lecture

In response to questions from attendees, John Ashbery discusses cinema, wide-ranging responses to his two earliest books (Some Trees, 1956, and The Tennis Court Oath, 1962), and his appreciation for the poetry of Walt Whitman. He also considers movements in American poetry including modernism, postmodernism, L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E poetry, and new formalism.

Charles Alexander provides a close reading of Emily Dickinson's work, focusing on the way metrical and sonic qualities transform into poetic dance.

David Rivard lectures on risk-taking and the New York School, incorporating recordings by Frank O'Hara, James Schuyler, and others.

Jeffrey Yang, of New Directions Press, lectures on his experiences as a poet, translator, and editor.

G.C. Waldrep discusses the creation and experience of poetry as a spiritual practice, with special emphasis on parabolic and apocalyptic traditions.

Jane Miller delivers a lecture on the poetry of Federico García Lorca.

Joshua Marie Wilkinson calls for a re-thinking of accessibility in poetry.

Robert Pack delivers a lecture titled Voice as Metaphor: Silences, Sighs, Ellipsis, O's and Ah's, reflecting on the work of poets such as Wallace Stevens and Robert Frost.

Paul Hurh provides an introduction to Edgar Allan Poe as literary critic, drawing attention to the famous writer's caustic wit and analytical innovations.

Joshua Beckman presents a lecture on poems as "an exposure of unknowing" and reading aloud as a way of immersing the body and mind in a poem. This lecture was originally given with Terrance Hayes and Dorothea Lasky as part of the 2018 Bagley Wright Lecture Series conference "You Are Who I Am Talking To: Poetry, Attention, & Audience."

Terrance Hayes gives a lecture on his work in relationship to Etheridge Knight's "The Idea of Ancestry." This lecture was originally given with Joshua Beckman and Dorothea Lasky as part of the 2018 Bagley Wright Lecture Series conference "You Are Who I Am Talking To: Poetry, Attention, & Audience."

Dorothea Lasky gives a lecture on material imagination, poetry, and ghosts. She also reads two poems from Milk (2018). This lecture was originally given with Joshua Beckman and Terrance Hayes as part of the 2018 Bagley Wright Lecture Series conference "You Are Who I Am Talking To: Poetry, Attention, & Audience."

Timothy Donnelly gives a lecture on catachresis, the uncanny, and Emily Dickinson. He also reads three poems that would later appear in The Problem of Many (2019). This lecture was originally given with Srikanth Reddy and Rachel Zucker as part of the 2018 Bagley Wright Lecture Series conference "You Are Who I Am Talking To: Poetry, Attention, and Audience."

Rachel Zucker reads from an early draft of The Poetics of Wrongness (2023), her collection of essay-lectures which consider confessional poetry, the ethics of writing about one's life and relationships, and the primacy of motherhood. This lecture was originally given with Timothy Donnelly and Srikanth Reddy as part of the 2018 Bagley Wright Lecture Series conference "You Are Who I Am Talking To: Poetry, Attention, and Audience."

Srikanth Reddy presents a lecture on wonder, approaching the concept in Western thought via Homer's shield of Achilles. He also reads a section of his poetry manuscript in progress, Underworld Lit (2020). This lecture was originally given with Timothy Donnelly and Rachel Zucker as part of the 2018 Bagley Wright Lecture Series conference "You Are Who I Am Talking To: Poetry, Attention, and Audience."

Maggie Smith presents a lecture on the ways that poems can enact wonder, questioning, sincerity, and rediscovery. She reads and discusses poems by Gabrielle Calvocoressi, Oliver De La Paz, Ross Gay, and Matthew Olzmann to illustrate her argument.