A Poem in Your Pocket All Month Long: Emily Dickinson

pocketpiece-01Hope is the thing with feathers

by Emily Dickinson

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all,
And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.
I’ve heard it in the chilliest land,
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.

For more on Emily Dickinson, visit Poets.org.

April is National Poetry Month. In celebration of this, UC Libraries has mounted an exhibit on the fourth floor of Langsam Library celebrating poetry and poets.

For more, visit http://www.libraries.uc.edu/elliston/poetryexhibit.html

Poetry Month and ARB-Phillis Wheatley's Poetry

By:  Kevin Grace

anthropodermic binding     Last week we had the pleasure of hosting an English Department lecture by visiting University of Texas professor John Rumrich on John Milton’s poetry, who spoke on the sometimes very literal connection between a physical book and an author.  In the case of Milton, Professor Rumrich related the poet’s work to the curious custom that developed in the 18th century of binding books in human skin.  And, in preparation for his remarks, Rumrich examined the Archives & Rare Books Library’s anthropodermic binding.

An odd volume in our holdings for over half a century, this binding encloses the poetry of Phillis Wheatley, an 18th century African American poet.  Though there is no indication at all that the binding has a connection to the poet in any way, and really is an altogether other topic for discussion, it did call our attention to the Wheatley body of work, appropriate enough for a month devoted to poetry. Continue reading

A Poem in Your Pocket All Month Long: T.S. Elliot

pocketpiece-01Morning at the Window
by T.S. Eliot

They are rattling breakfast plates in basement kitchens,
And along the trampled edges of the street
I am aware of the damp souls of housemaids
Sprouting despondently at area gates.

The brown waves of fog toss up to me
Twisted faces from the bottom of the street,
And tear from a passer-by with muddy skirts
An aimless smile that hovers in the air
And vanishes along the level of the roofs.

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National Poetry Month and ARB

By:  Kevin Grace

Poem Illustration of TrumpeterBecause April is celebrated as National Poetry Month, over the next few weeks the Archives & Rare Books Library will blog about some of its significant holdings in the Rare Books Collection.  Perhaps the best subject with which to begin is ARB’s outstanding collection of 18th century poetical pamphlets.  Eighteenth-century literature is one of the hallmarks of the rare books holdings, encompassing drama, poetry, fiction, philosophy, theology, travel, history, and geography.  And the core of this area is what we have traditionally called the Anonymous Poetical Pamphlet Collection.

Poem Illustration Continue reading

A Poem in Your Pocket All Month Long

pocketpiece-01April is National Poetry Month. In celebration of this, UC Libraries has mounted an exhibit on the fourth floor of Langsam Library celebrating poetry and poets.

Included in the exhibit is information about the Elliston Poetry Room, some Ohio poets, poets with a Cincinnati connection, and a sampling of UC poets including Armando Romero, Danielle Deulen, Don Bogen, James Cummins, John Drury and Nicasio Urbina.

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The Elliston Project Digital Archive Technology Workshop, April 5, 2014

In May of 2013, we received a UC Faculty Development Council Grant to run a series of five workshops in order to help us determine the best ways to use The Elliston Digital Audio Archive for instruction and research. The final of these lectures will take place on April 5, 2014 and will be led by Lori Emerson. This workshop will include training in a variety of digital tools for the productive use of digital audio archives.

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Elliston Poetry Reading, March 14, 2014, Dana Levin

The next reading in the Elliston Reading Series will be by poet Dana Levin.

March 14, 2014, 4:00 PM, Elliston Poetry Room, 646 Langsam Library

Dana Levin’s first book, In the Surgical Theatre, was awarded the 1999 American Poetry Review/Honickman First Book Prize and went on to receive nearly every award available to first books and emerging poets. Copper Canyon Press brought out her second book, Wedding Day, in 2005, and in 2011 her most recent, Sky Burial, which The New Yorker called “utterly her own and utterly riveting.” She has received numerous fellowships and awards, including those from the National Endowment for the Arts, PEN, the Witter Bynner Foundation and the Library of Congress, as well as the Rona Jaffe, Whiting and Guggenheim Foundations. A teacher of creative writing and literature for over twenty years, Levin currently co-chairs the Creative Writing and Literature Department at Santa Fe University of Art and Design.

Look for recordings of this presentation soon in the digital collection, The Elliston Project: Poetry Readings and Lectures at the University of Cincinnati.

Learn more about Events sponsored by the Elliston Poetry Fund.

Elliston Poetry Reading, March 12, 2014, Sarah Arvio

The next reading in the Elliston Reading Series will be by poet Sarah Arvio.

March 12, 2014, 4:00 PM, Elliston Poetry Room, 646 Langsam Library

Sarah Arvio’s latest book is night thoughts: 70 dream poems & notes from an analysis, a hybrid work:  poetry, essay, memoir.  Her earlier books of poems are Visits from the Seventh and Sono: cantos. She has won the Rome Prize and the Bogliasco and Guggenheim fellowships, among other honors.  For many years a translator for the United Nations in New York and Switzerland, she has also taught poetry at Princeton.  She now lives in Maryland, by the Chesapeake Bay.

Look for recordings of this presentation soon in the digital collection, The Elliston Project: Poetry Readings and Lectures at the University of Cincinnati.

Learn more about Events sponsored by the Elliston Poetry Fund.

The Elliston Project Digital Archive Poetics Workshop, March 29, 2014

In May of 2013, we received a UC Faculty Development Council Grant to run a series of five workshops in order to help us determine the best ways to use The Elliston Digital Audio Archive for instruction and research. The fourth of these lectures will take place on March 29, 2014 and will be led by Michael Hennessey. This workshop will examine creative opportunities for poets and others writers.

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C.K. Williams Poetry Reading and Master Class Rescheduled

C.K. Williams’ master class and poetry reading have been rescheduled:

Master Class: February 18, 2014, 2:00 PM
Poetry Reading: February 19, 2014, 4:00 PM

Both events will take place in the Elliston Poetry Room, 646 Langsam Library.

Look for recordings of this presentation soon in the digital collection, The Elliston Project: Poetry Readings and Lectures at the University of Cincinnati.

Learn more about Events sponsored by the Elliston Poetry Fund.