Audiobook · read by volunteers
Recuerdo
Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892–1950)
Read by Annie Coleman Rothenberg, David Barnes, David Gunn, Jordan Mueller, Kristin Hughes (1974-2021), Kara Shallenberg (1969-2023), Mark F. Smith, Peter Yearsley, Sean McKinley · 9 chapters · 14 min
About the book
“We were very tired, we were very merry.” So begins Edna St. Vincent Millay’s Recuerdo, a poem about a night spent riding a ferry back and forth, full of weariness, laughter, a bit of fruit and a joy so simple that it feels like a gift. Quick, musical and full of small details, it turns an ordinary night into a shining memory, and it has charmed readers ever since, and its refrain has a way of staying in the head. This recording gathers nine readings of the same poem, each one by a different volunteer, so that you can hear how many moods the same lines can carry: tender, playful, wistful or bright. Each version takes only a minute or two, and together they make a short, delightful stretch of poetry for listeners who like to compare voices.
Introduction
Edna St. Vincent Millay was born in 1892 and died in 1950. A native of Rockland, Maine, she was an American poet and a celebrated figure of Greenwich Village in her early career, whose lyrics and sonnets made her one of the best-known literary figures of the 1920s; she won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1923, the first woman to do so. Recuerdo, whose title is the Spanish word for a memory or a keepsake, has long been one of her most frequently anthologised poems.
It is a short poem of fairly regular rhythm, with a recurring line that gives it a lilting, almost song-like quality. It recalls a night of shared high spirits and simple pleasures, and its tone moves between gaiety and a little melancholy. Because it is so musical, it responds well to different readings, which is exactly what makes it an excellent subject for LibriVox’s weekly poetry project.
For the week of July 16th, 2006, the volunteers each recorded their version, and nine of them are collected here as Version 1, Version 2 and so on. The set lasts around twelve minutes in all. You can listen from start to finish, or simply choose a reader. Hearing the same poem again and again is surprisingly rewarding: one voice may emphasise the humour, another the tenderness, another the passing of time.
The readings were made by LibriVox volunteers, who record public-domain texts freely for everyone. It is an easy, light listen, and an invitation to discover or revisit a poet who deserves to be read aloud.
Public domain
Edna St. Vincent Millay died in 1950: 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