Tributes to Two Great American Poets

Posted on March 30, 2007 | Category: Poetry

Don’t ask me how I found them, but I was idly surfing the other night when I found two poetry links which have given me a lot of pleasure and which I want to share with you now.

The first is a feature by the great American poetry magazine – called, simply enough, Poetry – which was founded by Harriet Moore in 1912. The writer (editor?) remarks that,

As it turns out, one of the bastions of twentieth-century American verse didn’t have all that much to do with another: Robert Lowell published sparsely in Poetry, sprinkling eight poems in the magazine over almost twenty years. This seems an especially surprising total when considering Lowell’s prodigious output (fifteen of his books were reviewed in Poetry) and the role of “public poet” he achieved later in life.

Well, Poetry is big about it and presents a beautiful slideshow of Robert Lowell’s appearances in Poetry to mark what would have been his 90th birthday on March 1

My other find is a sound archive of another favourite poet of mine, William Carlos Williams, originally compiled and published from Keele University, England, by Dr. Richard Swigg in 1992 and 1993.

Dr Williams – he was a practising medical doctor – had, it turns out, quite a high-pitched voice, rather like a charming, slightly mannish old lady. It is quite delightful, full of his humour and joy in life, brooking no nonsense yet bubbling with a rich humanity.

It’s hosted by Pennsound Programs in Contemporary Writing at the University of Pennsylvania.

Enjoy.