Today’s poem is by Dylan Marlais Thomas, born October 27, 1914 in the Welsh seaport of Swansea, Wales. Thomas attended the Swansea Grammar School, where he received all of his formal education. As a student he made contributions to the school magazine and was keenly interested in local folklore. Having declared at the age of eight that he was a poet, he began writing early and published his first book of poetry, 18 Poems (1934), when he was not yet twenty years old. After leaving school, Thomas ...
Oct 27, 2023•11 min
Christine Perrin is the director of writing at Messiah College and has taught literature and creative writing at Johns Hopkins University, with Gordon College’s Orvieto Program, through the Pennsylvania Arts Council to students of all ages, and at the local classical school where her children attended. She consults with classical schools in curriculum development and faculty development in poetry and writing, and speaks regularly at the CiRCE Institute as well as the Society for Classical Learni...
Oct 26, 2023•10 min
Today being St. Crispin’s Day, it seems only right to share, once again, one of the most famous speeches in English literature—Henry V’s “Crispin’s Day” speech which was given prior to the battle of Agincourt, as penned by Shakespeare in his history, Henry V . This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit dailypoempod.substack.com/subscribe...
Oct 25, 2023•9 min
Today’s poem is by Carl August Sandburg (January 6, 1878 – July 22, 1967), an American poet, biographer, journalist, and editor. He won three Pulitzer Prizes : two for his poetry and one for his biography of Abraham Lincoln . During his lifetime, Sandburg was widely regarded as "a major figure in contemporary literature", especially for volumes of his collected verse, including Chicago Poems (1916), Cornhuskers (1918), and Smoke and Steel (1920). [2] He enjoyed "unrivaled appeal as a poet in his...
Oct 25, 2023•12 min
Today’s poem is by an anonymous poet but it artfully commemorates the life and death of a great historical figure. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit dailypoempod.substack.com/subscribe
Oct 24, 2023•10 min
Today’s poem is by Samuel Taylor Coleridge ( /ˈkoʊlərɪdʒ/ KOH-lə-rij ; [1] 21 October 1772 – 25 July 1834), an English poet , literary critic , philosopher , and theologian who, with his friend William Wordsworth , was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake Poets . He also shared volumes and collaborated with Charles Lamb , Robert Southey , and Charles Lloyd . He wrote the poems The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Kubla Khan , as well as the major prose work Biogr...
Oct 20, 2023•10 min
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (February 27, 1807 – March 24, 1882) was an American poet and educator. His original works include the poems " Paul Revere's Ride ", " The Song of Hiawatha ", and " Evangeline ". He was the first American to completely translate Dante Alighieri 's Divine Comedy and was one of the fireside poets from New England. Longfellow wrote many lyric poems known for their musicality and often presenting stories of mythology and legend. He became the most popular American poet of ...
Oct 19, 2023•8 min
Today’s poem is by Michael Dana Gioia ( /ˈdʒɔɪ.ə/ ; born December 24, 1950), an American poet , literary critic , literary translator, and essayist. Since the early 1980s, Gioia has been considered part of the literary movements within American poetry known as New Formalism , which advocates the continued writing of poetry in rhyme and meter, and New Narrative , which advocates the telling of non-autobiographical stories. Gioia has also argued in favor of a return to the past tradition of poetry...
Oct 17, 2023•11 min
Today’s poems are by Oscar Fingal O'Fflahertie Wills Wilde [a] (16 October 1854 – 30 November 1900), an Irish poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular playwrights in London in the early 1890s. He is best remembered for his epigrams and plays, his novel The Picture of Dorian Gray . —Bio via Wikipedia This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit dailypoempod...
Oct 16, 2023•15 min
Today’s poem is by Gerard Manley Hopkins SJ (28 July 1844 – 8 June 1889), an English poet and Jesuit priest, whose posthumous fame places him among leading English poets. His prosody – notably his concept of sprung rhythm – established him as an innovator, as did his praise of God through vivid use of imagery and nature. Only after his death did Robert Bridges publish a few of Hopkins's mature poems in anthologies, hoping to prepare for wider acceptance of his style. By 1930 Hopkins's work was s...
Oct 11, 2023•10 min
Today’s poem is by Theodore Huebner Roethke ( /ˈrɛtki/ RET-kee ; [1] May 25, 1908 – August 1, 1963), an American poet. He is regarded as one of the most accomplished and influential poets of his generation, having won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1954 for his book The Waking , and the annual National Book Award for Poetry on two occasions: in 1959 for Words for the Wind , [2] and posthumously in 1965 for The Far Field . [3] [4] His work was characterized by its introspection, rhythm and natu...
