Poetry For All
Finding Our Way Into Great Poems
We found 10 episodes of Poetry For All with the tag “rhymed verse”.
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Episode 71: Hopkins, As Kingfishers Catch Fire
April 18th, 2024 | Season 6 | 23 mins 55 secs
19th century, christianity, nature poetry, rhymed verse, sonnet, wonder
This episode dives into the wonderful world of Gerard Manley Hopkins, the musicality of his language, and the vision he has of becoming what we already are.
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Episode 65: Du Fu, Facing Snow
October 19th, 2023 | Season 6 | 23 mins 57 secs
8th century, grief and loss, guest on the show, poetry in translation, rhymed verse, world poetry
In this episode, Lucas Bender guides us through his translation of Du Fu's "Facing Snow," one of the most famous poems in the Chinese language.
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Episode 64: Shakespeare, Sonnet 29
September 22nd, 2023 | Season 6 | 19 mins 51 secs
17th century, friendship, hope, loneliness, love, rhymed verse, sonnet
Shakespeare's Sonnet 29 opens a world of comparison and despair, but also the deep joy of a dear friend that lifts one from disgrace. In our discussion, we consider present-day concerns about social media, the Surgeon General's warning about an epidemic of loneliness in this country, and a long-term Harvard study of happiness.
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Episode 63: Rumi, Colorless, Nameless, Free
August 29th, 2023 | Season 6 | 29 mins 56 secs
13th century, ghazal, guest on the show, islam, joy, poetry in translation, restlessness, rhymed verse, spirituality, surprise, wonder, world poetry
In this episode, poet and translator Haleh Liza Gafori joins us to closely read and discuss a poem by Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī (1207-1273 CE), one of the greatest of all Sufi poets. We discuss the poetic constraints of the ghazal form, Rumi's encounters with the divine, and the significance of his friendship with Shams, a man who transformed his life and poetic practice.
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Episode 59: Tichborne's Elegy
April 7th, 2023 | Season 5 | 21 mins 25 secs
16th century, christianity, elegy, grief and loss, repetition or refrain, rhymed verse
In this episode, we read the elegy of Chidiock Tichborne, written the night before his execution, and contemplate the power of repetitions, the balanced precision of a man facing his end, and the drumbeat of monosyllables that takes his imagination beyond the moment of his death.
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Episode 57: Edna St. Vincent Millay, She had forgotten how the August night
February 14th, 2023 | Season 5 | 23 mins 46 secs
20th century, eros and desire, modernism, night, repetition or refrain, rhymed verse, sonnet, summer, women's history month
Edna St. Vincent Millay was the emblem of the "New Woman" and one of the most important American poets of the twentieth century. In this episode, we focus on a sonnet that showcases how Millay approached desire and eros in her poetry.
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Episode 56: Queen Elizabeth, On Monsieur's Departure
January 31st, 2023 | Season 5 | 18 mins 46 secs
16th century, eros and desire, love, rhymed verse, women's history month
Queen Elizabeth I (1533-1603) was one of the longest-reigning monarchs in all of British history, but she was also a gifted poet. In this episode, we discuss "On Monsieur's Departure," a poem that is inspired by Petrarchan conventions and gives insight into the public and private selves of a powerful queen.
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Episode 55: Kay Ryan, Crib
December 19th, 2022 | Season 5 | 17 mins 17 secs
20th century, advent/christmas, free verse, lgbtqia month, poet laureate, rhymed verse, wonder
In this episode, we discuss Kay Ryan's "Crib," a brief poem that begins with an interest in the deep archaeology of language and shifts to a powerful meditation on theft, innocence, and guilt.
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Episode 52: Shakespeare, Sonnet 73
October 24th, 2022 | Season 5 | 19 mins 18 secs
17th century, aging, autumn, intimacy, love, night, rhymed verse, sonnet
This sonnet reflects on the autumn of life and an intimate love, and it turns on that love growing stronger in and through its age, even as the body decays.
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Episode 45: Ben Jonson, On My First Son
March 23rd, 2022 | Season 4 | 21 mins 18 secs
17th century, children, christianity, elegy, grief and loss, loneliness, rhymed verse
In this episode, we look at Ben Jonson's elegy for his son who died of the plague at the age of 7. This poem is so brief, and yet, it manages to cross a lot of emotional terrain as Jonson struggles to understand the profundity of his loss.