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Archive: April 2012 (6 Posts)

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Poe at the Movies? Evermore.

Posted by: Peter Armenti

Today’s theatrical release of James McTeigue’s The Raven, inspired by the life and writings of Edgar Allan Poe, is noteworthy for the ease with which it casts one of America’s best-known poets and writers as an action star. While other major poets during the past decade have been featured in serious biopics, including Allen Ginsberg …

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In Appreciation of Phil

Posted by: Robert Casper

Less than two weeks from today, the Coolidge Auditorium will fill with people eager to see our 18th Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry, Philip Levine, close out the Library’s spring season. The Poet Laureate will follow up his hugely successful opening reading last October with a talk entitled “Forgotten Poets of My Youth.” I will …

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RMS Titanic: The Poetic Response

Posted by: Peter Armenti

Sunday, April 15, marks the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the RMS Titanic. For those of us who recall the tremendous outpouring of poetry written in response to the September 11 terrorist attacks, it is no surprise that in the days and weeks following the wreck, thousands of American and British citizens turned their …

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Reed Whittemore: An Appreciation

Posted by: Robert Casper

The following is a guest post by Bryan Koen, graduate research assistant for the Poetry and Literature Center at the Library of Congress. Reed Whittemore, twice Consultant in Poetry at the Library of Congress, died on Friday in Kensington, MD. He was 92. You can read his obituary here and here, but we would like …

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Poet in Motion: Levine Discusses his Tenure as Laureate, the State of his Craft

Posted by: Peter Armenti

The following interview with Philip Levine was conducted by Donna Urschel, a Public Affairs Specialist in the Library’s Office of Communications, and originally published in the March 30th issue of the Library’s staff newsletter, the Gazette. In the interview, Levine shared his thoughts on his tenure as Poet Laureate, the state of poetry today, the …

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Tinker to Evers to Chance

Posted by: Peter Armenti

Here are two quick questions to consider on Major League Baseball’s Opening Day: 1) What is your favorite baseball poem? 2) What is your favorite baseball poem—other than “Casey at the Bat”? Most people can easily answer the first question, but are stymied by the second question because, in all likelihood, they’re unable to name …