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Archive for August, 2010
Frank Kermode on his love of poetry and poets August 27, 2010: Today the Telegraph reprinted highly lauded (and recently deceased) British critic Frank Kermode’s elegant 1974 essay, “A memory for poetry.” Kermode considers why loving a poet is enchanting and all-consuming; he draws on his own internal affairs with Wallace Stevens and Yeats. Kermode’s precision of language and depth of insight in [...]
Portrait of the poet as delusional charity patient August 27, 2010: The life of 19th century poet John Clare was bookended by early years of toiling in the fields and final days marked by madness in a mental hospital. In spite—or perhaps, because of—his difficult life, Clare was extraordinary, says Robert Pinsky on Slate. Pinsky dissects two of Clare’s better know poems, “I Am" and the "The Badger" and [...]
“I don’t believe in God. I believe in Wallace Stevens” August 27, 2010: Poet and novelist A.S. Byatt spoke with Charlotte Higgins at the Edinburgh international book festival about her novel, The Children's Book. Bayatt also shares her thoughts on religion (Sorry, God; Hello, Stevens!), writers of books about children, and reading by torchlight. Watch the whole interview at the Guardian.
Light as a feather August 27, 2010: A man runs, and so does a nose. There’s fall, can’t get up, and then there’s fall, crisp air and auburn leaves. Words are more than their shape and texture, and that’s the idea behind “Words,” an innovate YouTube video created in conjunction with an episode of the WNYC radio series Radiolab. “Words,” which Steven James Snyder at [...]
Shelley’s “sentimentality in stone” August 27, 2010: Percy Bysshe Shelley—poet, radical thinker, advocate of free love and "the vegetable diet"—rocked the boat back in the day. He was expelled from the University of Oxford for passing out pamphlets about atheism (and looked down upon for running off with his second wife while still married to the first). Today, the esteemed university that gave [...]
Katha Pollitt Wins the American Book Award for Lifetime Achievement August 27, 2010: GalleyCat reports that Katha Pollitt—known for her essay collections, two volumes of poetry, and her "Subject to Debate" column in the Nation—is the 31st recipient of the American Book Award for Lifetime Achievement. Congratulations, Katha! Read her excellent essay on her time with Elizabeth Bishop for Poetry Magazine here.
Lady-loving poets you should love too August 26, 2010: Gawker media blog Jezebel came up with a list of 10 lesbian and bisexual poets they adored, and because we adore, we’re passing it along. Unsurprisingly, feminist legends Audrey Lorde and Adrienne Rich make the cut, but there’s a handful of fresh faces too, all presented in Jezebel's signature style: 9. Marilyn Hacker (b. 1942) Jan [...]
Is Langston Hughes’ boyhood house worth saving? August 26, 2010: What to do with Langston Hughes’ condemned Cleveland home? We linked to an earlier story saying that it's safe, for now, but Cleveland is trying to figure out where to go from here. Though the Cleveland Landmarks Commission wants it designated a historic landmark, Regina Brett at the Cleveland Plain-Dealer suggests that keeping the house [...]
“We the people of New Orleans . . .” August 26, 2010: Phoenix-based poet Cynthia Hogue had left New Orleans for dry land a decade before Hurricane Katrina hit. Still, Hogue felt compelled to address the tragedy, and so she interviewed 13 Katrina evacuees who had relocated to Arizona. The interviews became poems comprised solely of the interviewee’s words, which in turn became the poetry and photo [...]
Langston Hughes’ home still standing (for now) August 26, 2010: Cleveland housing officials are fighting to keep the condemned home of Langston Hughes from being demolished. City groups hope that the home where Hughes spent his boyhood can remain a historical site. Listen in at WKSU: The house on Cleveland's east side where Hughes rented the attic in the early 1900's has been marked condemned. It comes [...]