A bulwark against brain-washing
Listening time: under 9 minutes.  Sadly, some things in the state of the world are driving me to spend more...
The poet as compass
An enigmatic statement, perhaps born of the difficulty of pinning down Odysseus' journey on a real map, although there is...
A poet on poetry
A surprising combination of qualities to look for in fine poetry (and other writing). Hard to think of poetry which...
Hard-won ledge
A sensitive commentary by Seamus Heaney on a poem by Sylvia Plath, 'Mussel Hunter at Rock Harbor'. He describes:
...
The window-dressers of power
While this comment refers to a specific poetry collection, I like it as a worthwhile goal for poetry, or come...
To go or not to go
The Hungarian poet György Faludy weighs up whether to stay in Hungary or to leave at the start of the...
Clay-floored foetor
This humble and humbling triologism is from Seamus Heaney's eloquent commentary on a moving poem by Derek Mahon, 'A Disused...
Poems for my family 008 – Drayton
Listening time: under 5 minutes. One of the greatest love poems in English, this was written by Michael...
Taut-cheeked genii
When first reading some of the world's meatiest epic poems in translation, I concluded that in general those by poets...
Like the last of his life
Harold Bloom's comment on Hart Crane (1899-1932) is all the more poignant knowing that Crane considered some of his major...
In my pocket, in my heart
From time to time I receive a long and handwritten letter from one of my brothers and I am long...
Ripening writing
In this comment on Zbigniew Herbert's Report from the Besieged City (title of both a poem and a poetry collection),...
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