Your grade for the course is based on the following performances:
Short Essay (20% of grade)
Oral Report, Reading Responses on the Class Blog, and Class Participation (15%)
Long Essay (40%)
Final Exam (25%)
Grades have been delayed, and will be posted by Tuesday, May 25th.
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Friday, May 14, 2010
May 14: Mrs. Dalloway
Garrison Keillor commemorates Mrs Dalloway today (anniversary of publication):
http://writersalmanac.publicradio.org/
http://writersalmanac.publicradio.org/
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Final Exam: May 13th--See recent note, added 5/8
Eng. 753
Spring '10
Twentieth-Century Literature Exam: May 13th, 5:00-6:10.
Additional note: Be sure to review the three readings on reading by Proust, Woolf and Bowen.
The Final Exam will consist of short paragraph-long definitions that relate to the terms below and to authors read this semester (Carroll, Proust, Woolf, Joyce, Bowen, Schlink).
Terms to consider in relation to works read this semester:
Modernism: what are some of the subjects focused upon and narrative techniques of modernist authors
Modernity (inventions, changes in cultural, everyday life during this period)
Realism
Victorian Period
Postmodernism
Time: memory, the moment (moment of being, epiphany)
Space
Class
Speed (cars, trains, airplanes, telegrams, radio)
Consciousness (mind, memory, dreams, nightmares, hallucinations)
Religion
Sexuality (homosexuality, marriage, gender relations)
War (World War I & II)
Gender (women’s changing roles, the marriage plot, women’s cultural and economic exclusion)
Narrative techniques (interior monologue, quoted monologue, narrated monologue, omniscient narrator, stream of consciousness, parody, quotation, new forms of the novel)
Approximate dates of Victorian, Modernist, Postmodernist periods; authors read this semester (Woolf, Proust, Joyce, Bowen, Carroll); world wars
Spring '10
Twentieth-Century Literature Exam: May 13th, 5:00-6:10.
Additional note: Be sure to review the three readings on reading by Proust, Woolf and Bowen.
The Final Exam will consist of short paragraph-long definitions that relate to the terms below and to authors read this semester (Carroll, Proust, Woolf, Joyce, Bowen, Schlink).
Terms to consider in relation to works read this semester:
Modernism: what are some of the subjects focused upon and narrative techniques of modernist authors
Modernity (inventions, changes in cultural, everyday life during this period)
Realism
Victorian Period
Postmodernism
Time: memory, the moment (moment of being, epiphany)
Space
Class
Speed (cars, trains, airplanes, telegrams, radio)
Consciousness (mind, memory, dreams, nightmares, hallucinations)
Religion
Sexuality (homosexuality, marriage, gender relations)
War (World War I & II)
Gender (women’s changing roles, the marriage plot, women’s cultural and economic exclusion)
Narrative techniques (interior monologue, quoted monologue, narrated monologue, omniscient narrator, stream of consciousness, parody, quotation, new forms of the novel)
Approximate dates of Victorian, Modernist, Postmodernist periods; authors read this semester (Woolf, Proust, Joyce, Bowen, Carroll); world wars
Friday, April 30, 2010
May 5th: Brooklyn on My Mind, 5:00, Campus Event
Brooklyn on My Mind, with Colm Toibin, Joseph O'Neill, and Leonard Lopate, talking and
reading about "Émigrés to Brooklyn," will be on May 5th, at 5 p.m., in Woody Tanger
Auditorium.
reading about "Émigrés to Brooklyn," will be on May 5th, at 5 p.m., in Woody Tanger
Auditorium.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Irish Hunger Memorial: The Great Famine (1845-52)
Near Battery Park and Poet's House (see other notice):
Irish Hunger Memorial
290 Vesey Street,
New York, NY 10285
WTC or Chambers St. subway
The Irish Hunger Memorial (or Irish Famine Memorial), the creation of artist Brian Tolle, is devoted to raising public awareness of the events that led to the "Great Irish Famine and Migration" of 1845-1852. It serves as a reminder to millions of New Yorkers and Americans who proudly trace their heritage to Ireland, of those who were forced to emigrate during one of the most heartbreaking tragedies in the history of the world. The Great Hunger" began in 1845 when a blight destroyed the Irish potato crop, depriving Ireland of its staple food. By 1847 millions were starving and dying. Between 1847 and 1852 hundreds of thousands of Irish immigrated to New York where they arrived at South Street Seaport and Castle Clinton. Today, almost 800,000 New York City residents trace their ancestry to Ireland.
The Irish Hunger Memorial (which takes its name from the Irish term for the famine of 1845-52, "An Gorta Mor," The Great Hunger) stands on a half-acre site at the corner of Vesey Street and North End Avenue in Battery Park City, between the Embassy Suites Hotel and the Hudson River. The 96' x 170' Memorial, which contains stones from each of Ireland's 32 counties, is elevated on a limestone plinth. Along the base are bands of texts separated by layers of imported Kilkenny limestone. The limestone is more than 300 million years old and contains fossils from the ancient Irish seabed. The text, which combines the history of the Great Famine with contemporary reports on world hunger, is cast as shadow onto illuminated frosted glass panels. From its eastern approach the Memorial appears as a sloping landscape with a pathway inviting visitors to walk upward past a ruined fieldstone cottage and stone walls toward a pilgrim's standing stone. At the western end of the Memorial, 25 feet above the pavement, a cantilevered overlook offers views of the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, emblems of America's welcome to the Irish and to all immigrant people.
