Paul Hawken's commencement address presents a picture of the deterioration that is being wrought by human activity and motivates college graduates to join the invisible, ordinary masses who are already saving the planet with everyday processes. In a call to live and hope for something better, he stresses, in the language of a poet, how nature…

In "The Reason for Poetry," the first of two lectures contained in this booklet, the poet William Meredith argues for a more generous definition of poetry. To move away from the narrow appreciation of poetry as "what I like," Meredith suggests that readers must shift their focus from their own expectations on reading a poem to…

Beginning with a brief account of the history of Westminster Abbey and its physical structure, this paper concentrates on the British writers honored in the South Transept or Poet's Corner section. It identifies those recognized who are no longer thought to be outstanding, those now understood to be outstanding who are not recognized, and provides…

The ideas of four contemporary poets--Ann Deagon, Lyn Lifshin, Marge Piercy, and Alice Walker--concerning the oral interpretation of poetry are presented in this paper. The poets' ideas relate to the following topics: (1) the importance of reading poems aloud; (2) reasons why they give poetry readings, and effects of their poetry readings on their…

Through his prose and poetry, John Keats revealed much about his personal outlook and values that might be applied to a description of poets in general. Keats was fascinated by the workings of the human mind with its power to transform, connect, and communicate. He was full of curiosity, eager to relate the fragments of knowledge he acquired to…

This paper describes Rod McKuen's theories of poetic composition, arguing that McKuen appeals to the anti-intellectual, blindly sentimental capacities of the American public. A comparison of McKuen's work with the work of such poets as James Dickey, Robert Lowell, and Theodore Roethke is outlined in order to demonstrate to students the superficial…

The form of the print poetic line is partially determined by the expectations of the potential readers since authors, as participants in the common literary heritage of their culture, make use of the common expectations of that literary heritage. As a test of this hypothesis, one poem by James Dickey and one by Ted Olson were printed as prose, and…

In an instructional experiment in poetry in a college English literature course, chronology of publication and labels of authorship were ignored in the study of Wordsworth and Coleridge's "Lyrical Ballads." In the original plan for the "Lyrical Ballads," Coleridge was to supply poems treating supernatural elements as real,…

Poetry therapy has been in use with adult psychiatric patients at Saint Elizabeths Hospital, Washington, D.C, for 10 years. The treatment used involves reading poetry, listening to recordings, studying poets, and writing poetry. The patients' choice of poems is not restricted by the staff, but different types of poetry appeal to different types of…

Paul Zimmer's latest poetry collection, "The Great Bird of Love," is serious and somber, fraught with the burden of evil, the indifference of God, and the certainty of death. The book is not humorless, however, as humor is central to both the chaotic evil and the ordered goodness of human life. It is in this collection that it is…

The art of poetry is being worn away by democracy, the rule of the average, and by an attitude of narcissism which equates sincere endeavor with significant endeavor. The opening lines of several poems taken from a poetry journal reveal a distinct lack of significant emotion. While poetry is the most significant expression of the Self, the…

Assesses the Boylston professorship at Harvard University, which, although originally devoted to rhetoric and oratory, has evolved in the twentieth century into a professorship of poetics and poetry. (NKA)

Examines the difficulty an aspiring poet faces in publishing, and by reprinting an example, praises poetry as a refining of raw experience and exhorts all poets to continue writing. (CRH)

It is general knowledge that John Milton, when he came to Cambridge, chose not to proceed into the official ministry of the church, but to dedicate his life instead to the calling of literature. If, indeed, Milton rejected the official ministry of the church, after completing the education leading to it, choosing to teach through poetry rather…

In this paper William Stafford's varied descriptions and occasional judgments as to what it means to write a poem are gathered by prospecting through his essays, published lectures, and transcribed interviews. The paper describes Stafford's perspective on (1) the powerful language of poetry; (2) finding each poem's unique form; (3) practicing the…