49:36 Peter Quince at the Clavier I Just as my fingers on these keys Make music, so the self-same sounds On my spirit make a music, too. Music is feeling, then, not sound; And thus it is that what I feel, Here in this room, desiring you, Thinking of your blue-shadowed silk, Is music. It is like the strain Waked in the elders by Susanna: Of a green evening, clear and warm, She bathed in her still garden, while The red-eyed elders, watching, felt The basses of their beings throb In witching chords, and their thin blood Pulse pizzicati of Hosanna. II In the green water, clear and warm, Susanna lay. She searched The touch of springs, And found Concealed imaginings. She sighed, For so much melody. Upon the bank, she stood In the cool Of spent emotions. She felt, among the leaves, The dew Of old devotions. She walked upon the grass, Still quavering. The winds were like her maids, On timid feet, Fetching her woven scarves, Yet wavering. A breath upon her hand Muted the night. She turned-- A cymbal crashed, And roaring horns. III Soon, with a noise like tambourines, Came her attendant Byzantines. They wondered why Susanna cried Against the elders by her side; And as they whispered, the refrain Was like a willow swept by rain. Anon, their lamps' uplifted flame Revealed Susanna and her shame. And then, the simpering Byzantines, Fled, with a noise like tambourines. IV Beauty is momentary in the mind - The fitful tracing of a portal; But in the flesh it is immortal. The body dies; the body's beauty lives, So evenings die, in their green going, A wave, interminably flowing. So gardens die, their meek breath scenting The cowl of Winter, done repenting. So maidens die, to the auroral Celebration of a maiden's choral. Susanna's music touched the bawdy strings Of those white elders; but, escaping, Left only Death's ironic scrapings. Now, in its immortality, it plays On the clear viol of her memory, And makes a constant sacrament of praise.
my first day at the Graduate Center in 1973, I attended Mandelbaum's Modern Poetry course and was sitting next to Joan Richardson, who was so gorgeous, I was afraid to look at her....
Stevens poetry attracts academics like this one because they use his work to place themselves on stage, for attention, as interpreters. It is a chance for them to gather attention.
hmmm, While I understand why Joan Richardson shutdown Susan Howe, to then go on and talk without relief herself seems entirely unfair...perhaps I've misread the situation...
JLS see Ben waterstone for drink brand new book our story so far introduction photos of oritse willams marvin humes aston merrygold JB Benjamin gill see you on staurday 6th february 2016
Stevens is 'da bomb'--the best 20th century poet with Robert Frost. By the way, Stevens had a bit of a temper--he got into fights with Hemingway and Frost (with the latter no doubt about realist vs. symbolist imagery). The imagery is bizarre--the best American poet dukin it out with the best American novelist. "Papa' won.
wait a minute...are you actually suggesting that Hemingway was in any way remotely the "best American novelist?" I hate to be rude, but, like, are you sure you can actaully READ??
Absolutely love some of these lectures...I'm stuck in the middle of nowhere, this is about the only intelligient conversation I encounter. Thank Gawd for the internet.
Or, maybe it's that you take too little time listening. This talk is over 1 1/2 hours long. That's how long it is - that's how long she will speak for. There's a video version of Twitter called 'Vine', you'd probably be much happier taking in the inane information there, as it only requires an attention span of 7 seconds.
Marvellous. ... deeply considered thoughts, beautifully constructed sentences, humour, tact, authority ... and such a warm and wonderful voice. Thank you.
The Apollonian and the Dionysian in Nietzsche's Birth of Tragedy is anything BUT a dichotomy. It is a duplicity ("Duplizität", often mistranslated into English as "duality"). There is a huge difference, which is essential in understanding the whole concept.
@mebe84 OK.. 30 minutes and I find myself agreeing with theawakener7 so far, so THICK. more to follow when I've had a chance to watch the rest, but the evidence thus far is somewhat unpropitious..
In Hell, there is no air, every breath is a grasp, one never gets to feel that full satisfying fill of air rushing into ones lungs “take a deep breath, feel that beautiful feeling of the air rushing into your lungs” You don’t get to feel that in hell …how do I know there is no air in Hell ? Because God is the breath of life and there is no God in Hell !! God says he’ll mock them, they will grasp out it’s hot here God will reply it’s hot here !!
Thank you for this great talk. I loved math in school and college, and sure wish my teachers had had the time to portrait the people behind all the theory. School mathematics depicts only the final result of theory, not how people came up with it, made mistakes, how amazing the idea was at the time, etc. We take it all for granted and talks like this make it all come to life. Thanks!
Thanks for sorting out Dave Lehman's ancient Greek, JamBrop. Though Lehman's pronunciation of ancient Greek may not be as exemplary as yours, he does seem to know a thing or two about the lecture topic - WH Auden!
One of my best philoctetes discussions. i listen to this over and over. it is rich and deep, well articulated by these experienced and well-versed poets. thanks a lot. my mind is like a child going to an amusement park.
For me, I find it difficult to find the true psychological message in this movie. Instead, I think it's all about Hitch's own relationship with women. He always had these divine platinum blond women in his films. And here we got his fantasy make-over of that woman, Madeleine (who never really existed), and he does it twice! The Midge charachter symbolizes more his wife perhaps? Hitch always treated the actors like props in a vision, and here Novak became that vision. The woman you'll never get.
Although I'm not a fan of poetry I enjoyed this discussion. Thank you very much for bringing such a wonderful panel. P.S.: Jonathan Culler is amazing. I've never seen him before, but only read his books. He's great.
imo a biography is akin to a dictionary definition conveying the meaning of another word. It's just an image or representation aka a simulacrum that may capture some essential qualities of the person but never entirely her self. More interesting is the effort of autobiography but it's also flawed inasmuch as the author/character is bound to verbalize her entire being and to squeeze it into a narrative form detached from reality by being steeped in the author's subjective viewpoint. Great talk <3
