Voice of the Poet: American Wits: Ogden Nash, Dorothy Parker, Phyllis McGinley [Audiobook][Unabridged] (Audio CD)

~ Ogden Nash (Author, Reader), Dorothy Parker (Author, Reader), (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

A remarkable series of audiobooks, featuring distinguished twentieth-century American poets reading from their own work. A first in audiobook publishing--a series that uses the written word to enhance the listening experience--poetry to be read as well as heard. Each audiobook includes rare archival recordings and a book with the text of the poetry, a bibliograohy, and commentary by J. D. McClatchy, the poet and critic, who is the editor of The Yale Review.

"To hear a poem spoken in the voice of the person who wrote it is not only to witness the rising of words off the page and into the air, but to experience an aural reenactment of exactly what the poet must have heard, if only internally, during the act of composition. THE VOICE OF THE POET recordings deliver these pleasures as they broadcast the pitch and timbre of many of the major voices in twentieth-century poetry."--Billy Collins, U.S,. Poet Lauerate.

From AudioFile

Complete with full text, original recordings, and pictures of the artists, this offering is a multimedia delight. Three of the world's cleverest poets. Three voices, each giving a rare glimpse of genius on the hoof. Did you know that Ogden Nash had an upper-class drawl? Who would have guessed that Dorothy Parker, wicked and irreverent, might have passed on the phone as the headmistress of an exclusive girl's school? Three brief but pithy biographies are bound in a booklet with pictures of the artists and facsimiles of their signatures. I fell in love with Phyllis McGinley. Her best efforts are not just deeply funny but also radically true. This woman wrote the first book of light verse ever to win the Pulitzer Prize. B.H.C. © AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

Product Details

• Audio CD
• Publisher: Random House Audio Voices (March 18, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 055375663X
• ISBN-13: 978-0553756630
• Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,403,992 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Funny and fascinating, April 12, 2004

By	J. Ott "John Ott" (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

In this new CD-update of the Voice of the Poet series, we get three poets instead of the normal one. Each of these poets could, of course, fill a whole CD. But the selections are balanced (especially since editors were confined to what happened to exist in the archives from which these readings were pulled). I venture to guess there will be at least one poem from each of them that you will find amusing.

I was more familiar with Parker and especially Nash, two legends of the now-dying art of light verse. This was my first experience of McGinley, a more serious writer, who won a Pulitzer Prize for her proto-feminist collection TIMES THREE. She's great too. For those unfamiliar with one or more of these poets the companion book contains capsule biographies by J.D. McClatchey.

For me, hearing the voices of Parker and Nash was a gas. Parker is so austere and while Nash is so wonderfully nasal. My favorite track on the disc is probably his cantankakerous reading of "Tune for an Ill-Tempered Clavichord."

The Voice of the Poet is a great series, at least the three CDs with which I am familiar. If you enjoy hearing poems, as well as reading them-- and especially if you enjoy witty, funny verse-- I heartily recommend AMERICAN WITS.

4.0 out of 5 stars The Wonder of the Wit, March 8, 2007

By	Leisha Wharfield (Eugene, Oregon United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is a great CD for your next road trip. I especially enjoy Dorothy Parker's poem "Men." Her scathing delivery is hilarious. Ogden Nash, with his deliberate and self-indulgent style, may strike a listener as tedious at first. But just listen, and the reason for his easy arrogance unfolds within your mind as his assonance and rhyme build through imagery and punchlines to a certain sublime truth about this life, whoever you are, wherever you are. I've listened to several of these poems over and over. Phyllis McGinley is more stark and political than Ogden and Dorothy, and her delivery far less nuanced. I'm not sure why she was included in this collection; it may have been polished off nicely with a better choice. I can't really blame her, though--who can follow Ogden Nash?