Tweet
POET HENRI COLE READS TONIGHT
John O'Rourke
BU Today (Boston University)
Sept 14 2011
MA
Middle Earth author is Robert Lowell Memorial Lecture speaker
It is no accident that language-and cadence-plays a central role in
Henri Cole's poems. His mother was Armenian, his father a Southerner
from Virginia. Cole grew up speaking French, Armenian, and English,
an experience, he says, that "made me see language as a prism, instead
of a transparent window." He began writing poems as a teenager. "I was
a shy young man, but when I put pen to paper, I had things to say,"
he says. "I was sociable."
Now 55, Cole is one of his generation's most accomplished poets. The
author of seven collections of poetry and the current poetry editor
of The New Republic, he describes himself as an autobiographical poet.
Many of his poems focus on his parents and his childhood; others
offer glimpses into his romantic longings and relationships. "Memory,"
says Cole, "holds the key to everything."
Cole will read from his most recent collection, Touch (Farrar, Straus &
Giroux, 2011), tonight as the featured speaker at the Robert Lowell
Memorial Lecture. The semiannual event honors American poet Robert
Lowell, who taught at BU in the 1950s. Among Lowell's famous students
were Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton.
"Fresh imagination, bold truthfulness about feeling-economy-Henri
Cole's poems have these qualities, so striking that they make a
lot of the movies, music, and other stuff of our culture look dull
and plodding by comparison," says Robert Pinsky, a College of Arts &
Sciences professor of English and three-time U.S. poet laureate. "Cole
himself likens his poems to "eggs and bacon with black coffee on
the side" and cites nature and visual art as frequent sources of
inspiration. But sleeping and reading, he says, have been the two
biggest influences on his work: "Reading makes me want to write;
sleep gives me the concentration to do so."
Cole, who supported himself with a string of entry-level jobs early
in his career, has received numerous honors. His volume Middle Earth
was a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize in 2003. He is the recipient of a
Guggenheim Fellowship and a Lenore Marshall Award. The Boston-based
poet teaches at Ohio State University, a job he finds deeply
rewarding. "Young people keep me human," he says. "I love watching
them discover their voices."
The Lowell Lecture series pairs a distinguished poet with a recent
graduate of BU's Creative Writing Program. Appearing with Cole
at tonight's reading is Sara Peters (GRS'08), a Stegner Fellow at
Stanford University, whose work has appeared in numerous publications.
Peters says she in in awe of Cole's work and admits to feeling
"absolute honor and absolute terror," about reading tonight. "I'm
petrified of being boring, so I'll try to choose short poems with
exciting plot twists." She says she's often inspired by "secrets,
abuse, betrayal, guilt, embarrassment, shame, pretense, hyperbole,
sarcasm, empathy, lying, and violence" in her writing.
The Robert Lowell Memorial Lecture is tonight, Wednesday, September 14,
at 7:30 p.m. at The Castle, 225 Bay State Road. The event is free and
open to the public. A book signing and reception immediately follow.
The Robert Lowell Memorial Lectures are funded by Nancy Livingston
(COM'69) and her husband, Fred M. Levin, through the Shenson
Foundation, in memory of Ben and A. Jess Shenson.
http://www.bu.edu/today/2011/poet-henri-cole-reads-tonight/
John O'Rourke
BU Today (Boston University)
Sept 14 2011
MA
Middle Earth author is Robert Lowell Memorial Lecture speaker
It is no accident that language-and cadence-plays a central role in
Henri Cole's poems. His mother was Armenian, his father a Southerner
from Virginia. Cole grew up speaking French, Armenian, and English,
an experience, he says, that "made me see language as a prism, instead
of a transparent window." He began writing poems as a teenager. "I was
a shy young man, but when I put pen to paper, I had things to say,"
he says. "I was sociable."
Now 55, Cole is one of his generation's most accomplished poets. The
author of seven collections of poetry and the current poetry editor
of The New Republic, he describes himself as an autobiographical poet.
Many of his poems focus on his parents and his childhood; others
offer glimpses into his romantic longings and relationships. "Memory,"
says Cole, "holds the key to everything."
Cole will read from his most recent collection, Touch (Farrar, Straus &
Giroux, 2011), tonight as the featured speaker at the Robert Lowell
Memorial Lecture. The semiannual event honors American poet Robert
Lowell, who taught at BU in the 1950s. Among Lowell's famous students
were Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton.
"Fresh imagination, bold truthfulness about feeling-economy-Henri
Cole's poems have these qualities, so striking that they make a
lot of the movies, music, and other stuff of our culture look dull
and plodding by comparison," says Robert Pinsky, a College of Arts &
Sciences professor of English and three-time U.S. poet laureate. "Cole
himself likens his poems to "eggs and bacon with black coffee on
the side" and cites nature and visual art as frequent sources of
inspiration. But sleeping and reading, he says, have been the two
biggest influences on his work: "Reading makes me want to write;
sleep gives me the concentration to do so."
Cole, who supported himself with a string of entry-level jobs early
in his career, has received numerous honors. His volume Middle Earth
was a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize in 2003. He is the recipient of a
Guggenheim Fellowship and a Lenore Marshall Award. The Boston-based
poet teaches at Ohio State University, a job he finds deeply
rewarding. "Young people keep me human," he says. "I love watching
them discover their voices."
The Lowell Lecture series pairs a distinguished poet with a recent
graduate of BU's Creative Writing Program. Appearing with Cole
at tonight's reading is Sara Peters (GRS'08), a Stegner Fellow at
Stanford University, whose work has appeared in numerous publications.
Peters says she in in awe of Cole's work and admits to feeling
"absolute honor and absolute terror," about reading tonight. "I'm
petrified of being boring, so I'll try to choose short poems with
exciting plot twists." She says she's often inspired by "secrets,
abuse, betrayal, guilt, embarrassment, shame, pretense, hyperbole,
sarcasm, empathy, lying, and violence" in her writing.
The Robert Lowell Memorial Lecture is tonight, Wednesday, September 14,
at 7:30 p.m. at The Castle, 225 Bay State Road. The event is free and
open to the public. A book signing and reception immediately follow.
The Robert Lowell Memorial Lectures are funded by Nancy Livingston
(COM'69) and her husband, Fred M. Levin, through the Shenson
Foundation, in memory of Ben and A. Jess Shenson.
http://www.bu.edu/today/2011/poet-henri-cole-reads-tonight/