Read by Peter Yearsley.
This week’s focus is on our poetry, and Peter Yearsley’s reading of the Lament of the Irish Emigrant is a great example of a heartfelt reading from our first poetry collection. It is beautifully and subtly read. His interpretation makes you feel the pain and loss of the narrator and is delivered with a veracity rarely achieved in poetry readings. Listen to this poem and experience the pain, the loss, the memories, and the hope of this young Irish emigrant as he travels to a new land.
Listen
- A 30 second clip.
- Listen to all of “Lament of the Irish Emigrant” in our Short Poetry Collection 001
What is this? Every week the volunteers at Librivox pick a different recording to present to our listeners. The spotlighted recordings vary from week to week in order to call attention to the variety of works available here at Librivox and to show how much we appreciate all the effort and work our readers put into each project. The featured selection may be poetry, novels, short stories or non-fiction. All of them can be found within our growing catalog and are available for download. Want to learn more?
My favorite LibriVoice gets the attention he deserves! Peter has a wonderfully rich and melancholy voice and it is perfectly presented in this poem. Every time I hear the line where his voice breaks, “I’m very lonely now, Mary,” it gives me chills.
There’s something so true in Peter’s reading, that places me beside this fellow, overhearing him speak to his wife. Each time he says, “Mary,” it’s so gently direct, as if her hand strokes his cheek. A wave of chills just went through me and . . . anyone with a recent loss will be moved to tears.
This is such a wonderful piece I had to put it to music. I’ve posted it on soundclick under the creative commons license. http://www.soundclick.com/bands/pagemusic.cfm?bandID=310396 or
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/briareus
Your comments welcome.
Don’t miss this one! While at it, go ahead and download “Love and Age” from the same collection and also read by Peter Yearsley. The ability to read achingly sad poetry in a truly melancholy manner but withOUT slipping into being maudlin is a subtle and rare talent, but Peter Yearsley nails it with both these poems.