Thanks for ferreting these out. It certainly affirms the historical connection between poet and musician. I can't imagine it otherwise.

When I was in my teens, I sang in a rock band. In my early 20s, they thought I had cancer, and I had to have my thyroid removed. This demolished my singing voice pretty much for good.

I was accustomed to performing songs and missed it. I had been taping books for the blind for some time and extended that to performing my poetry in readings, since my reading voice was still fine.

The connection between what I felt onstage singing with the band and what I feel when I do readings is the same. I might as well be singing my poems for the way it feels to me.

So it is easy for me to understand that minstrels and bards were essentially poets, and that musical accompaniment or singing poems are natural acts. That the two arts are tightly related.


Angel