Let Me Count the Ways

Was April the Cruelest Month?

April showers bring May flowers, along with longer days, warmer nights, and constant birdsong. So why are poets in such a mood about spring?  Maybe because all that new life is hard to take when you’re grieving a loss or coping with change. Now that we’re well into May, might we look back and agree with T. S. Eliot? Was April the cruelest month? Resources: Braganza, V. M. “Our Second April.” Los Angeles Review of Books (24 May 2021). https://lareviewofbooks.org/blog/essays/second-april/ [https://lareviewofbooks.org/blog/essays/second-april/]   Chaucer, Geoffrey. General Prologue to The Canterbury Tales. Harvard’s Geoffrey Chaucer Website. Harvard University.  https://chaucer.fas.harvard.edu/pages/general-prologue-0 [https://chaucer.fas.harvard.edu/pages/general-prologue-0] Dickinson, Emily. “In Shadow” (I dreaded that first robin so). Poems by Emily Dickinson, ed. Mabel Loomis Todd and T. W. Higginson.  https://www.gutenberg.org/files/12242/12242-h/12242-h.htm#I_dreaded_that_first_robin_so [https://www.gutenberg.org/files/12242/12242-h/12242-h.htm#I_dreaded_that_first_robin_so] Eliot, T. S. “The Waste Land.”  Poetry Foundation. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/47311/the-waste-land [https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/47311/the-waste-land] Honey Bee Suite. “Good News Bees: More than a Colorful Buzz in the Blooms” (15 April 2023). https://www.honeybeesuite.com/good-news-bees-more-than-a-colorful-buzz-in-the-blooms/ [https://www.honeybeesuite.com/good-news-bees-more-than-a-colorful-buzz-in-the-blooms/] Millay, Edna St. Vincent. “Assault.” Second April. A Celebration of Women Writers, ed. Mary Mark Ockerbloom. University of Pennsylvania. https://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/millay/april/second-april.html#32 [https://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/millay/april/second-april.html#32] ---. “Spring.” https://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/millay/april/second-april.html#1 [https://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/millay/april/second-april.html#1] Portus, Rosamund. “The Stories We Tell: Exploring the Folklore of Bees in an Age of Extinction.” NICHE (4 November 2022). https://niche-canada.org/2022/11/04/the-stories-we-tell-exploring-the-folklore-of-bees-in-an-age-of-extinction/ [https://niche-canada.org/2022/11/04/the-stories-we-tell-exploring-the-folklore-of-bees-in-an-age-of-extinction/] ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

Shall I Compare Thee to a Cherry Tree?

Peak bloom is brief, for humans and for cherry trees. How should we value what comes after beauty? William Shakespeare, Ada Limon, and W. B. Yeats have some thoughts. Celebrate the end of National Poetry Month and Poem in Your Pocket Day with us! Resources: Limón, Ada. “Instructions on Not Giving Up.” The Carrying [https://milkweed.org/book/the-carrying] (Minneapolis: Milkweed Editions, 2018). Copyright © 2018 by Ada Limón. Reprinted with permission from Milkweed Editions. [https://milkweed.org/] Shakespeare, William. Sonnet 18 [https://shakespeare.mit.edu/Poetry/sonnet.XVIII.html] (“Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?”). MIT Global Shakespeare Project: Digital Environments for Shakespeare. https://shakespeareproject.mit.edu/ [https://shakespeareproject.mit.edu/] Yeats, William Butler. “A Prayer for My Daughter.” [https://poets.org/poem/prayer-my-daughter] Academy of American Poets. ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

We Must Love One Another or Die

Today we discuss W. H. Auden's poem "September 1, 1939," by way of Georgi Gospodinov's award-winning novel Time Shelter, and Auden's message for uncertain and fearful times. > There is no such thing as the State > And no one exists alone; > Hunger allows no choice > To the citizen or the police; > We must love one another or die. Image: Unsplash/Library of Congress Resources: Auden, W. H. “September 1, 1939.”  [https://poets.org/poem/september-1-1939] Gospodinov, Georgi. Time Shelter.  [ https://georgigospodinov.com/time-shelter/] McGuiness, Patrick. “Time Shelter by Georgi Gospodinov Review: The Dangers of Dwelling in the Past.” [ https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/may/20/time-shelter-by-georgi-gospodinov-review-the-dangers-of-dwelling-in-the-past]  ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

Happy National Poetry Month!

Literative is celebrating the official start of National Poetry Month, the 30th anniversary celebration of poetry's influence on our daily lives. Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales and T.S. Eliot’s The Waste-Land both take place in April, as does William Shakespeare's birthday. But April 1st is also April Fool’s Day, so today we'll read some poetry that doesn’t take itself too seriously. Or perhaps, like the fools in Shakespeare’s comedies, these poems mix some shrewd observations into their silliness.  Resources: Academy of American Poets. National Poetry Month 30th Anniversary.  https://poets.org/national-poetry-month-30th-anniversary [https://poets.org/national-poetry-month-30th-anniversary] Byron, George Gordon, Lord. “When a man hath no freedom.” https://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poem/stanzas/ [https://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poem/stanzas/] Guiterman, Arthur. “On the Vanity of Earthly Greatness.” https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1930/03/22/on-the-vanity-of-earthly-greatness [https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1930/03/22/on-the-vanity-of-earthly-greatness] Nash, Ogden. “A Word to Husbands.” https://www.poetry.com/poem/54402/a-word-to-husbands [https://www.poetry.com/poem/54402/a-word-to-husbands] Parker, Dorothy. “One Perfect Rose.” https://poets.org/poem/one-perfect-rose [https://poets.org/poem/one-perfect-rose] ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

Anxiety Dreams

April is National Poetry Month, and today we're discussing poems that help us understand, manage, and recover from anxiety dreams. We'll compare Edgar Allan Poe's "A Dream within a Dream" and Samuel Taylor Coleridge's "The Pains of Sleep" to help us distinguish an anxiety dream from a nightmare. We'll use the opening lines of Endymion by John Keats to explore a strategy for restoring calm after a stressful experience, and we'll end with Susan Coolidge's advice in "New Every Morning" for making each day a new beginning, even after a bad night. Wishing you all a Happy National Poetry Month, and sweet dreams! Image: "The Nightmare" by Henry Fuseli, 1781. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Nightmare] Resources: Cleveland Clinic. “Anxiety Dreams: Why We Have Them and How to Stop Them.” [ https://health.clevelandclinic.org/stress-dreams-why-do-we-have-them-and-how-to-stop]23 October 2025. Coleridge, Samuel Taylor.  “The Pains of Sleep.” [ https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43995/the-pains-of-sleep] Coolidge, Susan. “New Every Morning.” [https://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poem/new-every-morning/] Keats, John. Endymion.  [https://www.gutenberg.org/files/24280/24280-h/24280-h.htm] Poe, Edgar Allan. “A Dream within a Dream.”  [https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/52829/a-dream-within-a-dream] Women’s March. “Protest Safety Training Series: Situational Awareness.” [ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rP0c1Gn65lA]  ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.