| Poems
of the Week: St. Patrick's Day |
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| Thursday
is dedicated to St. Patrick, patron saint of Ireland
(and Nigeria), so it seemed fitting that this
week's poems celebrate Celtic verse. |
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| Poems
of the Week: Alexander Pope |
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| "If
it rhymes, and you've heard it before, it's by
Pope!" He was one of the few poets who was
appreciated in his own time, but that doesn't
mean his life was easy. Here is the story of one
of the English language's most influential voices. |
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| Poems
of the Week: The First Black Poets |
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| The
slave trade tore an entire people from their homeland
and condemned them to generations of servitude
on another continent. Slavery became the subject
of literature as early as the 1660s when Aphra
Behn wrote Orinoko, but it is the voices of the
slaves themselves that is most striking. This
week we take a look at the poetry that emerged
from America's first black citizens. |
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| Poems
of the Week: Trains |
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| The
modern world can be dated to the birth of the
railroad. It was such a visible and dramatic technology,
and made the population truly mobile. Hardly surprising,
then, that poets and songwriters have been inspired
by iron, steam and speed since it first roared
(or puffed) onto the scene. |
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| Poems
of the Week: Imagination |
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| You
might think that imagination would be a minimum
requirement for poets and writers. But not always.
The Bible was dead against it, for starters. |
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| Poems
of the Week: Coleridge |
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| The
Lake Poets began as radicals and gradually settled
down to a conservative old age. Except for Coleridge,
who lived life on the edge right to the end. |
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| Poems
of the Week: War |
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| This
year Veterans Day takes on a special poignancy.
With the war in Iraq showing no signs of going
away any time soon, the poetry of war poets past
speaks to all of us with a new urgency. |
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| Poems
of the Week: Lakes |
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| Poets
love open bodies of water. There are multitudes
of poems about the sea, and a whole sub-genre
of poets known as the Lakes Poets. This week we're
looking at the poetry that has been inspired by
lakes, including the Great Lakes. |
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| Poems
of the Week: John Keats |
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| Today
Keats is recognised as one of the greatest poets
in the English language, but it wasn't always
so. In his own day he was a working class Cockney
with ideas above his station. |
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| Poems
of the Week: The Abolition of Slavery |
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| October
is Black History Month in the UK, so we thought
we'd take a look at how slavery came to be abolished
across the pond. And at the writers who were inspired
to fight against "the trade." |
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| Poems
of the Week: Sir Walter Scott |
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| These
days the prolific Scotsman is best known for his
tales of adventure, but Walter Scott began his
career as a poet. We take a look at the life of
the man, and the work that brought him fame. |
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| Poems
of the Week: Working People |
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| Most
poets come from the educated elites, and they
write about...well, you know. But some versifiers
celebrate the people who actually make the world
go around, and seeing as this week starts off
with Labor Day, we thought we'd pay tribute to
a few of them. |
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| Poems
of the Week: Nursing |
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| Nursing
as a profession only dates back to the mid-nineteenth
century. Before that, there were nurses, of course,
but it was a job thrust on the poor and standards
were not very high (to say the least). It took
one of the first modern wars, the Crimean, to
make people really appreciate the need for professional
nursing. Once they got it, they were really
grateful... |
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| Poems
of the Week: The Olympics |
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| How
often have we been told that the modern Olympics
were born in 1896? Time without number, right?
But there were other efforts to get things started
again, including one in Liverpool and another
in San Francisco. This week we examine the Games,
ancient and modern, and the people who were inspired
to pen a few lines about the whole thing... |
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| Poems
of the Week: Byron |
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| In
this week that sees the Olympic Games returning
home to Greece, we thought it would be fitting
to take a look at one of the most unlikely heroes
of Greek independence: the Romantic poet Lord
Byron. As famous for his decadent lifestyle as
his impressive verse, Byron is one of history's
most unlikely heroes. |
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| Poems
of the Week: Snakes |
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| Snakes
are one of the most archetypal images in almost
every culture. By shedding their skin they seem
to regenerate before our eyes, but they remain
a mystery...silent and inscrutable. Poets just
love 'em. |
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| Poems
of the Week: Cowper |
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| This
week we take an in-depth look at one of the most
influential talents of modern poetry, William
Cowper. Poets often have difficult lives, but
Cowper battled crippling depression all his life.
And you think your life is hard. |
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| Poems
of the Week: Strength |
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| The
concept of strength, both physical and spiritual
has provided artists with subject matter for thousands
of years. For visual artists the form of muscular
bodies has proved irresistable, but for poets
the exploration of strength is more ambiguous. |
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| Poems
of the Week: Children |
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| Poets
spend a lot of time examining their own experience,
but some find inspiration closer to home. This
week we look at poems about children. |
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| Poems
of the Week: May Flowers |
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| The
cold days of winter are but a memory (well, nearly)
and flowers are everywhere. Poets just loved this
time of year (well, they did if they weren't of
the miserable, perpetually depressed variety)
and the words tumbled forth even as the temperature
in their respective garrets rose. |
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| Poems
of the Week: Aphra Behn |
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| Aphra
Behn was the first woman to earn a living by writing.
Virginia Woolf was of the opinion that every woman
who earns her bread with her pen today should
leave flowers on Behn's grave (which is in Westminster
Abbey, in case you feel so incllined). But Behn's
life was more than that of the penurious writer:
she was a spy, a playwright, and an international
traveler. Read on... |
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| Poems
of the Week: Lyrics |
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| Before
the nineteenth century, the majority of poems
were recited to music or sung. Today the status
of lyrics is lower for some reason, even though
for most of us they represent our earliest introduction
to poetry. This week we take a look at lyrics,
lyricists and musical theatre. |
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| Poems
of the Week: Desire |
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| It's
one of our strongest emotions and, not surprisingly,
poets have expended a lot of ink on the subject.
So, as we slip into spring (and you know what
that means), we thought we'd take a look at
some of the best. |
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| Poems
of the Week: Spring |
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| Okay,
so maybe it doesn't feel like spring where you
are, but trust us -- it started last week! So
here, to get you in the mood and take your mind
off freezing rain, are a few thoughts about the
season. |
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| Poems
of the Week: Spenser |
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| Edmund
Spenser was the first of the great English Renaissance
poets. He wrote poetry, invented a new kind of
sonnet and still found time to work his way through
the ranks to become Sheriff of Cork. |
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| Poems
of the Week: Black Poets |
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| This
week we trace the work of America's black poets,
from the 1700s through to the present. From those
who recalled the Africa of their childhoods, to
those who returned in search of a past. |
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| Poems
of the Week: Winter |
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| It's
cold. Really cold. Poets have a lot to say about
it. We're guessing it's because all those garrets
they were living in weren't too cozy come February. |
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| Poems
of the Week: Valentines |
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| Ah,
yes, the time of year when a young man's fancy
lightly turns to thoughts of...what'll happen
if he doesn't come up with something better than
the power drill he bought his lady love last year. |
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| Poems
of the Week: Walking |
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| Instead
of looking for the right word, this week we picked
a word and tried to find the right poems. Don't
try this at home! |
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| Poems
of the Week: Mars |
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| Poets
aren't just about moons and junes, you know. Sometimes
they're about Mars. In celebration of Spirit's
successful arrival on the red planet, we thought
we'd take a look at it through the eyes of versifiers. |
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| Poems
of the Week: Sleep |
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| Ah,
sleep. The time when we recharge our batteries
for the day to come and relive the day before
in dreams. Poets have flocked to the subject,
laden as it is with symbolism and metaphor. |
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