From the western or river end, the visitor approaches the Memorial through a formal ceremonial entrance that recalls the court cairn or graves of the Irish Neolithic period that are found in the Irish northwest. The ramped passageway ends inside the ruined fieldstone cottage that was brought to New York from the townland of Carradoogan near Attymass, County Mayo.
The size of the cultivated area of the Memorial, one-quarter of an acre, is significant. In 1847, Sir William Gregory proposed an additional clause to the Irish Poor Law stipulating that no person occupying land of more than one-quarter acre was eligible for any relief. This law had a devastating effect and contributed to the suffering. The unroofed abandoned cottage reminds the visitor of the stark choice between survival and holding home and hearth.
Nearly two miles of text have been installed in illuminated bands that wrap around the base of the Memorial. The text includes some 110 quotations, including autobiographies, letters, oral traditions, parliamentary reports, poems, recipes, songs and statistics. Backlit text panels are installed behind frosted glass sections that appear to the visitor as shadows. At night the light will function as a beacon to those on the river. The texts merge past and present accounts of famine and can be updated to respond to new hunger crises.
The audio installation in the passage provides another dimension to the Memorial as living site. The audio will be a medium for contemporary writers and musicians who have responded to the meaning of the Great Irish Famine and the challenge of hunger in the world today. The audio will capture the response of visitors to the Memorial, and will provide updated information about famine sites and conditions worldwide.
Admission And Tickets
Free
Subway:
to World Trade Center
to Chambers St -- 0.4
Irish Hunger Memorial
290 Vesey Street,
New York, NY 10285
WTC or Chambers St. subway
The Irish Hunger Memorial (or Irish Famine Memorial), the creation of artist Brian Tolle, is devoted to raising public awareness of the events that led to the "Great Irish Famine and Migration" of 1845-1852. It serves as a reminder to millions of New Yorkers and Americans who proudly trace their heritage to Ireland, of those who were forced to emigrate during one of the most heartbreaking tragedies in the history of the world. The Great Hunger" began in 1845 when a blight destroyed the Irish potato crop, depriving Ireland of its staple food. By 1847 millions were starving and dying. Between 1847 and 1852 hundreds of thousands of Irish immigrated to New York where they arrived at South Street Seaport and Castle Clinton. Today, almost 800,000 New York City residents trace their ancestry to Ireland.
The Irish Hunger Memorial (which takes its name from the Irish term for the famine of 1845-52, "An Gorta Mor," The Great Hunger) stands on a half-acre site at the corner of Vesey Street and North End Avenue in Battery Park City, between the Embassy Suites Hotel and the Hudson River. The 96' x 170' Memorial, which contains stones from each of Ireland's 32 counties, is elevated on a limestone plinth. Along the base are bands of texts separated by layers of imported Kilkenny limestone. The limestone is more than 300 million years old and contains fossils from the ancient Irish seabed. The text, which combines the history of the Great Famine with contemporary reports on world hunger, is cast as shadow onto illuminated frosted glass panels. From its eastern approach the Memorial appears as a sloping landscape with a pathway inviting visitors to walk upward past a ruined fieldstone cottage and stone walls toward a pilgrim's standing stone. At the western end of the Memorial, 25 feet above the pavement, a cantilevered overlook offers views of the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, emblems of America's welcome to the Irish and to all immigrant people.
From the western or river end, the visitor approaches the Memorial through a formal ceremonial entrance that recalls the court cairn or graves of the Irish Neolithic period that are found in the Irish northwest. The ramped passageway ends inside the ruined fieldstone cottage that was brought to New York from the townland of Carradoogan near Attymass, County Mayo.
The size of the cultivated area of the Memorial, one-quarter of an acre, is significant. In 1847, Sir William Gregory proposed an additional clause to the Irish Poor Law stipulating that no person occupying land of more than one-quarter acre was eligible for any relief. This law had a devastating effect and contributed to the suffering. The unroofed abandoned cottage reminds the visitor of the stark choice between survival and holding home and hearth.
Nearly two miles of text have been installed in illuminated bands that wrap around the base of the Memorial. The text includes some 110 quotations, including autobiographies, letters, oral traditions, parliamentary reports, poems, recipes, songs and statistics. Backlit text panels are installed behind frosted glass sections that appear to the visitor as shadows. At night the light will function as a beacon to those on the river. The texts merge past and present accounts of famine and can be updated to respond to new hunger crises.
The audio installation in the passage provides another dimension to the Memorial as living site. The audio will be a medium for contemporary writers and musicians who have responded to the meaning of the Great Irish Famine and the challenge of hunger in the world today. The audio will capture the response of visitors to the Memorial, and will provide updated information about famine sites and conditions worldwide.
Admission And Tickets
Free
Subway:
to World Trade Center
to Chambers St -- 0.4
Visit Poet's House, Battery Park: April-June Events
If poetry interests you, visit Poets House, the only poetry library in the U.S.: all the latest journals, chapbooks, audio and 50,000 volumes of poetry (to be read in library only).
10 River Terrace (Chambers St., walk west toward river New York, NY 10282 | (212) 431-7920 | info@poetshouse.org :
The House That Holds a Country
Poets House is a national poetry library and literary center that invites poets and the public to step into the living tradition of poetry. Our poetry resources and literary events document the wealth and diversity of modern poetry, and stimulate public dialogue on issues of poetry in culture.
