Happy 100th birthday to the great Welsh poet, Dylan Thomas. "My birthday began with the water–Birds and the birds of the winged trees crying my nameAbove the farms and the white horsesAnd I rosein rainy autumnAnd walked abroad in a shower of all my days… Read the entire poem "Poem in October" (1945) here. Or […]
“And I Rose in a Rainy Autumn” Read More »
This is why I love reading Shakespeare: Prince Hal: "This sanguine coward, this bed-presser, this horse-back breaker, this huge hill of flesh." Falstaff: "S'Blood, you starveling, you elf-skin, you dried neat's-tongue, you bull-pizzle, you stock fish. Oh for breath to utter what is like thee! You tailor's-yard, you sheath, you bow-case, you vile standing tuck!."
The Very Best Insults Read More »
Here is a wonderful animated film of Emily Dickinson's poem "I Started Early — Took My Dog," to celebrate the poet's birthday, December 10, 1830. The film was created for the Poetry Everywhere series from PBS and the Poetry Foundation. The lovely animation was done by Maureen Selwood and the poem was read by actress Blair
“I Started Early — Took My Dog:” Happy Birthday (A Day Late) to Emily Dickinson Read More »
Marly Youmans' Thaliad offers a healing balm to the swath of nihilistic post-apocalyptic fiction for young adults. Told in free verse reminiscent of heroic epics (Homer meets Gerald Manley Hopkins), Thaliad recounts the aftermath of a fiery apocalypse and the perlious journey of a band of children led by a girl whose prophetic visions
Marly Youmans and Clive Hicks-Jenkins Collaboration: Thaliad Read More »
"Beauty now for ashes wear, Perfumes for the garb of woe. Chaplets for dishevelled hair, Dances for sad footsteps slow; Open wide your hearts that they Let in joy this Easter Day." —"Easter," by Gerald Manley Hopkins "Maiden in Contemplation," painted by Gaston La Touche, 1854–1913
Happy Easter and A Beautiful Spring to You All Read More »
I love this beautiful poem by Seamus Heaney, “St Kevin and the Blackbird,” and think it appropriate for a weekend that will specialize in Irish saints — though perhaps with more “spirit” than reverence. Still …enjoy this recording of the poem. The art above, “St. Kevin and the Blackbird” is by one of my favorite
Seamus Heaney: St. Kevin and the Blackbird. Read More »
I rejoice at finding wonderful items on the internet, but I am also pleased in being found. I recently received a terrific email from a middle school English teacher whose sixth grade class was tackling poetry with some difficulty at the start. This is what she wrote to me: After teaching all kinds of dry
A Return to How They Drank In The 40s Read More »
