Poetry For All
Finding Our Way Into Great Poems
We found 10 episodes of Poetry For All with the tag “surprise”.
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Episode 21: Christian Wiman, I Don't Want to Be a Spice Store
April 13th, 2021 | Season 2 | 18 mins 45 secs
21st century, children, father's day, free verse, guest on the show, surprise
In this episode we talk with Christian Wiman about the arc of a book of poetry, the structure of an individual poem, the desire for openness and accessibility, and the surprising shifts from levity to seriousness that take even the writer by surprise.
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Episode 19: Naomi Shihab Nye, Gate A-4
March 9th, 2021 | Season 2 | 18 mins 59 secs
21st century, hope, joy, narrative, social justice and advocacy, spirituality, surprise, wonder
Remember airports? In this wonderful, narrative poem, Nye speaks of the remarkable capacity for community in a world of strangers.
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Episode 16: John Milton, When I Consider How My Light is Spent
February 15th, 2021 | Season 2 | 15 mins 57 secs
17th century, aging, anger, body in pain, christianity, grief and loss, hope, rhymed verse, sonnet, surprise
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.
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Episode 14: George Herbert, The Collar
February 1st, 2021 | Season 2 | 18 mins 24 secs
17th century, anger, christianity, narrative, restlessness, rhymed verse, spirituality, surprise
In this episode, we look at "The Collar"--a famous single-stanza poem, playing with meter, rhythm, and rhyme by the seventeenth-century priest and poet, George Herbert.
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Episode 9: Anne Bradstreet, In Memory of My Dear Grandchild Elizabeth Bradstreet
October 27th, 2020 | Season 1 | 14 mins 52 secs
17th century, anger, children, christianity, elegy, grief and loss, repetition or refrain, rhymed verse, sonnet, surprise, women's history month
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.
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Episode 8: Toi Derricotte, "The Minks"
October 20th, 2020 | Season 1 | 20 mins 18 secs
21st century, black history month, free verse, guest on the show, narrative, surprise, wonder
This week, with special guest Carl Phillips, we take a close look at "The Minks" and consider the art of narrative poetry and the movements of a single-stanza poem.
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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.