Oct 10, 2023•10 min
Today’s poem is by John Ronald Reuel Tolkien CBE FRSL ( /ˈruːl ˈtɒlkiːn/ , ROOL TOL-keen ; [a] 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973), an English writer and philologist . He was the author of the high fantasy works The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings . From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was the Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon and a Fellow of Pembroke College , both at the University of Oxford . He then moved within the same university to become the Merton Professor of English Language and L...
Oct 09, 2023•13 min
Today’s poem is by Robert Lee Frost (March 26, 1874 – January 29, 1963), an American poet . His work was initially published in England before it was published in the United States. Known for his realistic depictions of rural life and his command of American colloquial speech , [2] Frost frequently wrote about settings from rural life in New England in the early 20th century, using them to examine complex social and philosophical themes. Frequently honored during his lifetime, Frost is the only ...
Oct 03, 2023•17 min
Today’s poem is dedicated to my son, Coulter, who turns twelve today. Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( /ˈrʌdjərd/ RUD-yərd ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936) [1] was an English novelist, short-story writer, poet, and journalist. He was born in British India , which inspired much of his work. Kipling's works of fiction include the Jungle Book duology ( The Jungle Book , 1894; The Second Jungle Book , 1895), Kim (1901), the Just So Stories (1902) and many short stories, including " The Man Who Would Be...
Sep 28, 2023•8 min
Jane Kenyon (May 23, 1947 – April 22, 1995) was an American poet and translator . Her work is often characterized as simple, spare, and emotionally resonant. Kenyon was the second wife of poet, editor, and critic Donald Hall who made her the subject of many of his poems. —Bio via Wikipedia This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit dailypoempod.substack.com/subscribe...
Sep 27, 2023•12 min
Today’s poem is by Thomas Stearns Eliot OM (26 September 1888 – 4 January 1965), a poet , essayist , publisher , playwright , literary critic and editor . [1] Considered one of the 20th century's major poets, he is a central figure in English-language Modernist poetry. Through his trials in language, writing style, and verse structure, he reinvigorated English poetry. He also dismantled outdated beliefs and established new ones through a collection of critical essays. [2] Eliot first attracted w...
Sep 26, 2023•11 min
Today’s poem is by Thomas Gray (26 December 1716 – 30 July 1771), an English poet, letter-writer, classical scholar, and fellow at Pembroke College , Cambridge . He is widely known for his Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard , published in 1751. [1] Gray was a self-critical writer who published only 13 poems in his lifetime, despite being very popular. He was even offered the position of Poet Laureate in 1757 after the death of Colley Cibber , though he declined. [2] His writing is conventiona...
Sep 25, 2023•12 min
Today’s poem is by Pablo Neruda ( /nəˈruːdə/ ; [1] Spanish pronunciation: [ˈpaβlo neˈɾuða] ⓘ ; born Ricardo Eliécer Neftalí Reyes Basoalto ; 12 July 1904 – 23 September 1973) a Chilean poet-diplomat and politician who won the 1971 Nobel Prize in Literature . [2] Neruda became known as a poet when he was 13 years old, and wrote in a variety of styles, including surrealist poems, historical epics , political manifestos , a prose autobiography , and passionate love poems such as the ones in his col...
Sep 21, 2023•9 min
Today’s poem is by Frédéric-Louis Sauser (1 September 1887 – 21 January 1961), [1] better known as Blaise Cendrars , a Swiss-born novelist and poet who became a naturalized French citizen in 1916. He was a writer of considerable influence in the European modernist movement. —Bio via Wikipedia This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit dailypoempod.substack.com/subscribe...
Sep 18, 2023•17 min
Today’s poem is by Roald Dahl [a] (13 September 1916 – 23 November 1990), a British popular author of children's literature and short stories, a poet, and wartime fighter ace . [1] [2] His books have sold more than 300 million copies worldwide. [3] [4] Dahl has been called "one of the greatest storytellers for children of the 20th century". [5] Dahl's short stories are known for their unexpected endings, and his children's books for their unsentimental, macabre , often darkly comic mood, featuri...
