Abram Van Engen
Co-Host of Poetry For All
Abram Van Engen is an English professor at Washington University in St. Louis.
Abram Van Engen has hosted 86 Episodes.
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Episode 6: Jen Bervin, Nets
October 6th, 2020 | Season 1 | 19 mins 13 secs
21st century, erasure, eros and desire, grief and loss, intimacy, women's history month
In this episode we learn about erasure poetry and poetic tradition by looking at Jen Bervin's incredible book NETS, created from the sonnets of Shakespeare.
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Episode 5: Claude McKay, "America"
September 29th, 2020 | Season 1 | 14 mins 40 secs
20th century, anger, black history month, harlem renaissance, modernism, rhymed verse, social justice and advocacy, sonnet
In this episode, we discuss Claude McKay, an influential poet of the Harlem Renaissance, taking a close look at his incredible sonnet "America."
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Episode 4: Shakespeare, Sonnet 18
September 22nd, 2020 | Season 1 | 16 mins 12 secs
17th century, eros and desire, love, rhymed verse, sonnet, summer
In this episode we introduce listeners to one of the most resilient forms in English-language poetry: the sonnet. And we do it with one of the most famous sonnets Shakespeare wrote.
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Episode 3: Phillis Wheatley, On Being Brought from Africa to America
September 15th, 2020 | Season 1 | 14 mins 9 secs
18th century, anger, black history month, christianity, hope, rhymed verse, social justice and advocacy, surprise
This episode examines a short, incredible, difficult and important poem by one of the founding figures of African American literary traditions, Phillis Wheatley.
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Episode 2: Emily Dickinson, Tell all the truth
September 10th, 2020 | Season 1 | 14 mins 13 secs
19th century, ars poetica, rhymed verse, spirituality, surprise, women's history month
What does it mean to tell the truth "slant"? Is this a ballad, a hymn? What is "ars poetica" and is this an example? Join us for a discussion of this great, short, fun, rich poem by Dickinson.
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Episode 1: Seamus Heaney, Digging
August 31st, 2020 | Season 1 | 14 mins 44 secs
20th century, ars poetica, free verse, laborers, wonder
We begin Poetry for All by teaching and talking about a great poem on poetry itself: Seamus Heaney's "Digging."