Poetry For All

Episode 42: Robert Hayden, Frederick Douglass

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

african american, anaphora, david blight, fred fetrow, frederick douglass, patrick rosal, prophecy, robert hayden, sonnet, trochee

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 3  |  25 mins 58 secs

great vowel shift., homoeroticism, love, meter, rhyme, sonnet, sonnet sequence, volta

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

countee cullen, harlem renaissance, langston hughes, race, religious doubt, sonnet, yet do i marvel

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

family, fatherhood, formalism, metaphor, robert hayden, sonnet, sound, volta

Episode 16: John Milton, When I Consider How My Light is Spent

February 15th, 2021  |  Season 2  |  15 mins 57 secs

blindness, john milton, religious despair, sonnet, theology, wait, when i consider how my light is spent

The episode explores Milton's great sonnet spun from the difficulties of middle age and new disappointments. We consider how he pulls consolation from his sense of defeat and near despair. Faced with his coming blindness, he hears the voice of Patience giving him the strength to wait.

Episode 9: Anne Bradstreet, In Memory of My Dear Grandchild Elizabeth Bradstreet

October 27th, 2020  |  Season 1  |  14 mins 52 secs

anne bradstreet, doubt, elegy, faith, in memory of my dear grandchild elizabeth bradstreet, multiple voices, puritan, repetition, sonnet

This week we read Anne Bradstreet's elegy for her grandchild Elizabeth and draw out the multiple voices (both faith and doubt, both grief and consolation) and the tensions and deep emotions in the work of this talented Puritan poet--the first woman from British North America to publish a book of poems.

Episode 7: John Donne, Holy Sonnet 14

October 14th, 2020  |  Season 1  |  15 mins 54 secs

batter my heart, holy sonnet, john donne, religious poetry, religious struggle, sonnet

This week we look at one of John Donne's Holy Sonnets from the seventeenth century. This famous poem (#14, "Batter my heart") turns a poetic tradition of love and longing to religious ends, earnestly seeking God and questioning whether union with God will ever be achieved.

Episode 6: Jen Bervin, Nets

October 6th, 2020  |  Season 1  |  19 mins 13 secs

erasure, jen bervin, nets, palimpsest, shakespeare, solmaz sharif, sonnet

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.

Episode 5: Claude McKay, "America"

September 29th, 2020  |  Season 1  |  14 mins 40 secs

america, claude mckay, harlem renaissance, race, sonnet

In this episode, we discuss Claude McKay, an influential poet of the Harlem Renaissance, taking a close look at his incredible sonnet "America."

Episode 4: Shakespeare, Sonnet 18

September 22nd, 2020  |  Season 1  |  16 mins 12 secs

shakespeare, sonnet, sonnet 18

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.