23. Free Verse Form - "Small Kindnesses" by Danusha Lameris

12/06/24 • 21 min

We’ve also previously been talking about this dynamic interchange – what Hopkins calls counterpoint — between Form and Function, how truly great poems take on a form not because the form is important in itself but because the structure of the poem somehow reflects the subject matter. So, what about free verse? Today’s poem is a good example about how free verse itself can serve a function. Join me for "Small Kindnesses" by Danusha Lameris!

Used with consent from the author.

Production Gustav Worm-Leth

Outro Yentl Tijssens

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Used with consent from the author.

Production Gustav Worm-Leth

Outro Yentl Tijssens

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Previous Episode

22. Censorship & Controversy - "the mother" by Gwendolyn Brooks

CONTENT WARNING: Abortion

Today I'll be addressing a heavy but beautiful poem by Gwendolyn Brooks, "the mother." Some say it's a pro-, some say it's an anti-abortion poem. It's actually neither -- rather, it's a good example of what the role of the poet is in the middle of controversy, hatred, judgment, peril, and political divide.

Used/Reprinted by Consent of Brooks Permissions

Producer Gustav Worm-Leth

Outro Yentl Tijssens

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Next Episode

24. Couplets suck! (a Rant) - Robert Louis Stevenson "Land of Nod", Basil Bunting "Briggflatts", and Robert Frost "Nothing Gold Can Stay"

In this episode of Preston's Poetry Podcast ----- I'm wasting your time with a rant about why I (usually) hate couplets. It's also another "screw you" to some 19th-century poets, which is always nice. I'll be comparing the great couplet use of Robert Frost with Robert Louis Stevenson -- "Nothing Gold Can Stay" and "The Land of Nod" (respectively, the latter I hate.) Plus a cameo appearance of one of my favorites, "Briggflatts" by Basil Bunting.

Producer Gustav Worm-Leth

Outro Yentl Tijssens

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.