English at Reading » contemporary poetry dicsussion group

The contemporary poetry discussion group is back!

Cindy — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 11:43:17 +0000

After a break due to the Reading Poetry Festival – which we hope all enjoyed – we will be discussing one of the poets who attended it, Mark Ford. We will be looking at his recent collection Six Children (2011) in HumSS 10 (please note change of room from our usual room of Humss 110), Whiteknights Campus, on Thursday 20th June at 5:15pm.

We’ll be looking at the following poems:

Six Children
International Bridge-Playing Woman
White Nights
The Snare Unbroken
After Africa

Handouts are available in the Eng Dept pigeonholes opposite HumSS 110.

Drinks and snacks will be provided. We hope to see you there!

Poetry Discussion Group: poetry related to museums

Cindy — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 18:06:21 +0000

Poetry Discussion Group

This Thursday (28 Feb) at 5:15 pm in HumSS G57, Whiteknights Campus, we will be discussing poems related to museums. The poems, selected by Lotti, are:
W. H. Auden, ‘Musee des Beaux Arts’ James Fenton, ‘The Pitt-Rivers Museum’ Evan Boland, ‘The Dolls in the Museum in Dublin’ Dan Beachy-Quick, ‘Museums’

Handouts can be found in the English pigeonholes around HumSS 110.

Hope to see you there!

Poetry reading: all welcome

Cindy — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 21:35:01 +0000

Join us in the early evening on Thursday 14 March 2013, for a contemporary poetry reading & a glass of wine. The esteemed poets Elaine Randell and Laurie Duggan are visiting the English Literature Department to treat us to a reading from their work.

All welcome. Spread the word!

5 – 6:30pm in Humss 125, Whiteknights Campus

Elaine Randell was born in 1951 in London, and has been living close to Romney Marsh, Kent for over thirty years. Living with her husband, three daughters, two English Setter dogs and a herd of rare breed sheep and other livestock, she works as a Child and Family Psychotherapist. Her Selected Poems represents thirty-five years of work as a poet, glimpses in time, concerns, loves, gardening and other preoccupations. Elaine is especially interested in collaborative work between poets, artists and musicians and has plans for future work in this area.

Laurie Duggan was born in Melbourne in 1949 and has been publishing poems since the early 1970s. Since 2006 he has been living in East Kent and reading regularly at various pubs in London. His most recent books are Crab & Winkle, Exeter, Shearsman, 2009; The Epigrams of Martial (2^nded), Boston, Pressed Wafer, 2010; Allotments [1-29], Wendell, Massachusetts, Fewer & Further, 2011; The Pursuit of Happiness, Bristol, Shearsman, 2012; and The Collected Blue Hills, Sydney, Puncher & Wattman 2012.

The poetry of J H Prynne

Cindy — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 11:05:58 +0000

Contempoary Poetry Discussion Group

This Thursday, 14th February, at 5:15pm in HumSS G57 (Whiteknights Campus), we will be discussing some poems by J. H. Prynne, one of the most well-known British avant-garde poets.

His work can be notoriously challenging: his collected Poems (Bloodaxe, 2005) include mathematical formulae, neurology, anthropology, geology, Chinese characters, and many other such delights.

Our selection for this week, however, is focused on his 1969 collection The White Stones, with five poems:

‘Airport Poem: Ethics of Survival’

‘The Holy City’

‘The Glacial Question, Unsolved’

‘On the Matter of Thermal Packing’

‘Love’

Handouts are to be found in the English pigeonholes, just outside HumSS 110. Come and pick through this complex but extremely rewarding poetry with us this Thursday – all are welcome and we look forward to seeing you there and then!

Contemporary poetry discussion group is back!

Cindy — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 12:52:49 +0000

This Thursday (31 January), at the usual time of 5:15 pm in HumSS G57, Whiteknights Campus (please note change of venue from last term), we will be discussing the most recent finalists of the TS Eliot Prize, which was awarded earlier this month.

Decide on who you think deserved the prize as we read through a selection of poems from the finalists, including:

Gillian Clarke – ‘Six Bells’
Sean Borodale – ’28th February’
Julia Copus – ‘Ghost’
Simon Armitage – from ‘The Death of King Arthur’
Jacob Polley – ‘The Doll’s House’
Deryn Rees-Jones – ‘Slugs’
Sharon Olds – ‘The Worst Thing’

All welcome to poetry discussion group

Cindy — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 11:30:11 +0000

This Thursday, 13th December, at the usual time of 5:15pm in HumSS 110, Whiteknights Campus, is the final poetry discussion group of the year!

We have based the selection of this week’s poems around the theme of winter. The poems are:
Louis MacNeice, ‘Snow’

Sylvia Plath, ‘Private Ground’

Roy Fisher, ‘The Hospital in Winter’

Gary Snyder, ‘Kyoto: March’

The randomness of such a selection should mean that there is something for all tastes. copies of the poems can be found in the tray under the pigeon-holes just outside HumSS 110.
We hope to see you there!

Edward Dorn discussion

Cindy — Wed, 21 Nov 2012 13:26:24 +0000

POETRY DISCUSSION GROUP

Next Thursday, 29th November, in HUMSS Room 110 (Whiteknights Campus) at 5:15 pm we will be looking at four poems of the American poet Ed Dorn.

Here is a brief introduction to the poet:

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/edward-dorn

All welcome – hope to see you there!

T S Eliot Prize discussion

Cindy — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 11:44:19 +0000

Do come along this Thursday (1 Nov) in Room 110, HUMSS Building, Whiteknights Campus, to the next meeting of the

CONTEMPORARY POETRY

DISCUSSION GROUP

This week we will be reading some of the work of the poets shortlisted for this year’s T.S. Eliot Prize.

We’ll look at 3 of the 10 poets: Jorie Graham, Kathleen Jamie and Paul Farley.

You can download 3 poems from each of their books from the TSEliot prize website here: , together with a biography and photo of each poet.

But we are likely to focus in particular on 4 poems from earlier volumes:

Jorie Graham – ‘Mist’ from EROSION (1983)

Sea Change’ from SEA CHANGE

Paul Farley “Quality Street” from THE DARK FILM

‘Brutalist’ from THE TRAMP IN FLAMES (2006)

Scottish Writing

Cindy — Thu, 18 Oct 2012 11:21:32 +0000

Scottish Poetry

This week on Thursday, 5:15 pm, in HumSS 110, Whiteknights Campus, we will be discussing some contemporary Scottish poetry – the poems are:

W. S. Graham – ‘Language Ah Now You Have Me’

Hugh MacDiarmid – ‘Scotland’

Edwin Morgan – ‘To Ian Hamilton Finlay’

Edwin Morgan – ‘Opening the Cage’

Handouts can be found in the pigeonholes on the post tables on the first floor of the English Department. We have been promised some delicious sloe whiskey to go along with them, so please come and join us! It’ll be braw!

Contemporary Poetry Discussion Group

Cindy — Mon, 01 Oct 2012 11:57:19 +0000

This week we will be discussing the work of the eminent contemporary American poet, John Ashbery.

Ashbery was acclaimed by W H Auden at the start of his career and is noted for the complexity of his work. Possible topics for discussion include Ashbery’s combination of high art and popular culture and reflections on ‘art’ or ‘the poetic.’

The poems are:

‘Daffy Duck in Hollywood’

‘And Ut Pictura Poesis Is Her Name’

(both poems available via the following link: http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/238)

‘Train Rising Out of the Sea’

(available at http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/browse/134/4#/20593498/0)

We’re meeting on Thursday 4^th October at 5:15pm in HUMSS Building, Whiteknights Campus, Room 112.