Founded in 1985 by poet Stanley Kunitz and arts administrator Elizabeth Kray, Poets House has created a home for all who read and write poetry. From 1990 to 2007 that home was located in an intimate loft at 72 Spring Street in Soho. As rent increases began to make Soho an impractical location, Poets House was fortunate to be designated by the Battery Park City Authority as a rent-free tenant in a new building on the banks of the Hudson River. In the summer of 2009, Poets House moved to its permanent home at 10 River Terrace in Battery Park City and opened to the public on September 25, 2009.
Throughout its transformations, the heart of Poets House has remained its poetry collection. With over 50,000 volumes of poetry—including books, journals, chapbooks, audio and video tapes, and digital media—our collection is among the most comprehensive, open-access collections of poetry in the United States and is the foundation for all our programs and services.
Each year we present over 200 public programs, including panels, lectures, readings, writing workshops and walking tours in New York City and nationwide. Panel discussions and lectures link the voices of poets living today to a vast literary tradition. Poets House readings presented in public parks and libraries cultivate a wider audience for the art. Innovative seminars and workshops taught by emerging and established poets offer aficionados and first-timers an opportunity to explore the writing process in greater depth.
Through the annual Poets House Showcase, we gather and exhibit all of the years' new poetry books. Thousands of books are shown each year from publishers large and small across the country. The Showcase provides readers and writers an opportunity to view the whole range of the art. All of the books are documented in the Directory of American Poetry Books, the most comprehensive bibliographic resource available for poetry published since the 1990's.
Poetry in The Branches is a model for developing poetry audiences in local communities by providing multi-layered poetry services in public libraries. Poetry in The Branches makes this model available nationwide through our Poetry in The Branches National Institute, on-site trainings and consulting to diverse library systems, and full-service programs in local branches. Branching Out: Poetry for the 21st Century, a joint project with the Poetry Society of America, brought PSA's Poetry In Motion™ program and Poets House's Poetry in The Branches model to 7 cities nationwide.
At the turn of a new century, Poets House is working to create a future where everyone has entree into the ageless, borderless conversation that is poetry. We invite you to join us.
Readings and Workshops
Anne Carson
Thursday, April 29, 7:00pm
Nox: From Box to Book with Anne Carson & Currie
With artistic collaborator Currie, poet Anne Carson discusses and reads from Nox, her illustrated "book in a box" that elegizes the loss of her brother with photos, collages, sketches and poetry written through the lens of her translation of Catullus.
$10, $7 for students and seniors, free to Poets House Members
| return to top |
may
Richard Lewis
Richard Lewis
Poetry for Children
Saturday, May 1, 11:00am
"How Does a Bird Imagine? What Does a Tree Know?" with Richard Lewis
This performance, art and writing workshop led by children's poet extraordinaire Richard Lewis features a parade in spring-time imagining hats.
Admission free
Part of Ecopoetic Futures, a series of events that examine poetry and the environment. Programs in this series are funded, in part, by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York Council for the Humanities.
Saturday, May 1, 2:00pm
It's About Nature: Children's Learning & the Poetic Experience
with Richard Lewis
Richard Lewis converses with artists, teachers and parents about creating poetic spaces as a means of inspiring community and creative responsiveness to the environment.
Admission free
Part of Ecopoetic Futures, a series of events that examine poetry and the environment. Programs in this series are funded, in part, by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York Council for the Humanities.
Monday, May 3 & Tuesday, May 4, 10:00am–8:00pm
Annual Chapbook Festival
Now in its second year, this two-day national festival of workshops and readings celebrates the microbook. Cosponsored by the MFA Programs in Creative Writing of the City University of New York; the Office of Academic Affairs and the Center for the Humanities at the Graduate Center, CUNY; the Center for Book Arts; the Poetry Society of America; and Poets & Writers.
@ The CUNY Graduate Center
For more information, please visit www.centerforthehumanitiesgc.org/festival
Admission free
Diane Ackerman
kimiko hahn
Wednesday, May 5, 7:00pm
Close Observation: The Poetics of Flora & Fauna
A Reading & Conversation with Diane Ackerman & Kimiko Hahn
Diane Ackerman, acclaimed essayist and author of Dawn Light: Dancing with Cranes and Other Ways to Start the Day, talks with Kimiko Hahn, author of Toxic Flora and other poetry collections, about the role of environmental issues and science in their writing.
$10, $7 for students and seniors, free to Poets House Members
From top: Diane Ackerman & Kimiko Hahn
Raúl Zurita
Raúl Zurita
Thursday, May 6, 7:00pm
Chile’s Dante:
An Evening with Raúl Zurita & Anna Deeny
The uncompromising Chilean poet Raúl Zuritareads from his work and talks with Anna Deeny, the English-language translator of his volume Purgatory.
$10, $7 for students and seniors, free to Poets House Members
Ylonka Nacidit-Perdomo
Angela Hernández Núñez
Tuesday, May 11, 7:00pm
Praises & Offenses: Women Poets from the Dominican Republic with Linda M. Rodriguez Guglielmoni, Judith Kerman, Ylonka Nacidit-Perdomo & Angela Hernández Núñez
Dominican poets Ylonka Nacidit-Perdomo and Angela Hernández Núñez are joined by their english-language translator, Judith Kerman, and scholar Linda M. Rodriguez Guglielmoni for a reading and conversation.
