released 11/10/2023

In an interview from 2000, literary critic Roger Lundin discusses the work of poet Richard Wilbur. He explains why Wilbur can rightly be understood as a New England poet, and how the imaginative tradition of that region reflects the habits of observation and introspection initiated by the Puritans. Lundin comments on several of Wilbur’s poems, including “Love Calls Us to the Things of this World,” “For Dudley,” “Lying,” and “For W. H. Auden.”

24 minutes

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In 2000, Ken Myers enjoyed an hour-long conversation with poet Richard Wilbur. He had just published a collection of new poems called Mayflies. Wilbur — who died in 2017 — received the Pulitzer Prize for poetry on two occasions, and, in the late 1980s, served as Poet Laureate of the United States, succeeding Robert Penn Warren. This Friday Feature honors National Poetry Month (and poetry itself) by remembering one of the greatest American poets.

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