All audio files can be found on our catalog page: https://librivox.org/to-the-clouds-by-john-clare/
Each week a poem is chosen to be recorded by as many LibriVox volunteers as possible!His biographer Jonathan Bate called Clare "the greatest labouring-class poet that England has ever produced. No one has ever written more powerfully of nature, of a rural childhood, and of the alienated and unstable self."(Summary by Wikipedia)
This week's poem can be found here.
Project Code: Y8ioIAWS
New to recording? Please see our Newbie Guide to Recording for further instructions. A quick guide to our required technical settings can be found here. When you post your file, please tell the BC what name you would like to use in our catalog.
LibriVox recording settings: mono (1 channel), 44100 Hz sample rate, 128 kbps constant bit rate MP3. See the Tech Specs
Begin your reading with the abbreviated LibriVox disclaimer:
Leave ½ to 1 second of silence at the beginning.
Then read the poem:To The Clouds by John Clare, read for librivox.org by [your name].
[Add, if you wish, date, and/or your location.]
At the end of your reading, leave a space and then say:O PAINTED clouds! sweet beauties of the sky,
How have I view’d your motion and your rest
When like fleet hunters ye have left mine eye,
In your thin gauze of woolly-fleecing drest;
Or in your threaten’d thunder’s grave black vest,
Like black deep waters slowly moving by,
Awfully striking the spectator’s breast
With your Creator’s dread sublimity,
As admiration mutely views your storms.
And I do love to see you idly lie,
Painted by heav’n as various as your forms,
Pausing upon the eastern mountain high,
As morn awakes with spring’s wood-harmony;
And sweeter still, when in your slumbers sooth
You hang the western arch o’er day’s proud eye:
Still as the even-pool, uncurv’d and smooth,
My gazing soul has look’d most placidly;
And higher still devoutly wish’d to strain,
To wipe your shrouds and sky’s blue blinders by,
With all the warmness of a moon-struck brain,—
To catch a glimpse of Him who bids you reign,
And view the dwelling of all majesty.
Leave 5 seconds of silence at the end.End of poem. This recording is in the public domain.
Filename: totheclouds_clare_your initials in lowercase_128kb.mp3 (e.g. totheclouds_clare_klh_128kb.mp3)
Upload to the LibriVox Uploader: https://librivox.org/login/uploader
(If you have trouble reading the image above, please contact an admin)
MC to select: aradlaw
Copy and paste the file link generated by the uploader into a new post in this thread along with the file duration (mm: ss). Watch this thread for prooflistening notes.
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Check back in a day or so for any feedback regarding your reading.
Deadline: Please submit your recording by 0600 GMT Sunday, February 18th (12:00 AM CST)
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Magic Window:
BC Admin
And remember, anyone can suggest a poem or coordinate an upcoming Weekly Poetry project! If you'd like to suggest a poem or coordinate a future project, please visit this thread.
If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask! Just post in this thread.
Thanks.