Ezra Pound “The Seafarer (with drums)”
The Harvard Vocarium Readings Recorded in Cambridge, Mass., May 17, 1939
This narrative poetically told the story of an old sailor recounting his days of watch on the tossing seas. He bellows with a quivering age to his English voice and a forlorn tone. He speaks of the nature of Seafarers and their relationship with God, nature, and destiny. He describes the sea spray as an eagle’s scream and alcohol as his muse, all the while rolling over the Rs and relishing in the abundant alliteration. The conclusion that the narrative comes to is that men on the sea do not want for the things land-bound men want and when they settle to their grave, it is with their ever-present hunger for the gold of the unknown.
The story is being told in a rocking cadence, so that as the listener strains to comprehend the words, a rolling sense is achieved. The poem lifts and subsides, a feeling caught between a soothing lull and dizzied nausea. This manner of storytelling is quite repetitive and truly disorienting. The effect however is spot on in illustrating the nature of the high seas. He throws out obscure metaphors and descriptions like “nose-gone companions” to describe old and withering sailors and “dragon tossed seas” to communicate the peril of the seafarer’s quest. The drums in the background are first perceived as ambiguous and superfluous, but after only the first minute, they seem to create a meandering tempo for the wandering words of the Seafarer. They also construct an atmosphere, as they could be the sounds of crashing waves, thunder, the creaks of the ship’s underbelly, etc. The drums also bring to mind the drums of the rowers below deck on slave ships and in movies such as Ben Hur. The almost slave-like relationship the speaker has to the open sea is very appropriate. He both loves and laments his chosen life and his weary non-rest is exhausting.
Robert Whitman: 4 Cinema Pieces. Chicago: Museum of Contemporary Art, 1968-- “Window” and “Sink” (1935)
Unlike the Seafarer, “Window” and “Sink” demonstrate real time and fairly unembellished narrative. “Window” is multi-layered, yet subtle in its construction of a large empty room with hardwood floors, which consists of many windows. The figure in the piece first opens the window one by one to reveal the soundtracks of completely separate settings. One suburban, one urban, one rural, and the other very still with only a slight suggestion of soft air and breeze. He opens them and the listener is amused by the possibility that this large warehouse/room could contain portals to many different worlds, existing everywhere at once. The figure then opens all of the windows and addresses the listener asking he/she to observe the activity outside them. Then, as if we were in danger of diverting our attention entirely from the indoors, we hear the phone ring and the hardwood floor reverb as the figure goes to answer it in a familiar, casual manner. “Sink” is similar in that the noises are familiar and in real-time, registering with the audience’s memory as commonplace, but it differs in that it’s a concentrated close-up of daily human activity. We hear the gurgle of the sink and familiar sounds of teeth brushing and shaving. We are then spoken to for the parts we can’t hear, like the way people examine themselves in the mirror. It’s a routine we all share, yet no one really talks about.
“Sink” and “Window” both succeed in creating a distinct setting gin the listeners mind using only sound. The reverb and textures are enough to communicate the size and nature of a space. They are also both repetitive, in case the audience did not comprehend the visual connection the first time the window was opened and closes, he opens another. The sink sounds are so familiar, yet we know it is a different sink than our own because of the subtle differences in the sound of the faucet water splashing against the bowl. We are unconsciously aware of these subtleties in our lives, but this piece brings them into focus. I do believe that the spoken narrative in both pieces is superfluous. I go the point of the piece without any real time words or explanations. “Sink”, however was somewhat successful with the spoken words in that mirror-gazing is inaudible. The prose “spilled toothpaste” and “hot washcloth” give texture and imperfection to the reality being creating. “Water rushing toothbrush washing washcloth” mimics the cadence and texture of the sink noises within words.
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