Archive for January, 2010
Nobel Laureate in Literature 1957
Posted in France, Nobel laureate on 30 January 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Pulitzer Prize in Poetry 1961
Posted in Poem of the day, Pulitzer Prize on 30 January 2010 | Leave a Comment »
In Praise of Diversity Since the ingenious earth began To shape itself from fire and rubble; Since God invented man, and man At once fell to, inventing trouble, One virtue, one subversive grace Has chiefly vexed the human race. One whimsical beatitude, Concocted for his gain and glory, Has man most stoutly misconstrued Of all [...]
Pulitzer Prize in Poetry 1960
Posted in Poem of the day, Pulitzer Prize on 29 January 2010 | Leave a Comment »
No Use No doubt this way is best. No doubt in time I’d learn To hate you like the rest I once loved. Like an old Shirt we unstitch and turn Until it’s all used out, This too would turn cold. No doubt…no doubt… And yet who’d dare think so And yet dare think? We’ve [...]
Pulitzer Prize in Poetry 1959
Posted in Poem of the day, Pulitzer Prize on 27 January 2010 | Leave a Comment »
The Layers I have walked through many lives, some of them my own, and I am not who I was, though some principle of being abides, from which I struggle not to stray. When I look behind, as I am compelled to look before I can gather strength to proceed on my journey, I see [...]
Exchanging Hats: The Paintings of Elizabeth Bishop
Posted in Elizabeth Bishop, Essays on Poetry on 24 January 2010 | Leave a Comment »
The painter does not paint in order to fill the canvas with colours, any more than a poet writes to fill a page with words. — René Magritte There are things in each of us as humans so fragile they exist nowhere except in ourselves. These watercolors by Bishop seem like fragile pieces of the [...]
Pulitzer Prize in Poetry 1958
Posted in Poem of the day, Pulitzer Prize on 24 January 2010 | Leave a Comment »
A Way to Love God Here is the shadow of truth, for only the shadow is true. And the line where the incoming swell from the sunset Pacific First leans and staggers to break will tell all you need to know About submarine geography, and your father’s death rattle Provides all biographical data required for [...]
Nobel Laureate in Literature 1956
Posted in Nobel laureate, Poem of the day, Spain on 23 January 2010 | Leave a Comment »
I Am Not I I am not I. I am this one walking beside me whom I do not see, whom at times I manage to visit, and whom at other times I forget; the one who remains silent while I talk, the one who forgives, sweet, when I hate, the one who takes a [...]
Howl Movie Clips
Posted in Video on 23 January 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Here are four clips from the movie Howl, which premiered this weekend at the Sundance Festival, about the life of poet Allen Ginsberg and the birth of the beat poets of the 1950s. The entire text of the poem can be found at http://bluedragonfly10.wordpress.com/2009/06/26/poem-of-the-day-june-26-2009/ It begins: Howl For Carl Solomon I I saw the best [...]
Pulitzer Prize in Poetry 1957
Posted in Poem of the day, Pulitzer Prize on 22 January 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Love Calls Us To The Things Of This World The eyes open to a cry of pulleys, And spirited from sleep, the astounded soul Hangs for a moment bodiless and simple As false dawn. Outside the open window The morning air is all awash with angels. Some are in bed-sheets, some are in blouses, Some [...]
Nobel Laureate in Literature 1955
Posted in Iceland, Nobel laureate on 20 January 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Below is an excerpt from his novel The Atom Station, published in 1948, a comedy about an American who offers to buy land for an atomic war base in Iceland. It is told from the point of view of a country girl who works as a maid in the house of her Member of Parliament. [...]
