Poetry For All

Episode 40: William Shakespeare, Sonnet 116

February 9th, 2022  |  Season 4  |  25 mins 58 secs

17th century, lgbtqia month, love, rhymed verse, sonnet

In this episode, we provide a close reading of William Shakespeare's Sonnet 116, which allows us to consider the poem's definition of a love that is enduring. In addition, though, we consider a reading of the poem which foregrounds a disappointed poetic speaker who can see the love's transience, too. We also pay special attention to rhythm and sound, and we even get to learn a bit about the Great Vowel Shift from Professor Kristin Van Engen, a linguist at Washington University in St. Louis.

Episode 39: Paul Laurence Dunbar, We Wear The Mask

February 2nd, 2022  |  Season 4  |  22 mins 9 secs

19th century, anger, black history month, grief and loss, guest on the show, repetition or refrain, rhymed verse, rondeau, social justice and advocacy

This week, Rafia Zafar joins us to discuss "We Wear the Mask" by the great poet and writer Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872-1906). Rafia leads us in a discussion of Dunbar's fame and influence while opening up broader themes of African American history and literature.

Episode 38: Laura Van Prooyen, Elegy for My Mother's Mind

January 26th, 2022  |  Season 4  |  29 mins 16 secs

21st century, aging, children, elegy, free verse, gratitude, grief and loss, guest on the show, love, mother's day

In this episode, our guest Laura Van Prooyen reads "Elegy for My Mother's Mind," a poem that navigates the complexities of memory, loss, and familial relationships. Laura's poem gives us an opportunity to think about the deep sources of poetic inspiration, the revision process, and the power of metaphor.

Episode 37: Why Poetry For All

January 19th, 2022  |  Season 4  |  14 mins 31 secs

Joanne and Abram launch the fourth season of Poetry For All with a short discussion about what this podcast is all about and how it relates to all the other great poetry podcasts in the world.

Episode 36: Denise Levertov, On the Mystery of the Incarnation

December 21st, 2021  |  Season 3  |  16 mins 42 secs

20th century, advent/christmas, free verse, wonder

In this episode, we discuss Denise Levertov's powerful meditation on the horrors of the twentieth century, and how the mystery of the incarnation might provide humanity with hope.

Episode 35: Matthew Zapruder, Poem for Wisconsin

December 15th, 2021  |  Season 3  |  22 mins 56 secs

21st century, free verse, laborers, surprise, winter, wonder

In this episode, we discuss the way in which Matthew Zapruder attends to vivid, specific details to create a sense of wonder, connection, and surprise.

Episode 34: Tracy K. Smith, Declaration

December 7th, 2021  |  Season 3  |  23 mins 10 secs

21st century, anger, black history month, erasure, grief and loss, poet laureate, social justice and advocacy

In this episode, we discuss erasure poetry and its power to reveal hidden histories and redacted stories through Tracy K. Smith's erasure of the Declaration of Independence.

Episode 33: Adrienne Rich, Power

November 10th, 2021  |  Season 3  |  17 mins 21 secs

20th century, ars poetica, body in pain, free verse, guest on the show, lgbtqia month, science and medicine, social justice and advocacy, women's history month

This week, the poet and scholar Stephanie Burt joins us to discuss the extraordinary power of Adrienne Rich. We think through how the spacing and stanzas of a poem can draw out denials and divulgences, while also exploring the life and writing of Rich.

Episode 32: Rick Barot, Cascades 501

November 3rd, 2021  |  Season 3  |  38 mins 32 secs

21st century, asian american & pacific islander month, free verse, guest on the show, lgbtqia month, narrative, nature poetry, surprise

Episode 31: Jane Kenyon, Twilight: After Haying

October 27th, 2021  |  Season 3  |  16 mins 48 secs

20th century, autumn, christianity, free verse, intimacy, nature poetry, night, spirituality

This week we take a closer look at another autumn poem, this one by Jane Kenyon from her wonderful book Otherwise: New and Selected Poems. Kenyon builds from and transforms the same tradition of the autumn ode we examined last week with John Keats.

Episode 30: John Keats, To Autumn

October 20th, 2021  |  Season 3  |  22 mins 18 secs

19th century, autumn, climate change, guest on the show, nature poetry, ode, rhymed verse

John Keats was one of the great British Romanticists. In this episode we talk with Michael Theune and Brian Rejack about one of his last odes, "To Autumn," which has inspired poets ever since it was first composed in 1821. We encourage you to read along with the text of the poem as we talk through its implications for the 21st century and our age of ecological disaster.

Episode 29: Elizabeth Bishop, One Art

October 6th, 2021  |  Season 3  |  25 mins 16 secs

20th century, grief and loss, lgbtqia month, love, rhymed verse, villanelle, women's history month

Episode 28: Countee Cullen, Yet Do I Marvel

September 29th, 2021  |  Season 3  |  24 mins 48 secs

20th century, anger, black history month, christianity, guest on the show, harlem renaissance, rhymed verse, social justice and advocacy, sonnet, surprise

Countee Cullen was a major voice of the Harlem Renaissance. Joined by the renowned cultural critic Gerald Early, we here examine together story of Countee Cullen and the astounding sonnet that opens his main collection of poetry, My Soul's High Song.

Episode 27: Marianne Moore, Poetry

September 22nd, 2021  |  Season 3  |  21 mins 11 secs

20th century, ars poetica, christianity, modernism, rhymed verse, women's history month

In this episode, we read and discuss the influential modernist poet Marianne Moore and her witty, wonderful poem called "Poetry," a classic ars poetica (a poem about writing poetry).

Episode 26: Brenda Cárdenas, "Our Lady of Sorrows"

September 15th, 2021  |  Season 3  |  21 mins 44 secs

21st century, ekphrasis, erasure, free verse, grief and loss, guest on the show, hispanic heritage month, nature poetry, social justice and advocacy, spirituality, visual poetry, word and image

In this episode, Brenda Cárdenas guides us through a reading of "Our Lady of Sorrows," an ekphrastic poem that is inspired by the work of Ana Mendieta.

Episode 25: William Carlos Williams, "This is Just to Say"

September 8th, 2021  |  Season 3  |  18 mins 13 secs

20th century, free verse, modernism, surprise, wonder

In this episode, we discuss a simple, iconic, "sorry-not sorry" poem from the early age of American modernism, which has taken on new life in the age of Twitter and the pandemic.