("this(let's remember)day...")
Let's talk about poets who were born in October
Happy birth month to everyone born in October! The title of this post is taken from a poem by e e cummings who was born this month.
One of my friends hosts a monthly poetry salon which I try to attend. He asked all of us to nominate a mid-length to long poem for our discussion. Whenever he makes a request I always try to choose a poet who has a birthday around the time of our meeting.
Guess which poem I nominated!
(You can find the answer here.)
October 2: Wallace Stevens
“Sunday Morning”
Bonus: Here is one of my earliest podcast recordings. Thank you for everyone who has supported the rebooting of this project!
“Le Monocle de Mon Oncle”
October 5: Rupi Kaur
Here’s a website with her poems. None of them are long so the choice is obviously not her. But I’m kinda tired of the Rupi-hate that is so pervasive in poetry circles, so I am going to include her in this list of poets.
October 7: Sherman Alexie
“How to Write the Great American Indian Novel”
October 14: e e cummings
(”if seventy were young...”)
October 16: Oscar Wilde
“The Ballad of Reading Gaol”
October 20: Arthur Rimbaud
“Drunken Boat”
October 21: Samuel Taylor Coleridge
“The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (text of 1834)”
October 25: John Berryman
“Eleven Addresses to the Lord”
October 27: Sylvia Plath / Dylan Thomas
“Daddy” (Plath)
“A Winter’s Tale” (Thomas)
October 28: John Hollander
“About the Canzone”
October 30: Paul Valéry / Ezra Pound
“Canticle of the Columns” (Valéry)
(”Shades of Callimachus...”) (Pound)*
*No, not the Cantos… too long!
October 31: John Keats
“Hyperion”
Thank you so much for reading. I hope this list of October poet birthdays may be helpful to my homeschooling friends.
Always with the music,
Zina
Did I miss any October birthdays? Please let me know!
Aw, I'm sad I missed e. e. cummings' birthday. He's a favorite of mine. This is a great list!