$10, $7 for students and seniors, free to Poets House Members
From top: Ylonka Nacidit-Perdomo & Angela Hernández Núñez
jonathan skinner
Jonathan Skinner
Ecopoetics After Copenhagen with Jonathan Skinner
Poetry & Biodiversity: A Public Seminar with Jonathan Skinner
Wednesday, May 12, 7:00–9:00pm
$10, $7 for students and seniors, free to Poets House Members; pre-registration is not required
In recognition of the International Year of Biodiversity, this seminar with poet and ecocritic Jonathan Skinner looks at current poetics and cultures of biodiversity, including forest languages and invasive activity in disturbed ecosystems.
Poetry & Watersheds: A Public Seminar with Jonathan Skinner
Friday, May 14, 7:00–9:00pm
$10, $7 for students and seniors, free to Poets House Members; pre-registration is not required
Poet and ecocritic Jonathan Skinner examines how poets are responding to our relationship to water, taking into account emerging science, politics, and social and ecological inequities.
Urban Field Poetics: A Writing Workshop with Jonathan Skinner
Saturday, May 15, 1:00–5:00pm
$140, pre-registration required; call (212) 431-7920 or email classes@poetshouse.org
Building on the concerns uncovered in Skinner's two previous seminars, this workshop is an ecopoetics field audit that focuses on Poets House's location along the Hudson River and introduces site-based writing.
Jonathan Skinner's poetry collections include With Naked Foot and Political Cactus Poems. He edits the journal ecopoetics and writes ecocriticism on contemporary poetry and poetics. He also teaches in the Environmental Studies Program at Bates College.
Part of Ecopoetic Futures, a series of events that examine poetry and the environment. Programs in this series are funded, in part, by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York Council for the Humanities.
Maurice Manning
Norman Minnick
Thursday, May 13, 7:00pm
Back Home: A Conversation & Reading
with Maurice Manning & Norman Minnick
Poets Maurice Manning and Norman Minnick share poems, tall tales and conversation about the nature of Kentucky poetry, from the lyric to the comic.
$10, $7 for students and seniors, free to Poets House Members
From top: Maurice Manning & Norman Minnick
calef brown
Calef Brown
Poetry for Children
Saturday, May 15, 11:00am
My Life as a Blue Elephant with Calef Brown
Author and illustrator of prize-winning children's books, Calef Brown reads from his most popular works and reveals how he creates his illustrations and madcap poems.
Admission Free
Arthur Sze
Arthur Sze
Tuesday, May 18, 7:00pm
Language of the Neighborhood: Chinese Poetry Today
with Arthur Sze & Lucas Klein
Poet, translator and editor of the new volume Chinese Writers on Writing, Arthur Sze reads and discusses modern and contemporary Chinese poetry with scholar and translator Lucas Klein.
$10, $7 for students and seniors, free to Poets House Members
Marilyn Nelson
Marilyn Nelson
Thursday, May 20, 7:00pm
Sweethearts of Rhythm:
An Evening with Marilyn Nelson & Jerry Pinkney
Acclaimed poet Marilyn Nelson and artist Jerry Pinkney, winner of the 2010 Caldecott Medal, discuss their collaborative book, Sweethearts of Rhythm, which profiles the all-female, interracial band of the 1940s.
$10, $7 for students and seniors, free to Poets House Members
Marcella Durand
Brenda Iijima
Ted Mathys
Tyrone Williams
Tuesday, May 25, 7:00pm
Ecopoetical Futures: A Panel with Marcella Durand, Brenda Iijima, Ted Mathys & Tyrone Williams
Four emerging poets investigate how poetry might marshal diverse languages, ethnicities and identities to engage with a global ecosystem under duress.
Part of Ecopoetic Futures, a series of events that examine poetry and the environment. Programs in this series are funded, in part, by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York Council for the Humanities.
$10, $7 for students and seniors, free to Poets House Members
From top: Marcella Durand, Brenda Iijima, Ted Mathys & Tyrone Williams
Robert Hass
Brenda Hillman
Thursday, May 27, 7:00pm
Elements & Energies:
Robert Hass & Brenda Hillman on Poetry, Ecology & Environmental Action
Robert Hass, former U.S. Poet Laureate, and Brenda Hillman, author of eight lauded collections, share their experiences of activism and writing in response to the natural world.
Part of Ecopoetic Futures, a series of events that examine poetry and the environment. Programs in this series are funded, in part, by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York Council for the Humanities.
$10, $7 for students and seniors, free to Poets House Members
Poetry for Children
Saturday, May 29, 11:00am
River of Words with Robert Hass
Pulitzer Prize–winning poet Robert Hass shares his own poems of the natural world as well as those by children across the country. A discussion about connecting watersheds and imaginations through poetry and art will follow.
Part of Ecopoetic Futures, a series of events that examine poetry and the environment. Programs in this series are funded, in part, by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York Council for the Humanities.
Admission Free
Saturday, May 29, 1:00-3:00pm
An Ethics Occurs at the Edge of What We Know: A Seminar with Brenda Hillman
Author of Practical Water, among other poetry books, Brenda Hillman discusses poetry and activism, writing about the elements and ecopoetics, and the writing process in relation to political commitment and spiritual ideas.
Part of Ecopoetic Futures, a series of events that examine poetry and the environment. Programs in this series are funded, in part, by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York Council for the Humanities.
$25, $20 for students and seniors, $15 for Poets House Members
Saturday, May 29, 4:00pm
Robert Hass & Brenda Hillman in the Great Outdoors: A Reading
This reading inaugurates Poets House's outdoor courtyard in the new South Teardrop Park.
Part of Ecopoetic Futures, a series of events that examine poetry and the environment. Programs in this series are funded, in part, by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York Council for the Humanities.
