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Poetry
Posted inArts & Culture, Ideas
‘The Waste Land’ at 100: T.S. Eliot’s monument to despair — with a few laughs thrown in
This year marks the 100th anniversary of the publication of “The Waste Land.” The 433-line poem is important, but it’s not very user-friendly.
Posted inArts & Culture, Catholic Book Club
Larry Woiwode: farmer, author, Christian sage
For his novels, memoirs, biographies and collections of short stories and poetry, Larry Woiwode is considered by some critics to be one of the greatest American authors of the 20th century.
Posted inArts & Culture, Poetry
The 2022 Foley Contest: Poetry that speaks the unspeakable about the tragedy in Ukraine
We include fragments of poems that, while not contest finalists, provide one more way for America to shine a light on the ongoing horror in Ukraine.
Posted inArts & Culture, Books
Review: Lawrence Ferlinghetti and the vocation of the poet
Neeli Cherkovski’s expanded edition of his biography of Lawrence Ferlinghetti is a book by “a poet who set out to celebrate another poet.”
Posted inArts & Culture, Catholic Book Club
Kelly Cherry: A poetic voice for the atomic age
Was Kelly Cherry a novelist? A poet? An essayist? A literary critic? Depending on one’s point of view, she was one or all of these things.
Posted inArts & Culture, Theater
Dante’s ‘Divine Comedy’ has been set to ballet. It won’t meet your expectations (in a good way).
In making the poem into a ballet with original music, much has been gained, both for the significance of the new ballet and for a fresh appreciation and engagement with its source.
Posted inArts & Culture, Poetry
Patrick Kavanagh is the Catholic poet we should be reading this Advent
Kavanagh’s poem looks to Advent for a sort of poetic and spiritual rebirth, a chance to reacquaint ourselves with the “newness that was in every stale thing.”
Posted inArts & Culture, Books
Review: A poet’s life in letters
Beyond all its virtuosity and shine, James Merrill’s writing style always had a canny, wry and often mensch-like grasp of human nature.
Posted inArts & Culture, Catholic Book Club
Love him or hate him, Jonathan Franzen sparks conversation
Jonathan Franzen remains among the select few novelists who can vie for a Pulitzer Prize and the top spot on best-seller lists every time out of the gate. His new novel might win him both.