Audiobook · read by volunteers
Apology
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
Read by Alan Davis Drake (1945-2010), Amalor Myrnnyx, cricket, Clarica, Délibáb, Doug Wetzel, David Best, Esther, Ezwa, Hans Dekker · 28 chapters · 31 min
About the book
The Apology is a short poem by Ralph Waldo Emerson in which he defends his way of life against those who think a poet should be doing something more practical. The speaker explains that he loves the woods and the quiet, that the silence of the outdoors suits him better than the bustle of the town, and that those who criticise him have not understood what he finds there. In this recording twenty-eight different LibriVox volunteers read the poem, each with their own voice and rhythm. It is a wonderful illustration of how many ways a few verses can be spoken. The whole collection lasts about half an hour, and the individual readings are only a minute or so each. Twenty-eight readers, one gentle defence of a quiet life, and a lovely experiment in how voices shape meaning.
Introduction
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882) was an American poet, essayist and lecturer, and a central figure of Transcendentalism. He believed in the value of solitude and the education that nature offers, and his poems often express a quiet reverence for the natural world. The Apology appeared in his book Poems, published in 1847, and is a good example of his brisk, rhymed style.
This is another of the weekly poetry projects set up by the LibriVox community, in this case in early September 2007. The volunteers record the same poem and mark their readings with their initials. You can listen to a few and compare, or hear all twenty-eight in sequence for an unusual portrait of a single text. The poem is short, but the differences in tone make it feel fresh each time.
Poetry lovers will find it a pleasant exercise in listening, and those who like Emerson’s essays may enjoy meeting him in verse. The collection also shows how a community of volunteers can turn a simple idea into a lasting archive.
Twenty-eight recordings, about 30 minutes in all: the same short poem read by twenty-eight different volunteers. A good way to listen is to take three or four in a row, then skip ahead and notice which readers hurry, which linger, and which seem to smile as they read. Emerson’s lines are plain enough to take any amount of re-reading, and the poem’s argument for a walk in the woods has an obvious appeal on a busy day. Emerson wrote the poem in short rhymed stanzas, which makes it easy to follow even at a first hearing.
Public domain
Ralph Waldo Emerson died in 1882: the work is in the public domain in Switzerland, more than 70 years after the author’s death.
The LibriVox volunteers dedicated this recording to the public domain.
Sources : LibriVox page · Files at the Internet Archive · Original text