have never seen "feoffer" before and I only assume they're related. (Off to dictionary to confirm -)

I've had to modify my thoughts on pronouncing one or two of these words. This old dog is gonna have to learn new tricks!

(Submission later, after much reflection....)

BTW - aradlaw's signature line is PERFECT for this poem! :lol:
- Mark

"In narrating everything is simple, but it's the simple things that are difficult." (Apologies to von Clausewitz!)
Mark's Librivoxings
Jc
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Joined: May 22nd, 2007, 10:25 pm
Location: Montreal, Qc, Canada

Post by Jc »

I've checked some words in Merriam-Webster, and it sometimes gives alternate pronunciacions that kind-of defeats the purpose of this poem. But then, Merriam-Webster also says that nu-cu-ler is an acceptable alternate for nuclear...
Put yourself in the Readers' Accents Table. See this post.
(Busy real life & traveling, sorry if not here often.)
Llewod
Posts: 86
Joined: December 1st, 2008, 10:51 am

Post by Llewod »

http://upload.librivox.org/share/uploads/jc/chaos_trenite_hjd.mp3

Hello
Please see above. Sorry for the gaps, I'm still getting used to audacity!
Hannah
Kaffen
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Location: Greer, SC
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Post by Kaffen »

Wow! Even with English-as-first-language speakers armed with dictionaries, there are at least five differences between any two of the renditions! Pity those people who have the sangfroid to take on English as a second language!

Anyway, I'll add my version to the pot. Just don't take too many potshots at it! :lol:

http://upload.librivox.org/share/uploads/jc/chaos_trenite_mfs.mp3

(6:40)
- Mark

"In narrating everything is simple, but it's the simple things that are difficult." (Apologies to von Clausewitz!)
Mark's Librivoxings
Jc
Posts: 3539
Joined: May 22nd, 2007, 10:25 pm
Location: Montreal, Qc, Canada

Post by Jc »

thanks! all in the box
Put yourself in the Readers' Accents Table. See this post.
(Busy real life & traveling, sorry if not here often.)
Kaffen
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Joined: February 7th, 2006, 3:35 pm
Location: Greer, SC
Contact:

Post by Kaffen »

I finally get it! As an American, I was simply nonplussed with the inclusion of "Arkansas" at the end of a line - where it supposedly rhymed with something. In my version, it drops with a thud.

Llewod, though, successfully rhymes it with "four" with her British accent (and both of course sound perfectly natural). Without knowing Fact One about Trenite, I'm guessing he was European and had a British accent in mind.

Now, note that all the renditions are perfectly understandable. Even though English pronunciation is hard, our ears attune to accents well and our minds descry the content without much trouble. Yay for the Brain! :9:
- Mark

"In narrating everything is simple, but it's the simple things that are difficult." (Apologies to von Clausewitz!)
Mark's Librivoxings
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