VERSE-SPEAKING CHOIR.

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 99, 24 October 1938, Page 4

VERSE-SPEAKING CHOIR.

The programme for the recital of poetry to be given by the VerseSpeaking Choir on Wednesday is particularly interesting. The sea section includes Keats's beautiful "Sonnet on the Sea," "Waves" by Walt Whitman, some old chanteys ("Ranzo," "Stormalong,"4" and "Old Joe is Dead"; a stirring passage of polyphonic prose, "Clipper Ships,"'by John Gould Fletcher, a humorous poem, "The Figurehead," by Crosbie Garstin, and a passage of dhythmirig prose, "The Launching of the Argo" by Charles Kingsley. Of these, "Clipper Ships" is perhaps the most interesting. Written in a fairly new poetic form, that of polyphonic prose, it presents a realistic and vital picture of life on the old sailing ships. With the exception of "Bal led by James Elroy Flecker, all the ballads are old. They are "The Riddling Knight," "Sir Eglamore/' and the "Strange Visitor," and two humorous ballads, "Good King Dagober" and "Hi-gee Ho-gee, Humble." A poem of outstanding interest is "What Do We Hope for Then?" by one of the leading younger English poets, Cecil Day Lewis. Strongly contrasted are the emotional fervour of the negro "Dem Bones Gonna Rtse Again" and the delicate beauty pi "Prayer to Our. Lady" and "Maiden in the Moor Lay. This recital will be the last to be conducted by Mr. Mountjoy for some time, as he is leaving early in November to spend a year in London, and it is hoped that this programme will be. a fitting farewell.to him and Mrs. Mountjoy. The assisting artists will be Mr. Leslie Souness, L.R.S.M., L.T.C.L. (pianist) and Melva Doney and Brian Ashbridge, who will contribute dance duos. _;