Zoom Poetry Program

 

You don't have to be well-read in poetry or literature or spend lots of time reading poetry. Just log in for an hour on Zoom and join us as we read and discuss the poetry of famous poets. You will most likely enjoy the experience and wish you showed up sooner.  

This week we will be covering the poetry of John Howard Payne, William Blake, Paul Laurence Dunbar and Carl Sandburg. Some of the poems we will cover relate to summer. 

John Howard Payne is thought to have been born in New York City on June 9, 1791. He was the first American actor to perform on the British stage. He eventually left acting to write poetry and produced a number of famous poems, including 

"Home, Sweet Home"  (https://allpoetry.com/poem/8518129-Home--Sweet-Home-by-John-Howard-Payne), 

"Sibyl"{ (https://allpoetry.com/poem/8518133-Sibyl-by-John-Howard-Payne) and

"Cadences" (https://www.poetrynook.com/poem/cadences), about the change of seasons. 

 

William Blake's poem "To Summer" (https://poets.org/poem/summer-2) is evocative of summer:

O Thou who passest thro’ our vallies in
Thy strength, curb thy fierce steeds, allay the heat
That flames from their large nostrils! thou, O Summer,
Oft pitched’st here thy golden tent, and oft
Beneath our oaks hast slept, while we beheld
With joy, thy ruddy limbs and flourishing hair.

 

Paul Laurence Dunbar waxes lyrical about Summer enclothing the earth with the poem "In Summer" (https://poets.org/poem/summer).

Oh, summer has clothed the earth In a cloak from the loom of the sun!

And a mantle, too, of the skies' soft blue,

And a belt where the rivers run.

And now for the kiss of the wind,

And the touch of the air's soft hands, With the rest from strife and the heat of life,

With the freedom of lakes and lands

 

Carl Sandburg addresses summer nights with his poem "Summer Stars"

https://poets.org/poem/summer-stars

Bend low again, night of summer stars. So near you are, sky of summer stars, So near, a long-arm man can pick off stars, Pick off what he wants in the sky bowl, So near you are, summer stars, So near, strumming, strumming, So lazy and hum-strumming.

Looking forward to seeing you there.