The nice poets and philosophers on life in time of turmoil. Former poet Laureate Billy Collins is with us.
“Issues crumble,” wrote Yeats, the nice Irish poet. “The middle can not maintain… The very best lack all conviction, whereas the worst are filled with passionate depth.”
Issues falling aside is definitely the sensation within the air these days. Downgrade, curler coaster, riot and unease. The sense of previous orders, certainties, crumbling. Passing. Of harmful passions afoot.
We speak in regards to the politics. The economics. However what do the poets and philosophers inform us about occasions like these?
This hour On Level: we’ll ask poet laureate Billy Collins and thinker Seyla Benhabib. We’re searching for knowledge.
-Tom Ashbrook
Company
Billy Collins, a poet and professor of English at Lehman School of the Metropolis College of New York. He’s a former Poet Laureate.
Seyla Benhabib, thinker and professor of political science and philosophy at Yale College.
Readings
READING 1: “ON BEING ASKED FOR A WAR POEM” by W. B. Yeats
DESCRIPTION: In 1915, when Henry James requested W. B. Yeats to put in writing a political poem about World Warfare I, Yeats shocked his buddy along with his response within the piece, “On being requested for a Warfare Poem.”
READING 2: “THE SECOND COMING” by W. B. Yeats
DESCRIPTION: In 1919, through the aftermath of the First World Warfare and the Irish Riot, W. B. Yeats wrote “The Second Coming,” one in all his most well-known works. Right here, Yeats paints the image of grim apocalypse within the worst of occasions
READING 3: “THE DARKLING THRUSH” by Thomas Hardy
DESCRIPTION: Written on the eve of the 20 th century by the British wordsmith Thomas Hardy, “The Darkling Thrush” – initially known as “By the Century’s Deathbed” – regarded for a glimmer of hope in the long run of an period
READING 4: “THE NIAGARA RIVER” by Kay Ryan
DESCRIPTION: The work “The Niagara River” by the modern poet Kay Ryan, made starling connections with the overall malaise of the world round her and the looming hazard within the highly effective fallsREADING 5: “HOME TO ROOST” by Kay Ryan
DESCRIPTION: In 2005, Former US Poet Laureate Kay Ryan revealed this piece, capturing an ominous temper with a darkly hilarious twist – chickens
READING 6: “THE FUTURE” by Billy Collins
DESCRIPTION: Printed within the 2008 assortment of poems, “Ballistics,” my visitor Billy Collins shared his phrases – his considerations – for what’s forward of us all in, “The Future”
This program aired on August 12, 2011.