$10, $7 for students and seniors, free to Poets House Members
| return to top |
june
Ruth Stone
Ruth Stone
Tuesday, June 8, 7:00pm
What Love Comes To: A Celebration of Ruth Stone
with Chard deNiord, Toi Derricotte, Marie Howe, Galway Kinnell, Maxine Kumin, Dorianne Laux, Sharon Olds, Gerald Stern, Bianca Stone, & Hillery Stone
In honor of Ruth Stone's 95th birthday, friends and fellow poets read from the acclaimed poet's volume What Loves Comes To: New and Selected Poems.
$10, $7 for students and seniors, free to Poets House Members
Monday, June 14, 6:30pm
The 15th Annual Poetry Walk Across the Brooklyn Bridge: A Benefit for Poets House
Join performance artist Laurie Anderson, Brooklyn Poet Laureate Tina Chang, and award-winning poets Galway Kinnell and Thomas Lux for this annual pilgrimage across one of New York City's great architectural gems. This beloved Poets House event features readings of the poetry of Walt Whitman, Marianne Moore, Langston Hughes and other greats beneath Roebling's famous arches. The journey from Manhattan to Brooklyn closes with a celebratory dinner and the presentation of the Elizabeth Kray Award, or "The Betty" for service to the field of poetry.
This year, The Betty will be awarded to Lawrence Ferlinghetti, "one of our ageless radicals and true bards" (Booklist) who has authored such ground-breathing works as A Coney Island of the Mind, Americus, and Poetry As Insurgent Art; founded the legendary City Lights Bookstore; and launched the City Lights publishing house, which first published Allen Ginsberg's Howl & Other Poems, among other seminal works.
Tickets begin at $250 ($225 for Poets House Members). Reservations are required. For details or to make reservations, contact Krista Manrique at (212) 431-7920, ext. 2830 or krista@poetshouse.org.
10 River Terrace (Chambers St., walk west toward river New York, NY 10282 | (212) 431-7920 | info@poetshouse.org :
The House That Holds a Country
Poets House is a national poetry library and literary center that invites poets and the public to step into the living tradition of poetry. Our poetry resources and literary events document the wealth and diversity of modern poetry, and stimulate public dialogue on issues of poetry in culture.
Founded in 1985 by poet Stanley Kunitz and arts administrator Elizabeth Kray, Poets House has created a home for all who read and write poetry. From 1990 to 2007 that home was located in an intimate loft at 72 Spring Street in Soho. As rent increases began to make Soho an impractical location, Poets House was fortunate to be designated by the Battery Park City Authority as a rent-free tenant in a new building on the banks of the Hudson River. In the summer of 2009, Poets House moved to its permanent home at 10 River Terrace in Battery Park City and opened to the public on September 25, 2009.
Throughout its transformations, the heart of Poets House has remained its poetry collection. With over 50,000 volumes of poetry—including books, journals, chapbooks, audio and video tapes, and digital media—our collection is among the most comprehensive, open-access collections of poetry in the United States and is the foundation for all our programs and services.
Each year we present over 200 public programs, including panels, lectures, readings, writing workshops and walking tours in New York City and nationwide. Panel discussions and lectures link the voices of poets living today to a vast literary tradition. Poets House readings presented in public parks and libraries cultivate a wider audience for the art. Innovative seminars and workshops taught by emerging and established poets offer aficionados and first-timers an opportunity to explore the writing process in greater depth.
Through the annual Poets House Showcase, we gather and exhibit all of the years' new poetry books. Thousands of books are shown each year from publishers large and small across the country. The Showcase provides readers and writers an opportunity to view the whole range of the art. All of the books are documented in the Directory of American Poetry Books, the most comprehensive bibliographic resource available for poetry published since the 1990's.
Poetry in The Branches is a model for developing poetry audiences in local communities by providing multi-layered poetry services in public libraries. Poetry in The Branches makes this model available nationwide through our Poetry in The Branches National Institute, on-site trainings and consulting to diverse library systems, and full-service programs in local branches. Branching Out: Poetry for the 21st Century, a joint project with the Poetry Society of America, brought PSA's Poetry In Motion™ program and Poets House's Poetry in The Branches model to 7 cities nationwide.
At the turn of a new century, Poets House is working to create a future where everyone has entree into the ageless, borderless conversation that is poetry. We invite you to join us.
Readings and Workshops
Anne Carson
Thursday, April 29, 7:00pm
Nox: From Box to Book with Anne Carson & Currie
With artistic collaborator Currie, poet Anne Carson discusses and reads from Nox, her illustrated "book in a box" that elegizes the loss of her brother with photos, collages, sketches and poetry written through the lens of her translation of Catullus.
$10, $7 for students and seniors, free to Poets House Members
| return to top |
may
Richard Lewis
Richard Lewis
Poetry for Children
Saturday, May 1, 11:00am
"How Does a Bird Imagine? What Does a Tree Know?" with Richard Lewis
This performance, art and writing workshop led by children's poet extraordinaire Richard Lewis features a parade in spring-time imagining hats.
Admission free
Part of Ecopoetic Futures, a series of events that examine poetry and the environment. Programs in this series are funded, in part, by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York Council for the Humanities.
Saturday, May 1, 2:00pm
It's About Nature: Children's Learning & the Poetic Experience
with Richard Lewis
Richard Lewis converses with artists, teachers and parents about creating poetic spaces as a means of inspiring community and creative responsiveness to the environment.
