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T.S. Eliot

PennSound T.S. Eliot page editor: Chris Mustazza

The Speech Lab Recordings: Reading at Columbia University, 1933-1935

These recordings were made in 1933, 1935, and at a later, unknown date at Columbia University, recorded by Barnard professors George W. Hibbitt and W. Cabell Greet, lexicologists and scholars of American dialects.

PennSound wishes to thank the staff at Columbia's Rare Book & Manuscript Library, especially Thai Jones, Jennifer Lee, Devon Maeve Nevola, Jane Siegel, and Karla Nielsen, for helping us to make these recordings available. We also wish to thank Leila Pearlman for doing the audio production for this collection.

These recordings are made available thanks to permission from the T.S. Eliot Estate.

Editor's note: The recordings here were originally made on aluminum platters. They were subsequently dubbed to reel-to-reel tapes by the Library of Congress in the 1970s. These digitizations are made from the reels, which are stored at Columbia University. --Chris Mustazza, University of Pennsylvania
  1. Ash Wednesday, Recorded in 1933
    1. Parts I and II (4:44)
    2. Parts III and IV (3:31)
    3. Parts V and VI (4:05)

  2. The Waste Land, Recorded in 1935, Version 1
    1. The Burial of the Dead (4:24)
    2. A Game of Chess, Part 1 (3:13)
    3. A Game of Chess, Part 2 (2:10)
    4. The Fire Sermon, Part 1 (4:43)
    5. The Fire Sermon, Part 2 (3:44)
    6. Death by Water (0:40)
    7. What the Thunder Said, Part 1 (2:09)
    8. What the Thunder Said, Part 2 (3:50)

  3. The Waste Land, Recorded in 1935, Version 2
    1. The Burial of the Dead (5:04)
    2. A Game of Chess, Part 1 (5:21)
    3. A Game of Chess, Part 2 (2:03)
    4. The Fire Sermon, Part 1 (5:06)
    5. The Fire Sermon, Part 2 (3:42)
    6. Death by Water (0:44)
    7. What the Thunder Said, Part 1 (3:26)
    8. What the Thunder Said, Part 2 (3:03)

  4. Ariel Poems, Recorded in 1935
    1. Marina (2:14)
    2. Journey of the Magi (2:22)
    3. Triumphal March (3:31)

  5. Sweeney Among the Nightingales with discussion, 1935 (3:38)

  6. The Four Quartets, no date
    1. Burnt Norton, Part 1 (5:17)
    2. Burnt Norton, Part 2 (4:29)
    3. Little Gidding, Part 1 (4:38)
    4. Little Gidding, Part 2 (4:47)
    5. Little Gidding, Part 3 (3:00)
    6. Little Gidding, Part 4 (3:38)
    7. East Coker, Part 1 (3:56)
    8. East Coker, Part 2 (4:23)
    9. East Coker, Part 3 (4:40)
    10. The Dry Salvages, Part 1 (5:03)
    11. The Dry Salvages, Part 2 (4:20)
    12. The Dry Salvages, Part 3 (4:54)

  7. The Hollow Men, no date (3:39)


    8. These sound recordings are being made available for noncommercial and educational use only. © 2019 Estate of T.S. Eliot. Distributed by PennSound.