Pele Cox and I ask: what is the purpose of poetry? With the help of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Sir Philip Sidney and Sir Thomas Wyatt, we conclude that, in part, poetry’s job is to move readers to virtuous action or “well doing and not well knowing only” as Sidney put it.
Along the way we notice similarities between 16th century Elizabethan London and 21st century Trump’s America where to speak one’s mind risks losing one’s head – figuratively if not literally these days. But despite the risks poets, we agree, need to be rebellious.
Poems
- Elizabeth Barrett Browning (The Runaway Slave at Pilgrim’s Point; Sonnets from the Portuguese)
- Sir Philip Sidney (The Defence of Poesy)
- Sir Thomas Wyatt (Whoso List to Hunt, I Know where is an Hind)
- Pele Cox (The Mistress Account)
- Sharon Olds (Stag’s Leap)
Recent podcasts
Podcast (peles-poetry-podcast): Play in new window | Download (Duration: 34:22 — 31.5MB)
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