Admission free
Part of Ecopoetic Futures, a series of events that examine poetry and the environment. Programs in this series are funded, in part, by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York Council for the Humanities.
Monday, May 3 & Tuesday, May 4, 10:00am–8:00pm
Annual Chapbook Festival
Now in its second year, this two-day national festival of workshops and readings celebrates the microbook. Cosponsored by the MFA Programs in Creative Writing of the City University of New York; the Office of Academic Affairs and the Center for the Humanities at the Graduate Center, CUNY; the Center for Book Arts; the Poetry Society of America; and Poets & Writers.
@ The CUNY Graduate Center
For more information, please visit www.centerforthehumanitiesgc.org/festival
Admission free
Diane Ackerman
kimiko hahn
Wednesday, May 5, 7:00pm
Close Observation: The Poetics of Flora & Fauna
A Reading & Conversation with Diane Ackerman & Kimiko Hahn
Diane Ackerman, acclaimed essayist and author of Dawn Light: Dancing with Cranes and Other Ways to Start the Day, talks with Kimiko Hahn, author of Toxic Flora and other poetry collections, about the role of environmental issues and science in their writing.
$10, $7 for students and seniors, free to Poets House Members
From top: Diane Ackerman & Kimiko Hahn
Raúl Zurita
Raúl Zurita
Thursday, May 6, 7:00pm
Chile’s Dante:
An Evening with Raúl Zurita & Anna Deeny
The uncompromising Chilean poet Raúl Zuritareads from his work and talks with Anna Deeny, the English-language translator of his volume Purgatory.
$10, $7 for students and seniors, free to Poets House Members
Ylonka Nacidit-Perdomo
Angela Hernández Núñez
Tuesday, May 11, 7:00pm
Praises & Offenses: Women Poets from the Dominican Republic with Linda M. Rodriguez Guglielmoni, Judith Kerman, Ylonka Nacidit-Perdomo & Angela Hernández Núñez
Dominican poets Ylonka Nacidit-Perdomo and Angela Hernández Núñez are joined by their english-language translator, Judith Kerman, and scholar Linda M. Rodriguez Guglielmoni for a reading and conversation.
$10, $7 for students and seniors, free to Poets House Members
From top: Ylonka Nacidit-Perdomo & Angela Hernández Núñez
jonathan skinner
Jonathan Skinner
Ecopoetics After Copenhagen with Jonathan Skinner
Poetry & Biodiversity: A Public Seminar with Jonathan Skinner
Wednesday, May 12, 7:00–9:00pm
$10, $7 for students and seniors, free to Poets House Members; pre-registration is not required
In recognition of the International Year of Biodiversity, this seminar with poet and ecocritic Jonathan Skinner looks at current poetics and cultures of biodiversity, including forest languages and invasive activity in disturbed ecosystems.
Poetry & Watersheds: A Public Seminar with Jonathan Skinner
Friday, May 14, 7:00–9:00pm
$10, $7 for students and seniors, free to Poets House Members; pre-registration is not required
Poet and ecocritic Jonathan Skinner examines how poets are responding to our relationship to water, taking into account emerging science, politics, and social and ecological inequities.
Urban Field Poetics: A Writing Workshop with Jonathan Skinner
Saturday, May 15, 1:00–5:00pm
$140, pre-registration required; call (212) 431-7920 or email classes@poetshouse.org
Building on the concerns uncovered in Skinner's two previous seminars, this workshop is an ecopoetics field audit that focuses on Poets House's location along the Hudson River and introduces site-based writing.
Jonathan Skinner's poetry collections include With Naked Foot and Political Cactus Poems. He edits the journal ecopoetics and writes ecocriticism on contemporary poetry and poetics. He also teaches in the Environmental Studies Program at Bates College.
Part of Ecopoetic Futures, a series of events that examine poetry and the environment. Programs in this series are funded, in part, by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York Council for the Humanities.
Maurice Manning
Norman Minnick
Thursday, May 13, 7:00pm
Back Home: A Conversation & Reading
with Maurice Manning & Norman Minnick
Poets Maurice Manning and Norman Minnick share poems, tall tales and conversation about the nature of Kentucky poetry, from the lyric to the comic.
$10, $7 for students and seniors, free to Poets House Members
From top: Maurice Manning & Norman Minnick
calef brown
Calef Brown
Poetry for Children
Saturday, May 15, 11:00am
My Life as a Blue Elephant with Calef Brown
Author and illustrator of prize-winning children's books, Calef Brown reads from his most popular works and reveals how he creates his illustrations and madcap poems.
Admission Free
Arthur Sze
Arthur Sze
Tuesday, May 18, 7:00pm
Language of the Neighborhood: Chinese Poetry Today
with Arthur Sze & Lucas Klein
Poet, translator and editor of the new volume Chinese Writers on Writing, Arthur Sze reads and discusses modern and contemporary Chinese poetry with scholar and translator Lucas Klein.
$10, $7 for students and seniors, free to Poets House Members
Marilyn Nelson
Marilyn Nelson
Thursday, May 20, 7:00pm
Sweethearts of Rhythm:
An Evening with Marilyn Nelson & Jerry Pinkney
Acclaimed poet Marilyn Nelson and artist Jerry Pinkney, winner of the 2010 Caldecott Medal, discuss their collaborative book, Sweethearts of Rhythm, which profiles the all-female, interracial band of the 1940s.
