“The Year of Lear: Shakespeare in 1606” by James Shapiro is a masterful re-creation of a critical year in the life of William Shakespeare.
Lexicographer Samuel Johnson: Bookended by Poetry
Poetry formed the bookends of the professional life of Samuel Johnson, the great lexicographer.
Literary Tour: Samuel Johnson House, London
A tour of the Samuel Johnson House allows a view into the man who wrote “The Dictionary of the English Language” and helped save Shakespeare from oblivion.
Poetic Voices: Relationships – Dinah Dietrich and Diane Lockward
Poetry is often used to describe relationships, as recent collections by Dinah Dietrich and Diane Lockward show.
Poets and Poems: Clive James and “Sentenced to Life”
“Sentenced to Life” by Clive James is not about dealing with death; instead, it is the story of a poet discovering life.
Poets and Poems: Laurie Klein and “Where the Sky Opens”
“Where the Sky Opens” by Laurie Klein shows how poems can help us navigate major life changes.
Poets and Poems: Sarah Howe and “Loop of Jade”
Young poet Sarah Howe has won the prestigious T.S. Eliot Prize for her collection “Loop of Jade.” And a beautiful collection it is.
Poets and Poems: Danniel Schoonebeek and “American Barricade”
Danniel Schoonebeek’s “American Barricade” is an important collection blending the personal with the social and stressing the importance of language.
Using T.S. Eliot to Explain PTSD
In fictional and almost poetic form, Andy Owen describes what has gone by such names as shell shock and battle fatigue but we know as PTSD.
Poetic Voices: Jen Karetnick and E. Kristin Anderson
Both Jen Karetnick and E. Kristin Anderson use subjects in popular culture to inspire their poetry: Karetnick writes about food; Anderson, about the pop star Prince.
Celebrate! It’s Poetry at Work Day 2016!
Poetry is in all work, speaking to us, singing to us. Download our resources, and come, celebrate Poetry at Work Day 2016 with us.
Poets and Poems: Donald Hall and “Selected Poems”
Donald Hall says he can’t write poetry any more. His new “Selected Poems” demonstrates the sufficiency of what he’s written.
Falling in Love with “Brooklyn”
The movie “Brooklyn, ” about the Irish immigrant experience in America in the 1950s, is a movie to fall in love with.
T.S. Eliot at the British Library, Part 2
Collecting and annotating the poetry of a writer like T.S. Eliot is fraught with challenges and difficulties, not the least reason being Eliot himself editing his poems over time, or manuscripts of the same poem with variations. Listen to two editors who described the challenge at a British Library presentation.
T.S. Eliot at the British Library, Part 1
At the British Library, the editors of a new edition of the poems of T.S. Eliot discuss the poet and his work.
Poets and Poems: Dave Harrity and “These Intricacies”
In his new collection of poems, Dave Harrity tells stories with simplicity and clarity, firmly planted in his Kentucky landscape.
A Month with Keats: Keats and Wentworth House
Our Keats Walk finally takes us to Wentworth House, now known as Keats House, where John Keats wrote some of his greatest poems.
A Month of Keats: Keats and Hampstead Heath
The poet John Keats is intimately connected with Hampstead Heath, and our Keats Walk in Hampstead in north London traces many of the paths he followed.
A Month with Keats: Poetry, Religion and Politics
Our Keats Walk in Hampstead in north London explores the poet and the political and (anti)religious influences on John Keats’ life and poetry.
A Month with Keats: A Walk into His Life
A “Keats Walk” in Hampstead and Hampstead Heath in north London is a window into John Keats’ poetry, passions, and life.