THE IMPORTANCE YEATS GAVE TO METER IN READING HIS POETRY. Mary Jane and I have a strong preference for actors letting the meter operate in the background. Otherwise, there is a risk of what Mary Jane and I refer to as “intoning”—and of the meaning getting lost. However, there are supporters of the opposite view. In an essay attacking the “Poet Voice”, Rich Smith quotes Yeats at a reading:
“I am going to read my poems with a great emphasis on their rhythm. That may seem strange if you are not used to it…It gave me a devil of a lot of trouble to get into verse the poems I’m going to read. And that is why I will not read them as if they were prose.â€