$10, $7 for students and seniors, free to Poets House Members
Marcella Durand
Brenda Iijima
Ted Mathys
Tyrone Williams
Tuesday, May 25, 7:00pm
Ecopoetical Futures: A Panel with Marcella Durand, Brenda Iijima, Ted Mathys & Tyrone Williams
Four emerging poets investigate how poetry might marshal diverse languages, ethnicities and identities to engage with a global ecosystem under duress.
Part of Ecopoetic Futures, a series of events that examine poetry and the environment. Programs in this series are funded, in part, by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York Council for the Humanities.
$10, $7 for students and seniors, free to Poets House Members
From top: Marcella Durand, Brenda Iijima, Ted Mathys & Tyrone Williams
Robert Hass
Brenda Hillman
Thursday, May 27, 7:00pm
Elements & Energies:
Robert Hass & Brenda Hillman on Poetry, Ecology & Environmental Action
Robert Hass, former U.S. Poet Laureate, and Brenda Hillman, author of eight lauded collections, share their experiences of activism and writing in response to the natural world.
Part of Ecopoetic Futures, a series of events that examine poetry and the environment. Programs in this series are funded, in part, by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York Council for the Humanities.
$10, $7 for students and seniors, free to Poets House Members
Poetry for Children
Saturday, May 29, 11:00am
River of Words with Robert Hass
Pulitzer Prize–winning poet Robert Hass shares his own poems of the natural world as well as those by children across the country. A discussion about connecting watersheds and imaginations through poetry and art will follow.
Part of Ecopoetic Futures, a series of events that examine poetry and the environment. Programs in this series are funded, in part, by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York Council for the Humanities.
Admission Free
Saturday, May 29, 1:00-3:00pm
An Ethics Occurs at the Edge of What We Know: A Seminar with Brenda Hillman
Author of Practical Water, among other poetry books, Brenda Hillman discusses poetry and activism, writing about the elements and ecopoetics, and the writing process in relation to political commitment and spiritual ideas.
Part of Ecopoetic Futures, a series of events that examine poetry and the environment. Programs in this series are funded, in part, by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York Council for the Humanities.
$25, $20 for students and seniors, $15 for Poets House Members
Saturday, May 29, 4:00pm
Robert Hass & Brenda Hillman in the Great Outdoors: A Reading
This reading inaugurates Poets House's outdoor courtyard in the new South Teardrop Park.
Part of Ecopoetic Futures, a series of events that examine poetry and the environment. Programs in this series are funded, in part, by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York Council for the Humanities.
$10, $7 for students and seniors, free to Poets House Members
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june
Ruth Stone
Ruth Stone
Tuesday, June 8, 7:00pm
What Love Comes To: A Celebration of Ruth Stone
with Chard deNiord, Toi Derricotte, Marie Howe, Galway Kinnell, Maxine Kumin, Dorianne Laux, Sharon Olds, Gerald Stern, Bianca Stone, & Hillery Stone
In honor of Ruth Stone's 95th birthday, friends and fellow poets read from the acclaimed poet's volume What Loves Comes To: New and Selected Poems.
$10, $7 for students and seniors, free to Poets House Members
Monday, June 14, 6:30pm
The 15th Annual Poetry Walk Across the Brooklyn Bridge: A Benefit for Poets House
Join performance artist Laurie Anderson, Brooklyn Poet Laureate Tina Chang, and award-winning poets Galway Kinnell and Thomas Lux for this annual pilgrimage across one of New York City's great architectural gems. This beloved Poets House event features readings of the poetry of Walt Whitman, Marianne Moore, Langston Hughes and other greats beneath Roebling's famous arches. The journey from Manhattan to Brooklyn closes with a celebratory dinner and the presentation of the Elizabeth Kray Award, or "The Betty" for service to the field of poetry.
This year, The Betty will be awarded to Lawrence Ferlinghetti, "one of our ageless radicals and true bards" (Booklist) who has authored such ground-breathing works as A Coney Island of the Mind, Americus, and Poetry As Insurgent Art; founded the legendary City Lights Bookstore; and launched the City Lights publishing house, which first published Allen Ginsberg's Howl & Other Poems, among other seminal works.
Tickets begin at $250 ($225 for Poets House Members). Reservations are required. For details or to make reservations, contact Krista Manrique at (212) 431-7920, ext. 2830 or krista@poetshouse.org.
April is Poetry Month: T.S. Eliot's Wasteland (Part I)
Listen to The Wasteland, one of the most important poems of the century, on-line
And sign up for a poem a day, Academy of American Poets:
http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/21375?utm_source=poemaday_042810&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=content&utm_term=24hour_audio
Also, if you're interested in poetry, visit the new site of Poet's House, 10 River Terrace (take subway to Chambers St. and walk west toward the river),
Part I
April is the cruellest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain.
Winter kept us warm, covering
Earth in forgetful snow, feeding
A little life with dried tubers.
Summer surprised us, coming over the Starnbergersee
With a shower of rain; we stopped in the colonnade,
And went on in sunlight, into the Hofgarten,
And drank coffee, and talked for an hour.
Bin gar kine Russin, stamm' aus Litauen, echt deutsch.
And when we were children, staying at the archduke's,
My cousin's, he took me out on a sled,
And I was frightened. He said, Marie,
Marie, hold on tight. And down we went.
In the mountains, there you feel free.
I read, much of the night, and go south in the winter.
