The Charge of the Light Brigade

Some poetry is designed to be looked at, to be pleasant to the eye. Contemporary poetry especially makes skillful use of the shape of a line, of gaps, of white space on the page.

Some say poetry is best read aloud. Poetry plays on sounds, on rhythm, on rhyme, on alliteration, on that which delights the ear.

Perhaps, then, poetry is best experienced when you read along to yourself as a skillful reader delivers the poem aloud.

My home-schooling family reads dozens of poems aloud every term, and there’s something special in that. It’s a shared experience and a fun way to enjoy poetry.

The most memorable poetry reading I have ever heard, however, was not while sitting on the floor in my family’s living room as we began our school day. The reader was not my mother or one of my sisters, nor was the poem just any poem.

The poem was “The Charge of the Light Brigade,” and the reader was Lord Alfred Tennyson himself.

Yes, there are recordings that are that old. (The very first voice recordings we have are from the 1860s.)

 In the 1890s, Lord Alfred Tennyson read aloud one of his most famous poems, and the wax cylinder recording was preserved for more than a century.

The sound isn’t clear, most words are unintelligible, and you can tell that the technology of recording was in its infancy, but there is a power to the reading nonetheless, and you can hear the strong rhythm of the poem.

You can listen to it here (the poem itself is in the video description, so you can follow along):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkqUq26z1CE

Not only are Tennyson’s words treasured and saved, but his voice has come down to us, and we can hear one of the greatest English poets read aloud one of his own poems.

Despite the quality of the recording, I find this video an alluring, intriguing treasure.