I find the diction and delivery of their speech intriguing. Wilbur's Boston or Massachusetts accent makes me wonder whether he at some period worked to drop a presumed NY-NJ accent or it fell away naturally. I suppose Amherst could have started that process. I heard him read about ten years ago and he no longer had the seemingly intentional "authoritative" sonorousness that he does in this video, a common mannerism or technique of that era and later. I still find it obstructive to being attentive to a performed poem.
On the other hand, both Wilbur's and Lowell's natural speech patterns (more so than in their readings here) fascinate me. I feel I've gotten to know them a bit more than I had. Thanks, Sam.
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