WWI Poems Read By British Actors

I never got poetry growing up. I understood it more as a clutter of words. Like an abstract painting. The rhythm, cadence, and rhyme was intellectual. I knew they were there but I didn't feel anything reading poems.

That was until I heard them read aloud. While my middle school English teacher read some, I don't think I was paying attention. No, it wasn't until I started reading Charles Bukowski¹ books. I was so obsessed with his writing that I tracked down some videos and listened to him read his poetry. I got it.

I think about these WWI poems every once in a while. Very haunting and moving. I first saw these on Open Culture and they stayed with me. I've come to the conclusion that a poem is dead on paper, only finished until it's read aloud. I wonder if a bad poem can be saved by a good reading.