Poetry For All

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.

Episode 69: Live with Marilyn Nelson!

February 11th, 2024  |  Season 6  |  55 mins 17 secs

21st century, anger, ars poetica, black history month, children, guest on the show, poet laureate, sonnet, surprise, wonder

Our first live performance of the podcast, featuring Marilyn Nelson and a discussion or her amazing poem "How I Discovered Poetry."

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.

Episode 58: Richie Hofmann, Things That Are Rare

February 27th, 2023  |  Season 5  |  23 mins 57 secs

21st century, eros and desire, free verse, guest on the show, intimacy, lgbtqia month, night, sonnet

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.

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.

Episode 42: Robert Hayden, Frederick Douglass

February 23rd, 2022  |  Season 4  |  17 mins 58 secs

20th century, anger, black history month, blank verse, gratitude, hope, repetition or refrain, restlessness, social justice and advocacy, sonnet

In this episode, we offer a close reading of "Frederick Douglass," a poem in which Hayden channels the prophetic energies of his subject in order to imagine what freedom might one day mean.

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 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 24: Robert Hayden, Those Winter Sundays

June 14th, 2021  |  Season 2  |  20 mins 49 secs

20th century, aging, black history month, children, father's day, gratitude, love, sonnet, surprise, winter, wonder