Thanks to the British Academy and to the Schröder Fund, University of Cambridge, for the financial support which made the podcast possible.

In this episode, we think about the relationship between poetic rhythm and movement. To test Tim’s theory that rhythm can convey the movement

of rowing a boat, Hannah tries being the cox for a rowing team!

Presented by Hannah Morrison, produced by Carl Homer for Cambridge TV.

Linguists: Dr Charlotte Lee and Dr Timothy Chesters from the Faculty of Modern and Medieval Languages and Linguistics, University of Cambridge

Guests:

Jan Wagner

Kirsty Sherwood

The Isle of Ely Rowing Club

Link to ‘Versuch über Mücken’, by Jan Wagner:

https://www.poet-magazin.de/poet16-texte.htm

Regentonnenvariationen, the collection in which ‘Versuch über Mücken’ first appeared, is available to purchase here:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Regentonnenvariationen-Jan-Wagner/dp/359603597X

A bilingual edition of works by Jan Wagner, with English versions by Iain Galbraith (including ‘Versuch über Mücken’ / ‘Essay on Midges’) is available to buy here:

https://www.arcpublications.co.uk/books/jan-wagner-self-portrait-with-a-swarm-of-bees-532

For more poems by Jan Wagner, with recordings by the poet, see here:

https://www.lyrikline.org/en/authors/jan-wagner

‘Versuch über Mücken’ and ‘Essay on Midges’ performed in this recording by kind permission of Hanser Berlin im Carl Hanser Verlag GmbH & Co. KG and Arc Publications.

Joachim Du Bellay, Les Regrets; Les Antiquités de Rome; Le Songe, ed. by François Roudaut (Paris: Le Livre de Poche, 2002), sonnet 12. Here is a translation of the last six lines by Timothy Chesters:

So sings the workman striving at his work

So the labourer busy at his labour

So the pilgrim missing his home

So the adventurer dreaming of his lady,

So the mariner pulling at the oar,

So the prisoner cursing his prison. 

Verse extracts:

German

‘Erlkönig’ (Erl King), by Johann Wolfgang Goethe; read by Melina Mandelbaum.

Thai

‘Song of Mercy and Compassion’, by His Majesty King Vajiravudh (King Rama VI), Than Phuying La-ead Phibunsongkhram,; read by Rapee Makeprasertrasamee.

Italian

‘Il passero solitario’ (The Lonely Sparrow), by Giacomo Leopardi; read by Rodrigo Cacho.

French

‘Le Lac’ (The Lake), by Alphonse de Lamartine; read by Clément Courouve. [20:03]

Watch the accompanying film, “Language and Rhythm”: https://www.youtube.com/@mmllcambridge

For more information about languages in Cambridge: mmll.cam.ac.uk

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