This is absolutely brilliant . Please do more readings of poetry . If more people could hear poetry read like this , especially at school , it would open up a wonderful world to them .
I've listened to so many people read this poem and have liked none of them, not even Eliot's. Your reading is brilliant with the right touch of tiredness, sadness, and resignation. Everyone rushes through it. Thank you for pausing (and reflecting) in all the right places!
Tim Martin, I agree with all the comments here. This is far and wide the best rendition of this poem I have ever heard. Please find and do some of the poems from Africa. I'd definitely subscribe. I'm on the look out, my friend!
No one has commented on this in so many years. Still my favorite Christmas poem and my favorite rendering of my favorite Christmas poem. I feel like I’m alone in the room when the party has long left. I should be glad of another death. I should be glad of another death.
This is the best narration of the journey of the Magi that I have ever heard! Beautifully paced, exactly right. I had seen a great narration of TS Eliot's poem on TV some years ago done by Timothy West, and was looking for it on You Tube when I came across Tim Martin's version which I think it is even better.Just love it.
This is lovely, atmospheric. The voice itself has a fine rich timbre that catches the mood very well. A favorite poem -- always glad to hear another reading.
This is so well done. Like Fiona says, beautifully paced, lovely inflection and emphasis, and excellent screen work. Visual storytelling at its finest!
Tim, I want to say that yet again, at this feast, I am struck by how exquisite your performance of this poem is. Yet again, I will play it for my community. Thank you!
I completely agree with Fiona McFarlane! Didn't find your interpretation until now and I have seen many on youtube but this one is... yes perfect! Especially the end, the way you say it - I suddenly understood!
Things like this puzzle me so much in this life. This is so beautiful, too beautiful. I don’t believe in the underpinning, yet it has such a strong hold on me. So much magic.
A cold coming we had of it, Just the worst time of the year For a journey, and such a long journey: The ways deep and the weather sharp, The very dead of winter.' And the camels galled, sorefooted, refractory, Lying down in the melting snow. There were times we regretted The summer palaces on slopes, the terraces, And the silken girls bringing sherbet. Then the camel men cursing and grumbling and running away, and wanting their liquor and women, And the night-fires going out, and the lack of shelters, And the cities hostile and the towns unfriendly And the villages dirty and charging high prices: A hard time we had of it. At the end we preferred to travel all night, Sleeping in snatches, With the voices singing in our ears, saying That this was all folly. Then at dawn we came down to a temperate valley, Wet, below the snow line, smelling of vegetation; With a running stream and a water-mill beating the darkness, And three trees on the low sky, And an old white horse galloped away in the meadow. Then we came to a tavern with vine-leaves over the lintel, Six hands at an open door dicing for pieces of silver, And feet kicking the empty wine-skins. But there was no information, and so we continued And arriving at evening, not a moment too soon Finding the place; it was (you might say) satisfactory. All this was a long time ago, I remember, And I would do it again, but set down This set down This: were we led all that way for Birth or Death? There was a Birth, certainly We had evidence and no doubt. I had seen birth and death, But had thought they were different; this Birth was Hard and bitter agony for us, like Death, our death. We returned to our places, these Kingdoms, But no longer at ease here, in the old dispensation, With an alien people clutching their gods. I should be glad of another death.
Hi. I was asked to read this in church for a Christmas service. What a difficult poem. I’m not a natural poetry reader. I searched around for help and found lots of videos but yours really touched me. Your reading of it gives the poem a depth of meaning that I can (almost) understand ! I listened to it over and over in an attempt to really feel the poem. I’m pleased to say my reading went really well (if I’m allowed to say so). Thank you so much! BTW Just wondering who you are? I can’t find any other videos by you. Please send links to other work 😊
Awesome narration..I'b be glad to hear you reciding, or rather narrating the poem "The Highwayman" by Ernest Hemingway...I suppose..🤔 I mean the poet..