What are the roots that clutch, what branches grow
Out of this stony rubbish? Son of man,
You cannot say, or guess, for you know only
A heap of broken images, where the sun beats,
And the dead tree gives no shelter, the cricket no relief,
And the dry stone no sound of water. Only
There is shadow under this red rock,
(Come in under the shadow of this red rock),
And I will show you something different from either
Your shadow at morning striding behind you
Or your shadow at evening rising to meet you;
I will show you fear in a handful of dust.
Frisch weht der Wind
Der Heimat zu,
Mein Irisch Kind,
Wo weilest du?
"You gave me hyacinths first a year ago;
"They called me the hyacinth girl."
–Yet when we came back, late, from the Hyacinth garden,
Your arms full, and your hair wet, I could not
Speak, and my eyes failed, I was neither
Living nor dead, and I knew nothing,
Looking into the heart of light, the silence.
Oed' und leer das Meer.
Madame Sosostris, famous clairvoyante,
Had a bad cold, nevertheless
Is known to be the wisest woman in Europe,
With a wicked pack of cards. Here, said she,
Is your card, the drowned Phoenician Sailor,
(Those are pearls that were his eyes. Look!)
Here is Belladonna, the Lady of the Rocks,
The lady of situations.
Here is the man with three staves, and here the Wheel,
And here is the one-eyed merchant, and this card
Which is blank, is something he carries on his back,
Which I am forbidden to see. I do not find
The Hanged Man. Fear death by water.
I see crowds of people, walking round in a ring.
Thank you. If you see dear Mrs. Equitone,
Tell her I bring the horoscope myself:
One must be so careful these days.
Unreal City,
Under the brown fog of a winter dawn,
A crowd flowed over London Bridge, so many,
I had not thought death had undone so many.
Sighs, short and infrequent, were exhaled,
And each man fixed his eyes before his feet.
Flowed up the hill and down King William Street,
To where Saint Mary Woolnoth kept the hours
With a dead sound on the final stroke of nine.
There I saw one I knew, and stopped him, crying: "Stetson!
"You who were with me in the ships at Mylae!
"That corpse you planted last year in your garden,
"Has it begun to sprout? Will it bloom this year?
"Or has the sudden frost disturbed its bed?
"Oh keep the Dog far hence, that's friend to men,
"Or with his nails he'll dig it up again!
"You! hypocrite lecteur!—mon semblable—mon frère!"
And sign up for a poem a day, Academy of American Poets:
http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/21375?utm_source=poemaday_042810&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=content&utm_term=24hour_audio
Also, if you're interested in poetry, visit the new site of Poet's House, 10 River Terrace (take subway to Chambers St. and walk west toward the river),
Part I
April is the cruellest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain.
Winter kept us warm, covering
Earth in forgetful snow, feeding
A little life with dried tubers.
Summer surprised us, coming over the Starnbergersee
With a shower of rain; we stopped in the colonnade,
And went on in sunlight, into the Hofgarten,
And drank coffee, and talked for an hour.
Bin gar kine Russin, stamm' aus Litauen, echt deutsch.
And when we were children, staying at the archduke's,
My cousin's, he took me out on a sled,
And I was frightened. He said, Marie,
Marie, hold on tight. And down we went.
In the mountains, there you feel free.
I read, much of the night, and go south in the winter.
What are the roots that clutch, what branches grow
Out of this stony rubbish? Son of man,
You cannot say, or guess, for you know only
A heap of broken images, where the sun beats,
And the dead tree gives no shelter, the cricket no relief,
And the dry stone no sound of water. Only
There is shadow under this red rock,
(Come in under the shadow of this red rock),
And I will show you something different from either
Your shadow at morning striding behind you
Or your shadow at evening rising to meet you;
I will show you fear in a handful of dust.
Frisch weht der Wind
Der Heimat zu,
Mein Irisch Kind,
Wo weilest du?
"You gave me hyacinths first a year ago;
"They called me the hyacinth girl."
–Yet when we came back, late, from the Hyacinth garden,
Your arms full, and your hair wet, I could not
Speak, and my eyes failed, I was neither
Living nor dead, and I knew nothing,
Looking into the heart of light, the silence.
Oed' und leer das Meer.
Madame Sosostris, famous clairvoyante,
Had a bad cold, nevertheless
Is known to be the wisest woman in Europe,
With a wicked pack of cards. Here, said she,
Is your card, the drowned Phoenician Sailor,
(Those are pearls that were his eyes. Look!)
Here is Belladonna, the Lady of the Rocks,
The lady of situations.
Here is the man with three staves, and here the Wheel,
And here is the one-eyed merchant, and this card
Which is blank, is something he carries on his back,
Which I am forbidden to see. I do not find
The Hanged Man. Fear death by water.
I see crowds of people, walking round in a ring.
Thank you. If you see dear Mrs. Equitone,
Tell her I bring the horoscope myself:
One must be so careful these days.
Unreal City,
Under the brown fog of a winter dawn,
A crowd flowed over London Bridge, so many,
I had not thought death had undone so many.
Sighs, short and infrequent, were exhaled,
And each man fixed his eyes before his feet.
Flowed up the hill and down King William Street,
To where Saint Mary Woolnoth kept the hours
With a dead sound on the final stroke of nine.
There I saw one I knew, and stopped him, crying: "Stetson!
"You who were with me in the ships at Mylae!
"That corpse you planted last year in your garden,
"Has it begun to sprout? Will it bloom this year?
"Or has the sudden frost disturbed its bed?
"Oh keep the Dog far hence, that's friend to men,
"Or with his nails he'll dig it up again!
"You! hypocrite lecteur!—mon semblable—mon frère!"
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