Monthly Archives: April 2013

A Poem a Day: The Muse of Langston Hughes

Posted on April 30, 2013 by fabianamcabral

About eight years ago, I watched an episode of Def Poetry where Javon Johnson recited his poem “Elementary” (see the clip here). As he spoke of being in the fifth grade and how he dreamt he would be the first … Continue reading →

Posted in Literature, National Poetry Month | Leave a comment

A Poem a Day: Borges and Chess

Posted on April 29, 2013 by fabianamcabral

A half-offering today: Jorge Luis Borges is an imposing figure in Latin American literature. The works of this Argentinian writer are known for their erudition, for their non-linear narratives, for their magical realism, for making the reader doubt if the … Continue reading →

Posted in Literature, National Poetry Month | Leave a comment

A Poem a Day: David Ferry’s Bewilderment

Posted on April 28, 2013 by fabianamcabral

A few days I go I shared a translation of a Horatian Ode translated by David Ferry. I’ve been able to interact with Ferry in a few ways: we studied his translation of Gilgamesh in BU’s Core Curriculum, and I … Continue reading →

Posted in Literature, National Poetry Month | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

A Poem a Day: Eugene Onegin

Posted on April 27, 2013 by fabianamcabral

Today’s selection will be accessed somewhat circuitously. I’ve chosen a stanza from Chapter 3 of the great Russian novel-in-verse, Eugene Onegin, written by the poet Alexander Pushkin. There are a few lyrical poets that are baller enough to create their … Continue reading →

Posted in Literature, National Poetry Month | Leave a comment

A Poem a Day: Prufrock

Posted on April 26, 2013 by fabianamcabral

Today’s selection is an extract from T. S. Eliot‘s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.” This modernist work meanders through musings, fears, and doubts; it is what Eliot called a “drama of literary anguish” (source below). The entire poem … Continue reading →

Posted in Literature, National Poetry Month | Tagged , | Leave a comment

A Poem a Day: Horace

Posted on April 25, 2013 by fabianamcabral

Quintus Horatius Flaccus, known to us as Horace, was a Roman lyric poet. His life and work dates from the tumultuous period of 65 to 8 BC, a significant period of varying levels of political stability in which Rome shifted … Continue reading →

Posted in Literature, National Poetry Month | 1 Comment

Clive James: Brilliant Critic, Poet, and Translator

Posted on April 24, 2013 by fabianamcabral

Clive James is an Australian author, scholar, broadcaster, and memoirist. I first heard of him through a rather tragic lens, as he was enthusiastically endorsed on the Slate Culture Gabfest by Johann Hari, who also mentioned James’ terminal health and … Continue reading →

Posted in Literature | 1 Comment

A Poem a Day: Divinely Dappled Things

Posted on April 24, 2013 by fabianamcabral

“The effect of studying masterpieces is to make me admire and do otherwise. So it must be on every original artist to some degree, on me to a marked degree.” (Hopkins, from notes on ‘Heraclitean Fire’) Gerard Manley Hopkins was … Continue reading →

Posted in Literature, National Poetry Month | Leave a comment

Cultural Events Happening in Boston NOW

Posted on April 23, 2013 by fabianamcabral

Boston people: next weekend, don’t make plans to just go out to dinner or a bar with your friends (for those in your mid to early twenties), or plans to just vegetate in front of the TV or prepare meals … Continue reading →

Posted in Current Events, Literature, Theatre, TV and Film | 1 Comment

A Poem a Day: Encounters with Persian Poetry

Posted on April 23, 2013 by fabianamcabral

The first Persian poet I ever read was Farid ud-Din Attar. Today’s selection is an extract from his wonderful work, The Conference of the Birds, an epic tale about the search for the mythical Simorgh, the one holy bird who … Continue reading →

Posted in Iran, Literature, National Poetry Month | Leave a comment