.
One other aspect of Levine's recitation that truly stood out was his emphasis on Yeats's rhymes throughout the poem. Levine emphasized about three quarters of them, and b doing this he put more focus on these words without making the entire poem seem childish. For instance, in the second stanza on lines 18 and 20, the way he intonated the words "will" and "shrill" was so impressive, that I pictured that "woman," her intentions and her shrill voice in my head instantaneously. Another instance of this strong recitation of Yeats's rhyme occurs in the third stanza, on lines 54 and 56, with the words "call" and "all." This part of Levine's recitation is what I feel to be the most powerful moment of the entire reading, ending the third stanza with a subtle yet effective authority that truly relays the ultimate power of Yeats's words.
Peter Davison took a more subtle approach to reading this poem. I found that for the majority of each stanza, he read the lines a little bit more softly, more dispassionate than one would suspect. But as the last four lines of each stanza approached, I was surprised at how powerful his intonation became, which contrasted the previous lines, which further emphasized the last few lines of each stanza (which I view as the most pertinent). The first instance of this contrasting intonation occurring from lines 13-16, where his emphasis on such words as "changed" and "terrible" and the phrase " where motley is worn" is so powerful, and in depth, that it conveys the necessary sense of gloom to carry across the point of Yeats's powerful poetry. .
One other aspect of Davison's reading that in my mind made the poem so powerful was not only the emphasis he placed on certain words and phrases, it was also the places that he didn't emphasize that aided in his masterful recitation. For instance, Davison decided not to place a stress on Yeats's rhymes, which in this specific case, in my opinion, added to how Davison was trying to accomplish the conveying of Yeats's subtle yet ultimately important themes and poetic elements.
