fbpx

Facets of a Diamond - Blog

“Singing the Undulations”

 

Photograph by John Diamond, M.D.

Arthur Waley writes that Roger Fry, the art critic, “thought verse ought to be printed in lines that undulated in a way to reinforce the rhythms.”[1]

In essence, that’s what I try to do with my “compositions” – merely singing the undulations of the poet’s rhythms.

And I love his reference to undulation, for that is exactly as I feel the rhythms – as waves. With every line I observe my hand move to the particular waveform of the lines of the poet’s inner voice, singing.

My hand, conducted by the poet, undulates as it conducts my singing.

 


[1] One Hundred and Seventy Chinese Poems, New Edition (London: Jonathan Cape, 1962), p. 6.

Categories:

Music, Poetry,
Facebook
Twitter
YouTube