A Ballade of Suicide


Lu par LibriVox Volunteers

(4.3 stars; 3 reviews)

LibriVox volunteers bring you 18 recordings of A Ballade of Suicide by G. K. Chesterton. This was the Fortnightly Poetry project for May 20, 2012.

Gilbert Keith Chesterton was an English writer. He published works on philosophy, ontology, poetry, plays, journalism, public lectures and debates, literary and art criticism, biography, Christian apologetics, and fiction, including fantasy and detective fiction. Chesterton has been called the "prince of paradox". Time magazine, in a review of a biography of Chesterton, observed of his writing style: "Whenever possible Chesterton made his points with popular sayings, proverbs, allegories—first carefully turning them inside out." For example, Chesterton wrote "Thieves respect property. They merely wish the property to become their property that they may more perfectly respect it." (Summary by Wikipedia ) (0 hr 38 min)

Chapitres

A Ballade of Suicide - Read by ALP 1:55 Lu par Algy Pug
A Ballade of Suicide - Ready By CMP 2:24 Lu par CaprishaPage
A Ballade of Suicide - Read by DL 2:05 Lu par David Lawrence
A Ballade of Suicide - Sung by EZWA 3:39 Lu par Ezwa
A Ballade of Suicide - Read by FS 2:24 Lu par fshort
A Ballade of Suicide - Read by GC 1:42 Lu par Snapdragon
A Ballade of Suicide - Read by JCM 2:04 Lu par Jason Mills
A Ballade of Suicide - Read by JL 1:47 Lu par April Gonzales
A Ballade of Suicide - Read by JM2 2:03 Lu par Jannie Meisberger
A Ballade of Suicide - Read by JN 1:32 Lu par Julia Niedermaier
A Ballade of Suicide - Read by LAH 1:48 Lu par Lee Ann Howlett
A Ballade of Suicide - Read by LLW 2:15 Lu par Leonard Wilson (1930-2024)
A Ballade of Suicide - Read by MG 2:25 Lu par Martin Geeson
A Ballade of Suicide - Read by MJF 2:22 Lu par MJ Franck
A Ballade of Suicide - Read by REF 2:06 Lu par Rhonda Federman
A Ballade of Suicide - Read by RH 1:56 Lu par Rhajimas Holmes
A Ballade of Suicide - Read by RN 2:26 Lu par ravenotation
A Ballade of Suicide - Read by UM 1:54 Lu par ekzemplaro

Critiques

Darkly humorous short poem


(4 stars)

This is a difficult poem to interpret with sense- stresses in the wrong places, for instance, quickly render parts of the rhyme confusing or meaningless. It is arch, which can be hard to convey. I recommend the readings by MG and LLW. One reader has put the poem to music- for which I give her much credit for the effort involved. I'm not sure it's appropriate for this poem, however. I don't think the line "Perhaps the rector's mother will not come" was ever meant to be sung. Amusing and odd poem.