July in Washington
Against the backdrop of 1964 Washington D.C., Robert Lowell wrote this timeless reflection on the contradictions between American idealism and American policy. Journalists Andrea Mitchell and Justin Worland, political commentators David Axelrod and Bill Kristol, scholar Sir Jonathan Bate and psychologist Kay Redfield Jamison join host Elisa New.
Episodes
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July in Washington
S4 E4 - 25m 21s
Against the backdrop of 1964 Washington D.C., Robert Lowell wrote this timeless reflection on the contradictions between American idealism and American policy. Journalists Andrea Mitchell and Justin Worland, political commentators David Axelrod and Bill Kristol, scholar Sir Jonathan Bate and psychologist Kay Redfield Jamison join host Elisa New.
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Mushrooms, Weakness and Doubt
S4 E3 - 25m 21s
Poems by Sylvia Plath and Kay Ryan take the peripheral status of the fungal kingdom as an invitation to consider the scientific knowns and unknowns, and cultural significance, of mushrooms. Microbial ecologist Serita Frey, chef Gabrielle Hamilton, plant pathologist Barry Pryor, health advocate Dr. Andrew Weil, writers Maria Popova and Maria Pinto, and journalist Frank Bruni join host Elisa New.
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Six Years Later, Epitaph for a Centaur
S4 E2 - 25m 21s
Russian-born poet Joseph Brodsky wrote about the centaur as a Cold War self-portrait: a divided global refugee, created by a geopolitics of shifting borders and cultures. Theater of War artistic director Bryan Doerries, writer Yelena Akhtiorskaya, and scholars Sven Birkerts, Zakhar Ishtov, Jonathan Brent, and Joseph Ellis read two poems by Brodsky: one about love; the other, exile.
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Phillis Wheatley: To the University
S4 E1 - 25m 21s
In 1770s Boston, Phillis Wheatley was at the same time enslaved and an international celebrity: a writer who mastered the most persuasive rhetoric of the day to publish enduring arguments about freedom. Inaugural poets Amanda Gorman and Richard Blanco, writer Clint Smith, and scholars Glenda Carpio and Henry Louis Gates, Jr. join host Elisa New to read two of Wheatley’s poems for public occasions.
Extras + Features
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Season 4 Preview
S4 - 30s
Performers, public figures and everyday Americans join host Elisa New to read and discuss unforgettable American poems. The poems in Season 4 take us from colonial Boston to the halls of Congress, from Texas Hill Country to Central Park. Guests range from poets to celebrity chefs, from actors to ice cream makers, from political strategists to preachers and more.
Schedule
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Poetry in America
July in Washington
Saturday
Apr 27
30 Minutes
Robert Lowell's poem about the contradictions between American idealism and American policy. -
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Poetry in America
Phillis Wheatley: To the University
Saturday
Apr 27
30 Minutes
Two poems by Phillis Wheatley. -
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Poetry in America
Six Years Later, Epitaph for a Centaur
Saturday
Apr 27
30 Minutes
Two poems by exiled Russian poet Joseph Brodsky. -
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Poetry in America
Phillis Wheatley: To the University
Monday
Apr 29
30 Minutes
Two poems by Phillis Wheatley. -
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Poetry in America
Six Years Later, Epitaph for a Centaur
Monday
Apr 29
30 Minutes
Two poems by exiled Russian poet Joseph Brodsky. -
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Poetry in America
Phillis Wheatley: To the University
Wednesday
May 1
30 Minutes
Two poems by Phillis Wheatley. -
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Poetry in America
Six Years Later, Epitaph for a Centaur
Wednesday
May 1
30 Minutes
Two poems by exiled Russian poet Joseph Brodsky. -
Image
Poetry in America
Phillis Wheatley: To the University
Wednesday
May 1
30 Minutes
Two poems by Phillis Wheatley. -
Image
Poetry in America
Six Years Later, Epitaph for a Centaur
Wednesday
May 1
30 Minutes
Two poems by exiled Russian poet Joseph Brodsky. -
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Poetry in America
Hill Country
Saturday
May 4
30 Minutes
Tracy K. Smith's vision of Texas Hill Country. -
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Poetry in America
Mushrooms, Weakness and Doubt
Saturday
May 4
30 Minutes
Poems by Sylvia Plath and Kay Ryan explore the cultural significance of mushrooms. -
Image
Poetry in America
July in Washington
Saturday
May 4
30 Minutes
Robert Lowell's poem about the contradictions between American idealism and American policy. -
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Poetry in America
Mushrooms, Weakness and Doubt
Monday
May 6
30 Minutes
Poems by Sylvia Plath and Kay Ryan explore the cultural significance of mushrooms. -
Image
Poetry in America
July in Washington
Monday
May 6
30 Minutes
Robert Lowell's poem about the contradictions between American idealism and American policy. -
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Poetry in America
Mushrooms, Weakness and Doubt
Wednesday
May 8
30 Minutes
Poems by Sylvia Plath and Kay Ryan explore the cultural significance of mushrooms. -
Image
Poetry in America
July in Washington
Wednesday
May 8
30 Minutes
Robert Lowell's poem about the contradictions between American idealism and American policy. -
Image
Poetry in America
Mushrooms, Weakness and Doubt
Wednesday
May 8
30 Minutes
Poems by Sylvia Plath and Kay Ryan explore the cultural significance of mushrooms. -
Image
Poetry in America
July in Washington
Wednesday
May 8
30 Minutes
Robert Lowell's poem about the contradictions between American idealism and American policy.
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