Sep 14, 2023•11 min
Today’s poem is by Thomas Stearns Eliot OM (26 September 1888 – 4 January 1965), a poet , essayist , publisher , playwright , literary critic and editor . [1] Considered one of the 20th century's major poets, he is a central figure in English-language Modernist poetry. Through his trials in language, writing style, and verse structure, he reinvigorated English poetry. He also dismantled outdated beliefs and established new ones through a collection of critical essays. [2] Eliot first attracted w...
Sep 11, 2023•9 min
Today’s poem is by Mary Jane Oliver (September 10, 1935 – January 17, 2019) , an American poet who won the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize . Her work is inspired by nature, rather than the human world, stemming from her lifelong passion for solitary walks in the wild. It is characterized by a sincere wonderment at the impact of natural imagery, conveyed in unadorned language. In 2007, she was declared to be the country's best-selling poet. —Bio via Wikipedia This is a public episode. ...
Sep 08, 2023•6 min
Today’s poem is by Elizabeth Barrett Browning (née Moulton-Barrett ; 6 March 1806 – 29 June 1861), an English poet of the Victorian era , popular in Britain and the United States during her lifetime. In the 1840s, Elizabeth was introduced to literary society through her distant cousin and patron John Kenyon . Her first adult collection of poems was published in 1838, and she wrote prolifically between 1841 and 1844, producing poetry, translation, and prose. She campaigned for the abolition of sl...
Sep 07, 2023•11 min
Today’s poem is by Wendell Erdman Berry (born August 5, 1934), an American novelist, poet, essayist, environmental activist , cultural critic , and farmer. [1] Closely identified with rural Kentucky, Berry developed many of his agrarian themes in the early essays of The Gift of Good Land (1981) and The Unsettling of America (1977). His attention to the culture and economy of rural communities is also found in the novels and stories of Port William , such as A Place on Earth (1967), Jayber Crow (...
Sep 05, 2023•6 min
Today’s poem is by Seamus Justin Heaney MRIA (13 April 1939 – 30 August 2013), an Irish poet , playwright and translator. He received the 1995 Nobel Prize in Literature . [1] [2] Among his best-known works is Death of a Naturalist (1966), his first major published volume. Heaney was and is still recognised as one of the principal contributors to poetry in Ireland during his lifetime. American poet Robert Lowell described him as "the most important Irish poet since Yeats ", and many others, inclu...
Sep 04, 2023•6 min
Today’s poem is by Rita Frances Dove (born August 28, 1952), an American poet and essayist. From 1993 to 1995, she served as Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress . She is the first African American to have been appointed since the position was created by an act of Congress in 1986 from the previous "consultant in poetry" position (1937–86). Dove also received an appointment as "special consultant in poetry" for the Library of Congress's bicentennial year from 1999 to 200...
Sep 01, 2023•9 min
Today’s poem is by Zbigniew Herbert (IPA: [ˈzbiɡɲɛf ˈxɛrbɛrt] ( listen ); 29 October 1924 – 28 July 1998), a Polish poet, essayist, drama writer and moralist . He is one of the best known and the most translated post-war Polish writers. [1] [2] While he was first published in the 1950s (a volume titled Chord of Light was issued in 1956), soon after he voluntarily ceased submitting most of his works to official Polish government publications. He resumed publication in the 1980s, initially in the ...
Aug 28, 2023•8 min
Today’s poem is by William James Collins, aka Billy Collins, (born March 22, 1941) is an American poet who served as the Poet Laureate of the United States from 2001 to 2003. [1] He was a Distinguished Professor at Lehman College of the City University of New York , retiring in 2016. Collins was recognized as a Literary Lion of the New York Public Library (1992) and selected as the New York State Poet for 2004 through 2006. In 2016, Collins was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Lett...
Aug 23, 2023•8 min
Today’s poem is by Edgar Allan Poe ( né Edgar Poe ; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849), an American writer , poet , author , editor , and literary critic who is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre . He is widely regarded as a central figure of Romanticism and Gothic fiction in the United States, and of American literature . [1] Poe was one of the country's earliest practitioners of the short story , and is considered the inventor of the...
Aug 22, 2023•8 min
Today’s poem is by Emily Elizabeth Dickinson (December 10, 1830 – May 15, 1886), an American poet. Little-known during her life, she has since been regarded as one of the most important figures in American poetry . [2] Dickinson was born in Amherst, Massachusetts , into a prominent family with strong ties to its community. After studying at the Amherst Academy for seven years in her youth, she briefly attended the Mount Holyoke Female Seminary before returning to her family's home in Amherst. Ev...
Aug 21, 2023•9 min
